Most people acknowledge that reality TV has been around longer then given credit for in 1998 during the writers strike when in actuality MTV is responsible for today's "reality" TV with the "Real World". For those that can remember the first 2 seasons of the real world the show was pretty boring most of the times and left you thinking while it was on "is this it". The "Real World" was innovative at the time by putting conflicting personalities in the same house, hoping they would argue and fight to give the viewers non stop conflict with a bit of emotion thrown in there. By the end of the 2nd season the directors and editor for MTV realized the footage they had wasn't as good as they wanted or could have been because of out side stimuli. To fix this problem and bring about more fighting and arguing they stripped the houses the roommates lived in of TV's, cell phones, computers, and gaming systems but brought in more alcohol and personalities that where the farthest from compatible then ever before. The result was the most emotional season of MTV run reality show to date. The Hispanic HIV positive gay Pedro and the constant verbal battles with the free spirited Soap Box Racer dirt ball Puck turned the whole season into a battle between the two to see who would get thrown off the show. The show had been secretly credited with causing undue stress on Pedro who died a short while after, whether that is true or not it could be possible with all the fighting and conflict going on around the roommates.The way that MTV ran the "Real World" they directed "Jersey Shore", but what could be better for them then having 1 or 2 combative people on cast but to have 7-8 people on cast willing to fight. italy-not-so-keen-on-jersey-shore Now that you have your combative cast go ahead and throw in alcohol and take away any out side stimuli and *poof* there is a receipt for disaster. The same is true about every other "reality" flavor of the month, take away stimulus, add conflicting personalities and there is a season to watch. Its sort of the same thing as when your driving down the road and you see a car accident, you cant help but look and see the carnage. Not that the viewers are cold blooded in any way but it's easier to see other's in trouble than to deal with our own issues. Better by comparison seems to be the level of quality in citizens of our country, this is true by the constant tabloid pokes at reality stars. If they are reality stars then why don't they act like real people? The environment is such that it is nothing left but to get the desired effect and reactions to raise the all mighty ratings, despite the long term effects on viewers.
fight over cigerettes and eating on big brother
If video games and scripted TV cause violence in the viewers then "Jersey Shore" and "The Real World" is responsible for alcoholism and Douche baggery in our country.
I agree with the points you made. At the end of the day these shows are made for entertainment and controversy in order make money. But these types of shows do promote at times which sends the wrong message to the young audience it appeals to. I also question the legitimacy of some of the scenarios show in these types of shows i think some of the controversy is staged and instigated by producers. Of course these shows don't represent how people normally conduct themselves. We know this because the producers of these shows look for a certain types of personalities they can exploit.
ReplyDeleteYour right about how the audience perceives the so called reality TV stars and how they react to them. Every one saw with the popularity of Jersey Shore that the viewers around the country all of a sudden wanted to emulate the shear retardation of those drunken stereotypes walking. To go out to the club or anywhere really and see a bone white guy with blonde hair been going to the tanning booth 5 times and week and died his hair to match Pauly D's hair style was embarrassing to say the least. The fact that the young people in our country became noteworthy because the masses wanted to reproduce the douche baggery of Jersey Shore in every way. For the better of the country as a whole the end of Jersey Shore has come to an end,the useless stereotyping of Italian Americans will be over. At least until the next "flavor of the month" gets pushed down our throats and the simple emulates them as well.
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