Reality TV: How Far is Too Far?

Reality television shows have become immensely popular. New reality shows are being created and popping up all the time. There seems to be no limits of what people can come up with and turn into a reality hit.

There's the competition type reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Then there's talent competition shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. There's wedding reality shows like Bridezillas and Who's Wedding is it Anyways. There's parenting reality shows like Jon and Kate plus Eight and Nanny 911. Then you've got your dating reality shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. I can't forget about celebrity reality shows like Tori and Dean's Home Sweet Hollywood or Denise Richard's It's Complicated.

I could go on and on listing shows but I won't. The point is just about anything is game for reality TV nowadays. But how far is too far? How much is too much?

Let's take the reality show Cheaters for example. The premise of this show is a girl or a guy suspects their spouse or significant other is cheating on them. Cheaters then does an investigation following around the suspected individual getting footage of them cheating over the course of a few weeks. Then they have a "briefing" with the individual who was suspicious of their spouse and show him or her the footage of the cheater. Conveniently, Cheaters knows exactly where to find them at that moment, so they hop in a van and go confront the cheater.

As you can imagine, the confrontations get pretty explosive! But can you imagine - you suspect your spouse of cheating and then you get confirmation that they are indeed cheating and now the rest of America knows too.

Let's talk about the dating shows. On The Bachelor, a handsome fellow has his pick of a room full of beautiful women. He goes on group dates and holds rose ceremonies trying weed down the crowded room of women to one lucky lady. He then asks her to marry him right there. Sounds beautiful doesn't it? Problem is; how can you fall in love with someone in such a short amount of time in that type of setting. In that type of setting, they aren't dealing with real life issues like family and jobs. Very few of these romances have resulted in successful relationships or marriages.

Then we have shows like The Baby Borrowers which is a new reality television show. It's a spin off of a hit British reality show where teen couples play house going through all the stages of parenting at a record pace. For three days, they are parents of infants, then parents of toddlers, parents of tweens, and so on.

Many have been up in arms about this show because parents are just handing over their children for a few days. I should add though that the parents are in another location watching everything on monitors and can intervene whenever they feel necessary and that there is a nanny shadowing each couple with the children but she only intervenes if the child is in danger.

Are producers taking this reality television craze too far turning just about any aspect of life into a reality show? I think that depends on who you ask but the truth is people are watching these shows and as long as people are watching them, they'll keep producing them. I understand though - it's like driving past a car accident, you know you should just keep on going and not slow down and twist your head around to look. Reality shows are the car wrecks and you should keep on flipping through the channels but you put on the brakes and watch anyways.