VH1’s reality show For the Love of Ray J premiered its second season yesterday…
Really? Brandy’s little brother. He maybe had one popular song and made a sex tape. It is amazing the lengths people will go through to stay famous. Reality TV has definitely given F- list celebrities—if you can call them celebrities—another shot at fame. What is more disturbing is that the global entertainment industry at large has embraced it. Then again…many of us ‘real’ people have as well.
When MTV first introduced The Real World (which is on its 800th or so season) Reality TV became a part of our television lexicon. This surge in turning on the television to watch real people in their daily lives is no longer a fad; it is now a large part of our culture. Not just in the U.S. but around the world.
I’m going to be honest here; I love television and I am a Reality TV junky. But I must throw in a caveat: I don’t watch just anything. It depends on the network, the show, and who’s on it this season.
Take Bravo TV for example, I will watch anything that Bravo airs. Yes, even The Real Housewives of Atlanta. When Project Runway switched to the Lifetime Network I was devastated, mostly because that meant I would have to watch Lifetime. Flipping Out, love it, Jeff Lewis is a nut job and I’m o.k. with that. One day I was cleaning my room and I turned on the TV; the Rachel Zoe Project was on. Now please don’t judge, I made the mistake of sitting down…I watched three hours of the marathon ( I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that). Kathy Griffin’s Emmy Award winning show, My Life on the D-List, is one of the best creations known to man. I can’t help it I am a sucker for her outrageous antics. Lastly, the reruns of America’s Next Top Model, I give anyone full license to judge me on this one. And if anyone has figured out how to “smile with your eyes” let me know.
I watch a lot of crazy mind numbing television, but I do have my boundaries. Boundary #1: Children. If a show involves the taping of children, chances are I will not watch it. If you have been watching or reading any entertainment news lately, you have heard about Jon and Kate Gosslen’s latest battle. They are still trying to hold on to their fame. I find shows like Toddlers and Tiaras to be an odd thing to want to document on television.
Hopefully, no one is foolish enough to think that all Reality TV is real. MTV‘s The Hills took the veil off of that notion years ago. We watch television, we go to movies, and we go to theatre productions to see extraordinary things happen to “ordinary people”. Reality TV is no different. There is nothing interesting about the everyday life of the average person. I don’t want to watch a show documenting my mom’s daily life, but watching Tyra Banks yell at models for not being Tyra Banks or listening to Tim Gunn say “Make it work” for the millionth time offers some unexplainable satisfaction.
For me, there is some intrigue because these “real people” become characters after a while. Many of them make me feel better about the choices that I have made in my life. It is an alternative to real life that we buy into. We have embraced Reality TV as part of our culture because it is not a realistic reflection of our culture. We know that and we like that fact. If the day ever came that reality and Reality TV begin to reflect upon one another…we are in trouble.
-Peace-
