For making “reality TV” a reality.
MTV (in case you’ve been on a constant Xanax drip since birth) stands for Music Television. MTV had a good thing going with music videos, music news, band interviews, and, in general, shows about—you guessed it—music! So what makes a music TV station put non-music-related reality shows on the air? Brain damage. Every boob tube junkie’s grasp on “reality” was forever changed with the airing of a show called The Real World.
What gets pumped through the idiot box has radically changed since the birth of television. The years have morphed ten channels of simple black-and-white telecasting into plasma simulcasting in HD via satellite. TV used to be my buddy. As a kid I could cuddle up to Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, and The Smurfs. As I grew up, so did my shows: The Simpsons, Friends, and Seinfeld. But somewhere along the line, reality TV ratings began to soar. We traded in our Family Ties for “real” lives. We swapped our Cheers for realistic tears. Shows like The Bachelor, American Idol, Survivor, and Fear Factor began to dominate prime time. Scripted TV went down faster than Jack Bauer could chug a beer.
I hold MTV responsible. Yeah, there were other reality television shows before, but none that left its audience violently drooling like a crack addict waiting for a visual fix, and none that rotted as many brain cells.
Let’s face it, reality TV is just a way for producers to save a buck by cutting out the middleman in television production—you know, the actors and writers. However, the reality becomes blurred when you realize that these shows are usually scripted, doctored, over-edited, over-shot, and reshot. Unfortunately, this “reality” is about as honest as Tony Soprano’s waste management company.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it were quality programming, but who really wants to see eight three-foot-tall circus midgets competing for the Octomom’s hand in marriage?… Wait a minute, that might be good… I hope I TiVo’d that!