Is Reality TV The Reality On TV?

Hello square heads let`s talk about your favourite display box today aka the TV. I have two of them at home not that I watch much of them would I say. A Wii-U and an X-Box One have taken residence on one of them while the second one has strong kids control settings on its remote making sure adults don’t end up watching parents programs. I suppose it is a generation thing too I cannot really watch tv programs on a tablet or a phone so I guess that makes me officially a dinosaur.

So one of those days that I was kept at bay from the TV box I ended up flicking thru Grazia (for journalistic purpose obviously) and bumped on an article that attracted my attention, Bruce Jenner the patriarch of the Kardashians family, one of the most documented TV tribe was apparently about to undertake a radical step in his life and become a woman. Now nothing shocking so far but the bit that got me thinking was that the experience and gradual transformation was to be filmed for a reality show. I have way too much respect for people going thru gender reassignment for not being concerned, this could turn out to be a freak show and probably do a big disservice to a complex issue.

There has been a lot of reality tv shows the last decade across various networks around the globe, now like I said I am somewhat disconnected so I decided to spend a ‘’view ‘’ days surveying my hundred channels plus and see how far this has developed and evolved since the mythical Big Brother Series in the UK.

Oh boy I really needed to catch up, past the disturbing fact that MTV, two channels away from my daughter’s favourite cartoons network is showing real stories about pregnant teenagers called Teen Mom (@ tea time),I have come across a range of programs that I don’t know if they are anchored in reality but not sure if they belong to TV either.

We have been having some seriously sick TV shows going on whether they are current or just repeats, I came across anything from Temptation Island to Who`s Your Daddy or Amish city or the disturbing Littlest Groom.

I can see some of you are smiling and you may even tell me to relax the head a little bit, this is harmless it is entertainment. Maybe but I am not getting it, the genre is growing apparently at a exponential pace and in my own opinion its is probably not a good thing.

Strong editorial voyeurism seems to be the key of success, for example take Naked and Afraid on Discovery. Each week, a new pair of total strangers are faced with the ultimate survival challenge: survive for 21 days together with no clothes or supplies ……. How daft is that?

I cannot help thinking that us westerners must be suffering from a rare optical illusion syndrome somehow, TV motivational speakers would make us believe we can fly while in other part of the globe people know there is a strong possibility they can die, by the way if you are attracted to morbidity it will be broadcasted on Mars One TV Show so watch that ’’space’’!!

If there was any hint of reality shown on our networks you would see what it is to be an invisible migrant surviving in a doomed dinghy, navigating thru an hostile environment desperately making an attempt to better your life before ending up in an unhospitable European refugee camp, you would see reports about the complexity to be a woman in Afghanistan or the reality of what it is to be a child growing up in Mexico.

But I suppose I am naïve and I am getting carried away this would be journalism maybe investigation even not entertainment, this would not be driven by editorial manipulation obsessed by prime time metrics I think it was called information once.

Internet TV could be the alternative but You Tube the kingdom of self-motion-pictures is littered with egocentric footages, actually have you noticed that Yahoo.tv in fact the site in its entirety have gone very tabloid oriented recently, the French version in particular display an editorial line definitely heading south from an intelligence perspective.

Maybe not all is lost in TV land, I kind of like ``No Comment’’ on Euronews, a daily short-trailer where you the spectator, the citizen, the individual is offered a set of images with no subtitles, dubbings or any other journalistic intervention (at least it is not obvious). I guess in fine this is forcing you to make up your mind about what you are watching perhaps even forge an opinion about an event, paradox is that it is actually hard and sometimes unsettling as it is not necessarily front page related you got to think…

So what then? Does this mean your reality, mine or the life of dozen of others is not remotely close to those

AS SEEN ON TV

Photo Credit

Rob Gonsalves

Magic Realism Painting Series

Sources

Too Much TV Get a life

(This is just me saying it is not a book just in case)

Previously Posted On A different Platform