Reality shows-enough.

You want reality... turn off the telly. Dunh.

Could it be that they are losing the battle with cable TV.

What amazes me are the numbers they garner. Who watches this drivel? No one admits to it yet reality shows, many of them, are extremely popular, according to the ratings. Can we believe the ratings? What's worse? To discover that the ratings are a lie or that so many people are actually tuning in.
It's real easy to say, "turn off the telly" but shouldn't we expect and demand better from such a powerful and entertaining medium?

A fair number of the sheep I work with discuss last nights American Idol, or the Apprentice... who got voted off the island.

They outnumber me in this particular room.

It is easier to say turn off the telly. I don't care how good the programming is, I've still got better things to do with my mind than stare at an appliance.

It's a cultural fad that needs to play out it's existance.

FYI I'm sick as hell over all these crime drama shows - we get enough of that stuff in the news.

I fall into the 'watcher of reality tv' populous, and although I dont think they are the greatest thing on earth, I also generally watch them for pure entertainment value alone--which i beleive MOST of television is anyway. I am glad to have a choice in what to watch, and I am glad others do as well.
I also dont like the whole Crime/Legal/Politacal Sit-Com Drama series on TV...I had enough of that long ago...so..I wastch these series here and there...it doesnt rule my life, and it isnt the best of the best....and if I dont want to watch, I can change the channel, shut off the tv, etc
So can everyone else.

Sometimes, altho' rare, excellent programming is worthy of a little of our time. Do you own a set, SealPoet?

The networks LOVE these shows because they're relatively cheap to produce. No writers, no stars. And no entertainment, either, IMHO, but those of use who avoid the genre entirely are in the minority of viewers.

Shows like Survivor and American Idol are very popular...

Yeah. Hooked up to a DVD player and/or a VCR. But it certainly isn't in the rooms where we spend most of our time. Part of my rant is facade, and part is knowing that if we were given a certain amount of time infromt of the tube over a lifetime, I used up most of my quota on Star Trek reruns when I was a kid.

But... it's sort of like dreaming someone else's dreams... I perefer my own.

Re: Reality shows-enough.


I couldn't agree more Wilso, however, I read the other day that the last piece of tripe on brit t.v. drew an audience of 12 million viewers each night.

So no doubt we are in for more of this low cost rubbish.

I like American Idol, I admit it, and I have watched almost every Survivor since the series started but I watch them for two very different reasons.

I watch Idol because I love singers. I love to sing and I know how tough it is to do well. I watch these kids and I root for them through every verse, every change of phrasing, every catch in the throat, every wind-up and belt it out to the balconies chorus. I don't care who wins, I don't. I have never bought a CD from any of the winners, I hope other people do but the thrill for me, and it is a thrill, is to hear the human voice sing a song well and make me say 'yeah'.

I watch Survivor because I'm nuts.


Joe

I am another reality show watcher and I don't think I'm in the market for a lobotomy. The few I watch entertain me to some small extent. I have to admit I do think there is a glut of them on the TV but I can always change channels or switch off when I've had my fill.

What do you find entertaining about these shows? Seeing the commercials for American Idol leads one to think that it's evolved into insulting Simon before he insults you. And his insults seem less than sincere these days as well. More for the entertainment factor than constructive criticism. In just a few seasons, he's become an exaggeration of himself. But, so did JR Ewing and JJ Evans.

Re: Reality shows-enough.


Thankfully, ours are no longer drawing viewers. The results were something like less than a million viewers for most of them, and even with our small population, it's been made clear these numbers consistently is not enough for a show to keep going.

With only 3 commercial stations, we don't have that choice. It's not uncommon now for all 3 to be showing a reality show at the same time!

I watch! And as quinn1 stated, it's purely for the entertainment. Some of these shows are wearing thin for me and some I wouldn't bother with, but I DO watch them.

My favourite is The Amazing Race. Twelve teams of two, guided by clues, race around the world in a competition to be the first team to arrive at the final pit stop and the prize of a million dollars (U.S. funds). Each week, the last team to arrive at the pit stop is eliminated. (Except for 5 predesignated stops where no one is eliminated.)

They show some amazing footage of foreign lands.

I like the Amazing Race also--where the heck is it anyway..thought itd be starting up again here soon.

Wilso--only 3 stations??? That would be bad but, theres always books

Losing Touch With Reality
Published: February 21, 2004
The Littlest Groom," Fox's new show in which the audience is invited to gawk as a 4-foot-5 man searches for a bride, may mark an exploitative new low in television programming. It may also be the tip-off that reality television has "jumped the shark," TV-aficionado lingo for the point at which programming makes a final leap into witlessness and heads irredeemably into reruns.
It is hard to become too nostalgic for the golden days of reality TV, since the genre has always been a slightly sour cocktail of exploitation, voyeurism and humiliation. But looking back, it now seems as if there was a kind of innocence to the first "Survivor" group to do Darwinian battle on a deserted South China Sea island, or the first "Fear Factor" contestants to munch live bugs on national television.
Reality television, however, demands novelty. So the networks, eyes fixed firmly on the Nielsen ratings, became eager carny barkers, beckoning audiences to increasingly lurid variations on the theme. The deserted island became "Temptation Island," where attractive singles tried to break up "committed couples." On "Fear Factor," bug eating gave way, in a recent episode, to men diving into dumpsters and pulling out pig uteruses and cow stomachs for their girlfriends to eat. American networks are not alone in this race to the bottom. Last year, British television broadcast "Celebrity Detox Camp," which featured famous people getting enemas.
"Jumping the shark," as the Web site www.jumptheshark.com explains, refers to a "Happy Days" episode in which Fonzie was on water skis and tried to jump over a shark, a stunt widely viewed as the beginning of the end for the series. Reality TV is still well represented in the Nielsens, but given its current state, it's hard to imagine that will last for long. Of course, just as reality television succeeded the craze inspired by "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," there is undoubtedly a new genre waiting in the wings. We're sure whatever it is will make for compelling viewing.



Comment:

I wonder is there no limit to the humiliation and degradation that people will suffer in chasing the almighty dollar.

Sheep. What a word to be an insult to describe those who are alike. Less creative is calling everyone sheep.

Survivor Rocks. There is nothing better than Survivor. It is the best. I love watching it because of the interaction of the people. It is what people do every day, except they don't get to vote anyone off--though they wish.

American Idol is awesome. It is entertaining. And Simon is the best. You can't say Simon is tiring out if you don't watch it. I think he wants better this year. Which should be the case.

Amazing Race is great. I would love to be on the Amazing Race. I would love it. But not as much as being on Survivor.

Two sure things I know is that Survivor and American Idol will always be here. I mean Survivor is on its 8th time. EIGHT--most TV shows can't make it that far. Plus averaging 25 million viewers with the competition that is on cable and the like is very good.

The haters are the minority.