Reality TV not reporter’s reality
By Rawly Bransom
editor-in-chief

    Every week I turn on my TV to see another reality TV show.
   The trend started out simply. Shows like MTV’s Real World and Cops were around for years. I can remember shows as The Newlywed Game, which could be considered reality TV.
   Then came Survivor, and my happy, carefree, TV-watching days vanished.
   Now every time I turn around, a new reality TV show pops up. Each show has a different gimmick to entice the viewer to never miss an episode.
   Survivor (I’ll never look at a jungle or beach without visions of an old naked guy) has survived in what seems its thousandth incarnation. The Apprentice stars Donald Trump (and a plethora of oversexed would-be business women and inept would-be businessmen). My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé’s title speaks for the show. Viewers watch American Idol to see an uptight jerk make fun of people and their lack of talent. And The Surreal Life features celebrities no one born before 1980 would recognize.
   Some reality TV shows tailor themselves to a female audience. In Extreme Makeover, experts totally redesign a house or person, and probably family pets in the near future. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy features five gay men who teach fashion-challenged straight men everything they need for their friends to make fun of them.
   Reality TV shows for men include Monster Garage (a psychotic mechanic makes cars into instruments of destruction) and American Chopper (a    disgruntled family makes bikes no one in the target audience could ever dream of affording).
   These shows represent only a small sample of the reality TV shows that bombard our airwaves every day.
   What happened in our society that we no longer like shows that have plots or story lines?
   What happened that watching a guy build a motorcycle or play games on a beach is more entertaining than having a good laugh?
   Even morning radio shows do little more than discuss the latest episode of the previous night’s reality TV show.
   Millions of Americans watch these shows with an almost fanatical fervor, but these shows simply aren’t for me.
   Call me crazy, but I miss regular TV programming. Until this reality fad ends, I’ll get in some quality reading.