God I Hate Reality TV

Make no bones about it, Reality TV stinks. I think it is a tawdry, obnoxious, cheap-arse version of entertainment. It is scourge upon the airwaves, a disgraceful indictment of the modern broadcast industry, and a sad statement about the society which promotes it.

Reality TV has become a favoured format with the network executives in recent years, and commands a lot of air time, not because it is either good or revolutionary. It is favoured simply because it is inexpensive. No longer do they have to pay actors, directors, scriptwriters, camera crews and the other professionals traditionally required to create programs for the audiovisual medium. Instead they just need one camera guy and a bunch of everyday slobs willing to make dickheads of themselves on national TV; which, sadly, are in no short supply. Throw in a lot of two-bit clichés and stock emotional manipulation, and you have the makings for a shameless, amateurish excuse for entertainment. In an industry which aims barely above knee-high as it is, this marks a new low. If television is chewing gum for the mind, then Reality TV is the repulsive muck found squished into pavement and train seats.

For one thing, Reality TV is a contradiction in terms. Once the limelight is on and the cameras are rolling, there is no longer anything resembling reality about it. Even if it is totally unscripted and spontaneous, which only an idiot would think is so, people behave differently when they know millions of people are scrutinising their every move than they otherwise would in real life.

The only consolation offered by Reality TV is that the majority is produced locally. So at least we don't have to put up with irritating American twangs or infuriating Brits who can't pronounce their R's. But that does not stop the producers from rounding up our own brand of the most obnoxious, annoying, and pathetic group of individuals to plaster all over the screen.

In some ways we have the government to blame. To protect the domestic industry legislation demands a certain percentage of locally produced programs be aired. But it does not specify what that content has to be, so the TV executives naturally take the cheapest and tackiest of alternatives. Why serve a three-course meal when you get away with a cheeseburger and fries. It has gotten to the stage where I (and many others) would rather watch an American soap than a locally produced Reality TV show. Mark my words, we are witnessing the death of the small-screen production industry in this country. So much for legislative protection.

God I hate Reality TV.

Anyway I've run out of breath now. Stay tuned to My Diatribe, The Sequel...