Why should we care anymore?
Can anybody seriously raise their hand and admit they legitimately watch “Hogan Knows Best?” With a finite number of blinks in a lifetime, why waste your eyes on a show as totally lame as “Big Brother?” And who the hell is Kristin Cavalleri?
Reality TV is infecting the cable box like Ebola would a Petri dish.
Who are these people that win our undivided attention, make us late for dinner dates and have etched themselves into our nightly schedules?
Though the era of manufactured stars has been thrust upon American television networks since reality’s explosion in 2000, the names, purpose, whereabouts and drama of these “15-minutes-of-fame-ers” are melting together like the decibel levels of an ear-gnawing car commercial.
When will this madness stop you ask? It can’t. It won’t. I’m scared.
Realty TV is bombarding its audience with airtime and spin-offs to trick the viewer into believing they are watching different shows.
For instance, MTV did an impressive job starting with the reality TV show “The Newlyweds” with Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, then smoothly added and transitioned into “Meet the Barkers,” then aired “Viva la Bam’s: Unholy Union.”
Can someone please explain the different between MTV’s, “Next,” “Date my Mom” and “Parental Control?” The logistical differences are understood, but really, when you get down to it, how can you honestly explain to an educated human that they maintain actual differences?
“The Bachelor” into “The Bachlorette” into “Joe Millionaire”; “Flavor of Love” into “I Love New York”; “The Real World” into “Big Brother” into “The Surreal Life”; “Laguna Beach” into “The Hills”; the list could really go on for days.
The problem with reality TV is, yes, it’s everywhere, but more so that these reality stars take themselves much too seriously-these reality stars are, quite frankly, too real for their own good.
Middle-schoolers, high-schoolers and even college students feed into and replicate the actions and conversations watched during primetime America; it seems as though if the conversation doesn’t ensue a screaming match, hair ripped from the skull or a proliferation of swearing and veins popping out of one’s neck, the encounter, in reality’s reality, is a failure.
In actuality, a commonly overlooked aspect of these oh-so desired television reputes is that these ridiculous idiots in front of cameramen and a sea-sick audience aren’t themselves at all-reality stars are the puppets of a hungry audience.
Give me television that tries and goes out of its way to make me laugh, to make me cry and to make me scared. All this accidental and wayward drama from untalented who-haws is exponentially reducing brain cells, wasting time and diminishing the viewer’s personality.
Reality television is the means, and is therefore responsible for producing the socially horrific, annoying-like-a-broken-fire-alarm, headaches of society.
Who the hell is Kristin Cavalleri? The better question, however, is why do you care?
Contact Campus Press Staff writer Victoria Barbatelli at Victoria.Barbatelli@theCampusPress.com.
