Not too many people would admit what I’m about to tell you even if they were being tortured to say it. I love reality tv. Yah, I said it and I’m not ashamed either! There’s just something about them that grabs my attention and sucks me into watching it season after season, and I’m not the only one, people all over the world are gobbling up everything reality tv has to offer.
Its become part of our primetime television routines and is globally accepted ( I include those who are closet reality tv lovers as well) making it another staple in our popular culture, thus earning the #8 spot on the top 12 Pop Culture Phenomenas.
According to Harriet Barovick, a staff writer of the New York Times who wrote “A Brief History of Reality Tv” the first reality tv show took place in In 1973 with An American Family, a 12-part series that brought us the Santa Barbara, Calif. they were the Loud Family, the show “broke new ground with its artful, excruciatingly real portrayal of a family in transition.”
Society has come a long way since then, we now have a variety of reality tv programs that range from finding that one true love with shows like The Bachelor and Bachelorette, to competing against others for money and glory like Big Brother and Survivor to showcasing your talent on shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and Project Runway. The list of shows go on and on, but it’s crucial that as an avid viewer of television know how to sift through the crap reality tv shows that have been popping up lately. Like Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, Bromance, 50 cent: The Money and the Power, and Making the Band are just to name a few. These shows are just based on basic human interests: sex, fame, money and drama. That’s why people watch reality shows that are terrible or maybe even somewhat good. The entertainment factor is key, because we all just want to be amused by other peoples drama and stupidity.
For television stations the creation of reality tv is a gold mine! They don’t have to have over paid actors to star in them, instead they take regular folk like you and me off the street, along with people with different values and opinions, put us on a remote island or a secluded mansion, makes us compete of half a million dollars and watch the sparks fly! ( whether romantic or confrontational) As they count their stacks of money as they arrive at their door by the barrels.
But what’s the scientific reasoning behind reality tv’s allure to the average viewer? Well according to Steven Reiss an Ohio State Univeristy psychologist, he found that:
”Significant motive for watching reality television was social status, which leads to the joy of self-importance. Only slightly less strong was the need for vengeance, which leads to vindication. Some people may watch reality TV partially because they enjoy feeling superior to the people being portrayed. People with a strong need for vengeance have the potential to enjoy watching people being humiliated.”
Ok…so I do enjoy people being humiliated, but only because its funny, not because I’m some vengeance loving villain. Geez he makes us reality tv lovers seem like jilted citizens.
That’s not the only reason why I watch my favourite shows, I love Big Brother because their competitions are insanely creative and fun, I watch America’s Next Top Model because who doesn’t secretly want to live the model life ( minus the anorexic and bulimic factors), Project Runway because designers have the best imaginations and I love fashion, I watch So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew because I wish I could move like those contestants!
So, maybe we watch reality tv because we as viewers can see ourselves in their shoes, or want to be, whether for good or bad reasons. I just hope they keep giving me the good stuff and less crappy reality, a person can only take so much crap.
The following clip is a verbal altercation between contestants on Big Brother 10, I personally hate jessie, trust me he deserves to get yelled at. This fight is common on Big Brother, a lot of he said she said arguments take place in this show that’s what creates the drama, not to mention the rampant paranoia in that house. It’s amazing!
