Each to their own. Thats what Ive always said. We all have different tastes and opinions and were all entitled to that choice, no matter how wrong other peoples views may be! However, every now and again something will crop up that seems so ludicrous, I simply cannot ignore it. Which brings me to my topic of the day television.
Times change. Adhere to that or any other clichd expression that insists that things will no longer be the way they used to be. I grew up in the eighties and this could explain a lot of the eccentricities surrounding my character. But dont worry; Im not going to regale you with tales of the good ol days and talk about shows such as Knightrider and The A Team. By no means am I an eighties nostalgia freak. Im just trying to familiarise you with the time span that Im using for comparison.
In line with technology, fashion and pretty much any other entity you could imagine, television has changed a lot in the past 20 years. Producers have endeavoured to push that creative envelope as far as they possibly can so weve seen things on television that would have been considered outright immoral and blasphemous in the early eighties. Television simply moves with the times. It caters to what the audience wants. And while changes in television can perhaps illustrate the decline in society, this is not my main concern. I am not bothered by how extreme TV shows can be, because, as Ive already said, my attitude is each to their own and what may offend me or bore me, could be deemed as entertaining to someone else.
Youre probably wondering where Im going with this. Is there a point amidst my senseless rambling, or have I simply consumed one beer too many on a Friday night? Allow me to answer that question with a question of my own: what, in the name of Satans undergarments, is this so-called Reality TV?
For most people its old news, but for me, this is a concept that continues to baffle me. Where is the appeal? I watch television as a means of escaping reality, why would I want to switch on my television and be faced with more reality? Reality isnt entertaining. Reality is depressing. Reality is getting up each morning to go to a job where youre not appreciated to earn a wage that barely covers the bills. Reality is suffering one bout of humiliation after another, taking all the crap that life throws at you. Reality is being stuck with a girlfriend that you cant stand, but you stay with her because she has an incredibly attractive friend that you think about every night, even though shes said that you can never be more than just good friends. Reality sucks!
I can see where this fascination with reality started though. It all began with shows like Youve Been Framed where members of the general public are caught on camera embarrassing/hurting themselves. Everyone loves seeing bad things happen to other people. Watching someone walk straight into a lamppost can put a smile on your face for weeks its great! In reality, I suppose were just sick, sick bastards, and television executives wanted to capitalise on this.
Therefore, they wanted to take things even further. Theres only so many times you can watch footage of someone falling down at a wedding before you start to tire of it. It was all getting predictable. So how about we change the rules? How about we take a group of people, leave them stranded in an unusual situation, let the cameras roll and leave it up to the contestants to embarrass themselves? A stroke of pure genius!
So now we have shows like Big Brother where a collection of annoying strangers are put into a house and are filmed twenty four hours a day. The nation is then supposed to be on tenterhooks as these people do very little. The committed fan even has the option of watching them throughout the night as they sleep. This isnt television this is stalking!
<*dv_1*> Then we have variations on the stalker idea. Just throw in a new scenario and you have a completely different show. For example, take some couples and send them to different islands, take some single people and send them to integrate with the separated couples, throw in some alcohol, and there you have it televised adultery! How stupid do you actually have to be to cheat on your partner in front of worldwide audience? It wasnt me simply isnt going to cut it when theres video evidence. But if adultery is not your cup of tea, how about a show where people are stranded in the wilderness and forced to eat bugs and insects to survive? Hey, if I wanted to see people eat weird things, Id go to France.
Im sorry if youre a Reality TV fanatic, but I really cant see the entertainment value in any of these shows. And you have to wonder where its all going to end. Whats next? Focusing on relationship crises and having televised sexual dysfunction? Or how about a televised midlife crisis where a guy can be filmed buying a Ferrari and sleeping with his nineteen year old secretary? There again, why not just stick with the idea of catching people at their lowest? How about televised nose picking? Televised use of the bathroom? Dumpvision?
<*dv_0*> I even heard that they were trying to make a show where people were encouraged to commit crimes so that they could be caught on camera. Televised armed robbery now that sounds riveting!
Going back to my original statement, each to their own. But if this is what the entertainment world is coming to, there really isnt much hope left for us. Sounds like a job for the A Team!
Submitted by Lee Baker |
