Reality TV

[Audley Strange]

I'm sure it began with Big Brother.
The appeal? People just like dramaz.

What about stuff like "Opportunity Knocks" and all those other old talent shows?

Yes. But they wre never intrusive on the contestants. They came up, done their shit, then fucked off. It was about the talent of the contestants and nothing else. For instance they didn't stoop to showing all the crap people and embarrassing people. We were spared that crap. The TV execs didn't think we'd want to see that.
It was with Big Brother that they really started making celebrity out of normal people. It was with BB that execs realised we like watching people like you and me on TV. That most people don't care about talent, which is rare which is why those of us adverse to things common and base extol its virtue, but rather see John the bricky from Sussex get a record deal in the face of (albeit contrived) adversity. Stickin' it to the man.

I agree somewhat.

Shows like the X- Factor are very different from something like Masterchef or even Sky's "you've got to dance" or whatever it's called though. There seemed to be a fashion, something which X factor was late to the game with and is still flogging after the game has ended, of ritual abuse of contestants. I don't want to rant about it too much since I'm writing about the social and psychological problems caused by such in something I'm working on, but suffice to say such shows were about the rich and "famous" deriding those who had dreams for the entertainment of those who had lost their souls rather than the talent of the contestant. The new vogue of constructive criticism and encouragement is certainly less tasteless but still relies heavily on parochial and patronising attitudes.

As I've said many times before Reality T.V. is the socially acceptable face of sado-masochistic pornography and tears are the money shot.

[Pappa]

I'd completely forgotten about this thread.

[Robert_S]

I still don't watch it much, are there any new trends?

[Pappa]

I still don't watch it much, are there any new trends?

I don't know. I only really watch Futurama, The Simpsons and occasionally the News. I haven't seen any reality TV in ages.

[Tero]

First one I saw was PBS, the Lloud family. They got divorced.