For Better or Worse, Reality (TV) is Here to Stay

There's no doubt that the recent writer's strike has had a profound impact on the network and cable channel's new programming. I know "reality programming" was a trend long before the strike, but the strike just seems to have made things worse. American Idol and Survivor set a standard that few clones have been able to attain. The whole gaggle of programs, such as Amazing Race, America's Got Talent, America's Next Top Model, The Apprentice, The Bachelor, Beauty and the Geek, Big Brother, The Biggest Loser, The Contender, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover, Hell's Kitchen, The Hills, Last Comic Standing, Nashville Star, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, and Top Chef have flooded prime time. Enough's enough.

I don't know about you, but I've just about had as much "Reality" as I can stand. I remember when my daughter first started watching The Real World on MTV, and I thought to myself, oh boy, this could be a Pandora's Box. Little did I know.

I miss television shows with plots and dialogue. Not that the reality shows don't have dialogue, but the extemporaneous stuff that comes out of most of the contestant's mouths on The Bachelor isn't exactly Shakespeare, or even Elly Mae Clampett. (See my review of The Bachelor, London Callinghere)

I've totally given up on the prime time game shows. Most of the contestants on Deal or No Deal make Howie Mandel seem, strangely, intellectual. I remember when Howie's main claim to fame was putting a latex glove on his head and blowing it up with his nose. Bob Saget seemed mummified on his game show, 1 vs. 100. I guess going back to the constraints of network TV, and not being able to pepper his act with blue streaks was too much for Bob. Tom Bergeron, co-host of Dancing with the Stars, has proven to have a knack for quick and funny retorts, but then you have to sit through all that dancing, and listen to the, mostly dull, celebrities plead for votes. Because only one or two of the contestants can really dance, the ominous feeling a "foregone conclusion" permeates the show.

American Gladiators was entertaining for about ten minutes. It wasn't any better this time around (the concept was resurrected from TV's graveyard of lousy shows), although I must admit that watching Hulga fly backwards off her tower and land in the pool on her sturdy behind was memorable. TV doesn't get much better than that. I don't care who you are. Thank goodness, Fear Factor finally died the horrible death it deserved. Gross eating contests aren't my idea of entertainment. At lease since the seventh grade.

I guess in these trying economic times, saving a few bucks on the cost of a writing staff and those pesky rehearsals makes sense for TV producers. Their prevailing thought mode seems to be that if you feed the viewing audience a bunch of crap, as they did to the contestants on Fear Factor, they will eventually get used to it. Too bad for us.