I Hate Reality TV Essay

Papacharissi and Mendelson (361) examine the notion of gratification among the audience watching reality television shows. They establish that apart from the one-off entertainment viewers get, they also gratify their psychological and social traits. Reality shows make use of ordinary people in doing extraordinary things such as surviving in harsh conditions, winning large sums of money, overcoming extreme fears among others. When ordinary people watch the actions of the participants, it becomes much easier for them to relate to them as their own representatives. Aslama and Pantti say that the shows resemble the political arena where the public vote in representatives to act on their behalf in the great stage of the nation (181).

While Heidecker is correct about people yearning for change in their lives, being a reality TV competitor is not a short change like Heidecker claims. Given, the actual time contestants are on camera is relatively brief and “when the show is over, they’ll come

There are many different opinions when the subject of reality television is discussed. Although reality television shows are thought to be negative they really are just mindless entertainment. Many can argue that these shows are misleading and disturbing. On the other side of this, people merely use these shows for entertainment and allow people to forget about stress in their lives. The cause of these different opinions is a result of different age, gender, religion, and race. The main purpose of these shows is simply to allow people to live vicariously through the characters. This excitement of being in other people’s lives is what makes reality television so addicting to people.

In order to fit in to society, some people may modify their own actions based on the perceived reality of the TV show. It is easy to reality TV programs and the way they are perceived, could affect society as a whole.

While MTV's The Real World places twenty-somethings in unique arrangements in which to live as they would like for several months, CBS's Survivor elicits peculiar behavior from contestants living in unusual circumstances. Despite fundamental differences, the continued success of both The Real World[1] and Survivor[2] illustrates that American viewers love to watch reality television shows with interesting locales, competitions or tasks, and natural personal relations.

Also, in many cases, the characters used in these shows are not ordinary individuals, but highly paid actors that simply recite scripts. Clearly, these shows are inaccurately labeled as “reality television,” and many individual’s time is wasted as a result. Time for many is very valuable. Wasting a person’s time because of an inaccurate description could be just as detrimental as wasting a person’s money because of an inaccurate description. Many people watch these shows to view real life situations, but what they are really viewing is the complete opposite. This cultivates confusion about what is real and what is fake.

Do you know the guiltiest pleasure of the American public? Two simple words reveal all—reality TV. This new segment of the TV industry began with pioneering shows like MTV’s The Real World and CBS’s Survivor. Switch on primetime television nowadays, and you will become bombarded by and addicted to numerous shows all based on “real” life. There are the heartwarming tales of childbirth on TLC, melodramas of second-rate celebrities on Celebrity Mole, and a look into a completely dysfunctional family on The Osbornes. Yet, out of all these entertaining reality shows arises the newest low for popular culture, a program based on the idea of a rich man or woman in search of

Reality TV burst onto the television scene in the early 2000s’s. Shows such as, The Bachelor, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and American Idol are just a few of the hundreds of reality TV shows that are capturing the hearts of Americans on a weekly basis. The effects go unnoticed by the viewers, but as these shows are watched, they begin to take over the personality of the audience and are changing the way people perceive the world today.

A person’s mind is filled from ear to ear, with worries, concerns, and meaningless thoughts, that it is easy to lose track of the importants aspects of life, Such as knowing your values, and remaining true to yourself. Furthermore, when they see someone who has “it better” than them in the real world, they easily are able to get engaged with the the program being presented, even if it is not all fairytales all the time. Watching these programs allows the individual to relax, and establish hope, for the majority. Rarely, it stresses others out due to the fact that they don't have the same lifestyle. Altogether, the viewer will still present similarities between their lifestyle and the reality shows, for better or for worse.

What pleasure do you get from watching a group of people humiliate themselves in the name of television? Media both in the UK and around the world seem to have "discovered" that so-called "reality" shows are very profitable, resulting in a growing string of such shows in recent years. Although not all are successful, many do achieve significant popularity and cultural prominence. That does not mean, however, that they are good for society or that they should be aired. Can you honestly say, that after absorbing the reality rubbish, you have learned something?

Television is no doubt playing a vital role in our lives. Today, almost every home has a television. One of the most popular genres of television programme is the reality TV. Ever since 1950s, Reality TV has evolved from radio game show and talent show to hidden camera show to dating show to documentary-style series. The genre now include unscripted dramas, makeover sagas, celebrity exposes, lifestyle-change shows, dating shows, talent show and just about any kind of possible competition. Now, reality shows are all over the peak viewing time slots on major networks and cable channels. In any night, you can watch “America’s Got Talent," "Dancing with the Stars," "Survivor," "American Idol," "The Amazing Race," "The

For close to a decade, the ethics behind the existence of reality TV have been questioned. While there are ardent viewers of reality TV, researchers and other scholars disapprove them, and claim that the world would have been in a better place. Reality TV shows, especially in America, are extremely profitable to media owners, and this has increased their popularity in the recent years. The main target audience for these shows are teenagers and women, who spend a lot of time discussing about them, even hours after the shows. Most of the reality shows in America and other parts of the world have common ideas. The most fundamental aspect of most reality TV shows is that they display people who go through embarrassing, painful and humiliating ordeals. This is what the reality shows expect their audiences to be entertained, and presumably laugh at the situations the people go through. For this reason and many more, it has been found that they are more detrimental than entertaining to the society, and therefore, the world would be in a better place without them (Pozner 89-91).

But, I don’t want you to fall into the downwards spiral of these bad behaviors. Producers can’t continue to label these shows with the weight of the word ‘reality. Media watch, let’s use our power to make sure any show labelled as ‘reality television’ is just that, reality.

It seems that you can’t turn on a television set anymore without a reality show being on. All networks have recently started to pump out reality shows left and right. And why wouldn’t they? Reality shows are highly rated, with three of them being in the top ten on the Nielsen ratings chart. In fact, these shows are becoming more popular than the sitcoms and dramas aired. New sitcoms and dramas struggle to get attention of the public when going against a reality show. Programs such as The Beast and Go Fish, which critics loved and raved about, are victims of the wrath of reality shows. These shows are now cancelled.

There has been a huge increase in “reality” based television over the last few years. From Survivor to Big Brother it seems that we are constantly being bombarded with a new type of reality television program. But why do people watch these shows? What makes these shows so interesting? One theory brought up in an article in Psychology Today by Steven Reiss Ph.D. and James Wiltz, a Ph.D. candidate at Ohio State University, is that, “reality television allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through automatic fame” (Reiss and Wiltz, 2001). This is the American dream, acquiring fame with little to no work at all. And what better way to do it than on television?