Reality Check

In general, I think reality shows suck.

If I want 'reality' I can turn off the TV and have my fill of it. If I want to watch someone else's low-budget production, I can go to youtube.com, where people might at least be clever, if not professional. If I want to watch people backstabbing each other for a career opportunity, I can hang out with corporate people.

There are more entertaining ways to watch people verbally snipe at each other. Sitcoms are full of it. The Golden Girls, for example, sniped at each other relentlessly. But you knew they were actors playing roles, and who brilliantly delivered clever, funny lines written by excellent writers.

We all watched radio take its downhill slide when its production budget dropped to nil. 'Talk Radio' was dirt-cheap. People were delighted to phone in and talk trash, argue politics, or tell people their point of view for free. Instead of hearing great tunes, we heard garbage. Painful.

When TV networks flooded the airwaves with trash that made Jerry Springer's guests look good, the pain got worse. It was not a proud moment for TV. I'm sure many producers rejoiced at the thought of not having to pay for a full complement of talented actors and writers. When a new show called Survivor appeared, I rejoiced that we had Tivo and we didn't have to watch anything we didn't want to. Namely, Survivor.

I don't claim to be a total purist. I watched some of the Gordon Ramsey cooking competitions where wannabe head chefs practically spit venom at each other. I stopped watching when the same old theme got too obvious. They established a contestant as the villain early on, and kept them in the competition for entertainment value. Fool me once... (you know the rest).

Lately, I'm being won back. Some shows have shifted from the 'everybody-against-everybody-else' premise. I watched a Food Network Star contest where everybody was nice to each other, and supportive. Tonight I'm looking forward to Flipping the Block on HGTV. Same reason. Sure they all want to win, but that's no need to stomp the others.

It's a theme I hope carries over to 'real' reality. We're all stuck in the same boat. Do you want your fellow sailors to work with you or against you?