Reality Tv

The evolution of television content is currently steadily moving towards reality television shows. The shift from interest in fiction drama series to reality shows has turned the regular television viewers into addicted voyeurs. There have been diverse views on the effect of reality television shows ranging from support to criticism. George Will, in his article “Reality television: oxymoron” believes that reality television is making ordinary people degenerate morally and act stupid in the effort to please a disinterested audience. Reality TV shows are relying heavily on building extraordinary characters or events out of the norm and attract the attention of the audience. Kellner argues that the audience is enticed by “media constructs

Reality television is not just television. It is a form of entertainment that for the most part has no informative aspect to it. It does however offer it’s viewers a chance to escape from reality and real problems for just a brief period. The popularity of reality television all over the world has made reality TV a major player when it comes to real life drama, social conflicts, how to, and competitions. Reality television brings the experiences of the actors into the living rooms of the viewers and allows them to relate the experiences they are seeing on the television to their actual lives and experiences. Reality Television has helped to change culture and society by allowing the viewers to interact and accept the behaviors of the people they are watching and allows the viewers to

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.

Lastly, reality television programs are detrimental to society because they humiliate many of the characters. This is detrimental to the characters because of obvious reasons such as suicide. The effects of this on society are even greater. Many people watch shows such as American Idol because they find it humorous when some of the characters have awful singing abilities, and therefore humiliate themselves. In my opinion, this makes many viewers bullies inside. If an individual watches the misfortune of others to make them feel better about themself, they are a bully. Therefore, reality television indirectly causes people to be bullies. Studies show that if a person has negative thoughts as a result of watching people humiliated on television; they may begin to

In the midst of this generation, reality television has become very popular, it has begun to promote stereotypes. TV critics feel that reality television has been developed to entertain or cheer people up. Some reality shows can be good for individuals who like them, while some of them can be bad, depending on the show. As for opinion, television is the greatest invention that has been made because it helps people learn lessons about life, by educating and to experience new things. It helps to encourage people and can lead them to make important decisions about their futures.

Television was not at its best a decade ago, producers were struggling trying to figure out how it can reach to a broad audience and have them stay. Thanks to reality T.V, the television industry has not been the same ever since. Reality TV always get its viewers on the edge of their chair, from shows like The Bachelor, to other shows like Intervention, “all of them make you sit up and pay attention” (Poniewozik 1). Reality TV shows will do whatever it takes to get people to watch them. From a simple show called The Bachelor talking about love stories, to a show where they show a life of drug addict. They all presents a stories within, and sending a message to its viewers. What makes the viewer watches the show is the messages that the reality tv show trying to reach to its viewers.

In the media, reality TV stars like Snooki and Kim Kardashian are on the rise. Most channels on television have at least one reality show, from following housewives to remodeling homes of real life families. However, there are some reality programs that display bad examples, especially for young audiences that are keeping up with each episode. On MTV people see girls being drunk in public, addicts doing drugs, and young girls raising babies at young ages; these are situations seen on reality TV shows. Jeremy W. Peters’ “When Reality TV Gets Too Real” and James Poniewozik’s “Why Reality TV is Good for us” inform readers about what the general public can view on television and how it affects the minds of children. Reality TV shows such as

There is always a large selection of different types of personalities on each show which gives viewers more possibilities to find a favorite cast member. These people had become weirder as the seasons progressed because the casting directors were being picky and wanted to find spontaneous people instead of people who have self respect and wouldn’t act the way they wanted in front of the camera. Well, the effects of this sequence—by which casting directors must get crazier and crazier with their choices, resulting, once the show has aired and had its effect on the country, in a casting demographic in which one must scrape the barrel that much harder to find people who'd even go near a reality show. (Sullivan, 99)

Today while watching a movie or television show on cable, there were four to five minute breaks of commercials. Most of these commercials consisted of new reality shows. If they were not new, then it was the dates for when they old shows would make a comeback and start another season. Reality television has been in our lives since the 1940s. Although, the shows that were on years ago were much less vulgar than they seem to be now. It appears reality television continues to go down the wrong road. It is seen in many popular reality shows where the characters are almost getting praised for the bad behavior that they show on camera. This is important to know because it is has become a very popular thing for many people to watch, especially young teens. This gives the people in the shows the opportunity to be a role model for teens who might be looking elsewhere other than parents or peers for someone to look up to. It has also been shown that more teens would be interested in signing up to be on a reality show for the chance to gain fame by just about living their life. Reality television has done more harm than good to our society. For the most part, the shows today are showing more things that effects our teens in a more negative way. This left me with the question on does reality television really affect us? There are positives and negative effects on its viewers as well as the effect is has had on the culture of today’s society.

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.

At the end of a long day, relaxing in front of a television, watching a favorite show will hit the spot just right. Comparisons between the audience and the reality stars will take place whether it is noticeable or not. And finally, reality TV will continue to attract an abundant audience do to the constant changing of topics and

In Cynthia Frisby’s "Getting Real with Reality TV" she claims that many people revolve their lives around reality TV. I agree with Frisby because of her idea that viewers are using social comparison to find gratification within their own lives. Frisby also explains how reality TV is a big part of how people live and it’s getting harder and harder to get away from it.

This research will focus on the negative impact of reality TV and analyse facts and examples of influence from reality TV shows. The information provided and studies are referred from year 2000 till present hence it will be based on most recent popular reality TV shows.

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).

To quote Matt Philbin, managing editor of the MRC Culture & Media Institute, “the problem with much of reality TV is that it isn’t about real people or reality at all. These are highly scripted, performed shows, ‘written’ like a piece of fiction and as such they need the classic conflict-driven characters and soap opera melodrama.”