Do any of you watch Reality TV? Shows like John and Kate plus 8, or the Dugger Family a family of soon to be 18, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Bachelor, The House or Little People Big World and the list goes on.Well I have to admit that on occasion I have been known to watch John & Kate plus 8....I guess I watched as I was intrigued wondering what it would be like to raise never mind twins but multiples in their case 6 plus their twin daughters. After watching one episode I found it really wasn't that much different from raising children who are close in age. Yes lots of extra laundry and tears to wipe and scratched knees to put a band aid on....but really it is pretty much the same.
So what is the attraction to all this Reality TV? I know there has been research done on this and obviously their is a market for it as more and more Reality shows are popping every season. The latest being about Jockey's. Again what is it...what draws us to a Tuesday night to sit down in front of the television and watch such programs? Are our own lives so boring that we need to look in on someones so called life? Are we that bored and need to watch such mindless drivel?
Some of the show I find an insult to our intelligence and members of the cast should apologize to the public for their displays of bad behaviour. I'm talking about The Real Housewives of Orange County here.... What is so real about these over Botoxed, Cosmetically altered women? I have only seen the adds for the show and that is enough for me to know that it's not a program for me. What do I care about watching some rich spoilt women gallivanting around the country going to the spa, drinking their bubbly and talking trash about each other. No thank you there are some great Documentaries out there that I would far rather watch. Better yet read a book.So this is what we have been relegated .... so called Reality TV. First thing I ask myself is how real is this....Do you really think their lives are like that? I don't want to believe that some people can be that rude, ignorant or egocentric...but I guess they must be.
What is the attraction to shows like the Bachelor or Bachelorette? Why do I give a hoot as to who this person marries? Why does air time have to be wasted on watching someone have a so called intimate dinner with their possible future husband or wife....why...why are we drawn to this?
Let's take the Dugger family for instance...again I haven't watched the show only the advertisements. Yes that is a very large family....something they choose to do....I too grew up in a large family of 12 children....most of my friends came from large families albeit it not 18 but 14...so why is there a program about them? Families can and do amazing things. When you have large families everyone has to pitch in, everyone has chores....grocery shopping was an all day affair for my mom....she would do the major shopping at the grocery store and then her and my dad would go to the bakery often buying the day old bread and then off to the butcher where they would get the hamburger meat the chicken necks and backs and maybe a roast for Sunday dinner. I don't recall there being anything special about doing what you had to do to raise your family. Yes I thought my parents were extraordinary people to provide for us the way they did, but was it TV worthy? I don't know.
If you really want reality TV why aren't those producers out there with the cameras and just filming what goes on in the streets everyday.....do they witness an act of kindness...do they observe an accident....do they see someone just stopping to lend a helping hand.....Reality TV as I understand it is to be non scripted....but I can't believe that some parts of it aren't. How natural are you going to be with a camera following you around all day? Here's the true test....put a hidden camera in someones home for a day...or a restaurant...or a bank.....film the goings on in that environment for a day....see what happens.
If you want reality look at yourself....look at all the amazing things you have accomplished in your life. Look at the adversities you have overcome. Take a good look around you and see the wonderful circle of family and friends you have...that didn't just happen...YOU made it happen...that is reality.
7 comments:
We watch a lot of the "Jon and Kate Plus 8 here -mainly because Maya is totally fascinated with that program. She even has a dvd of their past shows which she loves to watch at bedtime, often sending her off, peacefully, into dreamland. Mandy and I also like that show too as it is cute. The other shows you mentioned, Big World, Little People, we do watch once in a while. But the rest of the Reality shows -not at all!
I think the fascination with Jon and Kate and their family is that they are all those kids in a very close age range.
The family who lived next door to me when I was growing up had 13 children but the ages ranged a lot -like 27 years between the oldest and the baby of the family. I do often wonder how, when those kids were younger, they managed to get the whole family to church every Sunday -especially before the family bought a car. They didn't even have a car until about 1951 or 52! I know the youngest of the family -who is 10 years my junior -was born in the hospital 12 miles from here but I don't know if he was the only one not born at home or if the next to the baby might have been born in the hospital too. Different times, way different circumstances there as well compared to today. I know for a fact when I was growing up, even in families of a more moderate size -like 5 children -the mothers there never did playtime with their children! That's a really recent thing in parenting. Heck, with only 3 kids, I never would have had time to schedule in "playtime" for my kids. THey wree on their own and, after all, isn't that why you bought the toys for them?
I don't watch reality shows like Big Brother or I'm a Celebrity I find them boring. I do like Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice though and I suppose they're reality shows in a way.
Akelamalu well at least with those programs you do get some entertainment and the contestants have to have some talent or the likes there of....
What indeed is it all about? I loathed the five minutes of several shows I watched. Not scripted? I don't think so.
But I do have one guilty pleasure. So you think you can Dance? I really enjoy that show, once they get past the auditions which are really painful to watch, so I don't. Does it qualify for Reality TV? I wonder.
The one that bothers me to no end is the one, can't think of the name, where the guy hollers in the megaphone move that bus. Heck maybe that's the name of the show.
Why don't the get real building these homes. Sure their beautiful show homes, but these families leave what they know as home and come back to something that is fantasy, not reality. A lot of them lose that show home within 2 or 3 years. They don't have the income to support that kind of living. Sad, because the people are in desperate need of help. I guess it's loved by millions here in the US it's been on for years.
We chose not to have TV or Internet at the cabin. We could use satellite, but that would defeat the purpose of living up the lake, at least that is the way we feel. We are busy living and having fun with the simple things. We do indulge with satellite radio and lots of good books. When we go back to town it is easy to get back in the habit of mind numbing TV. Wayne is better about avoiding it, but I fall back into bad habits. - Margy
I generally don't watch much tv except for news programs but I must admit to being addicted to Survivor. A new one starts tonight. I have only missed two and that's because they start in the fall when I'm in Greece and by the time I get back it's too late to really catch up. It was the first reality type show and seems like it's been around forever...ciao
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