Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Reality TV On the Way Out

According to Matt Towery, Reality TV is on the way out. Towery also says that Survivor is the first reality TV show, so maybe you can't take his words at face value. Before Survivor there was both the Real World and Road Rules on MTV, as well as other shows.

You see it all goes back to the Gong Show. The Gong Show revealed that people would happily humiliate themselves for the chance to be on TV. It also revealed that such shows eliminated a lot of the overhead. No writers for example. No Actors. They are very cheap. I think even if their ratings slip, reality tv is here to stay because of it's cheapness.

Towery does bring up the forthcoming real "Beverly Hillbillies" show. "One show that's still in the planning stages has already earned a tongue-lashing on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Georgia Democratic Sen. Zell Miller gave an impassioned speech to his colleagues deploring a proposed show that would move a family of real "hillbillies" out to Beverly -- Hills, that is, in California. You know, swimming pools, movie stars. Miller, proud of his own mountain heritage, correctly pointed out the denigrating and pitiful quality of such drivel." Towery's right on this one--I can't believe they are even considering it.

I don't know. Reality shows don't interest me truth to tell. But even if they did, I wouldn't watch them, for about the same reason I wouldn't have gone to the Roman Coliseum to see Christians torn apart by Lions.

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