The Reality of TV

Newspapers and the like keep proclaiming that reality TV is dead. And yet it still seems to hanging around like 3-week-old haddock under the sink. Lives are no longer governed by months and years, but instead the continuing drudgery of the television listings. No sooner is ‘I’m not a celebrity please keep me here’ over, than Z Factor is starting, and who could forget, 3 weeks of more loosely termed celebrities in a house.

Has no one thought that reality TV actually died a long time ago? It’s all been replaced by spectacle and showmanship. I see little or no reality in showering in front of a glass screen before going to perform increasingly ridiculous tasks to gain money for booze. Well, perhaps there is some reality after all, but it is skewed by the personalities that dominate these shows. We all love to hate them, but aren’t we the ones who cry ‘They are boring me!’ when all they do is sunbathe?

The real reality is that we are entertained by drama. Why else would C4 invest so much time and money auditioning to find the most repulsive groups of people? Arguments make ‘good TV’, so sticking a transvestite with a high pitched giggle in a bedroom with a boozy lad must equal ‘must watch’ viewing.

And people think I’m sad because I liked period drama? Bring back the good old days before we were all deluded into thinking star quality was found in the most brash or fame seeking people on the street.

Big Brother is watching them, and sadly enough, so are many of us.