Reality TV: When Will It End?
By: Rocio Villalobos
"I hate the Outback. Somebody should burn it down and build a mall."
A contestant on one of the latest reality shows, Outback Jack, vocalized
those intense and meaningful emotions. Clearly the women on the show
will prove to be materialistic and superficial people, yet something
in the back of my mind tells me I will probably end up watching an episode
of the show. Yes, I will willingly endure an hour of catfights as uptown,
high-maintenance women duke it out for the "love" of a cut,
macho Australian bachelor. That is the beauty of reality TV. No matter
how many times you tell yourself that you refuse to watch one of those
shows, you eventually get sucked in and find yourself faithfully tuning
in each week.
Judging from the ratings, there is no denying that a
lot of Americans enjoy reality shows; but have reality shows finally
gone too far? Shows like Extreme Makeover and The Swan take everyday
people who are "ugly" by our society's standards and transform
them into "beautiful" people through the use of plastic surgery.
Contestants undergo several operations that result in bruising and pain
in order to gain confidence and validation from their peers. Now, I
can understand that people like to feel good about the way they look
and I fully support makeover shows such as What Not To Wear. On this
particular show fun fashion gurus show people how to dress their body
types in clothes that flatter them and the participants are treated
to $5,000 worth of new clothes as well as a stylish new haircut. However,
the difference between these shows is that while one helps people change
their state of mind and accept and love their bodies and appearance,
the other seeks to change them into people others will accept.
The insanity unfortunately does not stop there. As I
changed the channel one afternoon I saw a commercial for yet another
reality show. It did not focus on dating, makeovers, or money, but on
porn stars. The question the commercial posed to viewers was "Do
you have what it takes to be a porn star?" Never in a million years
would I have imagined that television would sink so low to get ratings.
The old saying "Never say never" seems rather fitting on this
occasion. As much as I would like to believe that the world has gone
as morally low as it can go, the cynic inside of me believes otherwise.
It would be easy to blame the creators of the shows for the garbage
on television, but people would not continue to concoct this kind of
material if the American audience was not so eager to be thrilled and
shocked.
Reality shows are also popular with TV executives because
they are a lot cheaper to produce than scripted shows. As a matter of
fact, the popularity of reality shows has steadily become a problem
for writers. According to USAToday.com, the Writers Guild of America
is worried to the extent that it is attempting to negotiate a contract
with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Whether
or not they come to an agreement remains to be seen. Even after they
settle on something it will be a while before Americans see a change
in television programming. Let us all just hope that this change will
come before every single channel is dominated by reality TV.
