The top headline on Yahoo! recently read, “Fox cancels the ‘Simple Life.'” It was a little surprising and ridiculous that something as trivial as a TV show cancellation was considered a top story. Call me crazy, but aren’t there other events occurring in the world that are more important than the status of a reality show? I have watched some reality TV, and was once a fan of “The Apprentice.” But lately with the overload of reality television and headlines like the one above, I have been thinking about how out of control the “reality television” phenomenon has become. It is hard to understand “the reality” of many of these shows. When you are stuck on an island, it is doubtful you’ll find time to race canoes back and forth to collect “tribal treasures” in order to avoid being voted off the island by other “survivors.” Wouldn’t you spend all your time gathering food, building a shelter and figuring out a way to get rescued? The point is: If this is “real,” i.e., a depiction of reality, why are we watching these shows for entertainment? Reality TV sells greed, manipulation, deception and selfishness. Last year on the “Amazing Race,” one of the teams drove past another team whose car had rolled over in an accident. The other team was in a rush to win and was willing to do whatever it took to do so. No one thought of stopping and helping those in need of help.An episode of “Fear Factor: Family Edition” showed kids taking pleasure in the demise of others as their parents stood behind them watching what was going on. Reality TV features very little, if any, ethical behavior. The goal is to win, best another and succeed at all costs, and ethics be damned. On all of these shows, people will form alliances against one another, lie, cheat, backstab and avoid accountability and responsibility. Reality TV depicts the worst characteristics of humanity. It is worrisome that many people believe that such characteristics serve as the proven way to success. Do creators of these shows realize that their products are devoid of morals and values? I doubt it. Most TV networks have launched reality TV; even PBS gave it a shot. It is all about achieving high ratings and making money. Reality TV has emerged as a cheap alternative to creative shows that employ actors who have to be paid union wages. It’s very easy to understand why every TV channel wanted reality TV shows in its line up. For the television executives who keep a wary eye on the bottom line, reality TV is a no-brainer. Reality TV is a cash cow and a hugely successful one with viewers. They don’t have to pay actors union wages, thus saving money, and advertisers want to underwrite reality TV. It’s a win-win for TV executives. A critic of reality television once asked, “How does reality television enhance the life of the viewer?”I think that is a fair question. Life is all about having experiences and doing things, so why do we need to watch other people doing things? Reality TV might give us some mindless entertainment, but how much of that type of entertainment should we really have or do we need?
