Wednesday, September 22, 2004

What is it with Reality Shows?

According to the Bravo Channel their show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy got an emmy for best reality show. Which makes me wonder, what is the huge thing with reality shows? Why does it seem that so many channels are maving so many reality shows?

I have puzzled for this question everytime I see an ad for a new or returning reality show. So as you might guess I have puzzled over this for some time. I don't enjoy watching "reality shows" because well to me they don't seem very real. But a show about computer science graduate students would be rather boring if you think about it. Watching a bunch of 20 something's sitting around coding would not be very exciting. I am not against anyone else watching reality shows. However, these conclusions have still not anwsered my original question - why are there so many of these reality shows?

One thought I did have was the reality cheapness of the show. Think about it. Casts for some shows, for example Friends, made what was it a million per episode? (Trust me if anyone offered me a million an episode to be on a show I would jump at the chance. Also, I am totally for actors making that kind of money). A reality show where they give one person a million at the end (or after several shows) is significantly cheaper. Also, reality shows seem to get a lot of outside free publicity - "An American Idol" comes to mind. There was not a talk show or radio show not talking about it.

Plus, reality shows seem to get people involved in ways that other shows can't - or some say. However, I would think that many soap opera's have a similar "suck you in" aspect. I know people who follow some of the shows regerously. But, this blog isn't about soap opera's - so back to the subject at hand - reality shows.

I think the mystery of reality shows will remain hidden from us until we can completely develope artifical intelligence. Then we can create a super brain and ask it these very important questions. Lets just hope it doesn't give us the number 12.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed todays blog. Until next blog, so long!

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