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Thursday, January 25, 2001 9:42:32 PM

Reality? Yeah right.

Reality programming is a disturbing trend that was once the oddity of Cable and has now made it's way to the mainstream networks and I for one am appalled. "Reality" shows symbolize everything that is wrong with television and are really little better than soap operas without the glamorous backdrops. I am not a huge fan of television to begin with, but these reality show just make me sick. My repulsion started with MTV's "The Real World" one of the very first reality shows. I remember watching one episode of "The Real World" and thinking this isn't real, that's not what life is really like. That's the root problem with these shows, they just aren't real, the things you see do not happen in real life, it's staged and it's far from being reality. Just because there is no script and no plot doesn't keep these shows from being staged, fabricated, and manipulated.

I know, you don't believe me, but think about it with me for one minute. In the first "season" of Survivor no one died, no one left sick, no one got seriously injured, no one suffered from serious heat stroke and no one became dangerously dehydrated. Now I know there were tales of the crew eating like kings while the cast had to eat rats and that there was "no intervention" by the crew to help the cast, but step back and think about it for a minute. It doesn't make for good television to let someone die, but if they were really stranded on a desert island, someone probably would have died, it's a simple fact. In Survivor 2, the cast will be fishing from a croc infested river, tell me that's not a recipe for death, but somehow I'm sure they will all "survive."

The man who created Survivor was also the driving force behind the Eco-Challenge adventure race, a race so challenging and physically demanding that at least half of the teams don't finish and they are required to check in at medical stations. These people on the island are only "surviving" the Tribal council process, they are not surviving the elements, there is some physical and emotional endurance involved, but they aren't truly fending for their lives. Tell me where that REALLY happens in reality. Sure it emulates the back-scratching and politicking most of us have to do in our daily lives, but that slight resemblance does not make what we see on Survivor reality. It makes it staged, it is a soap opera without a script, it is no better than "The Real World" and it will suffer the same fate, in obscurity with a small cult following.

Reality programming combines what we like best in TV. It has clear winners and losers, like most sporting events and game shows. They pretend to emulate the human condition (in extreme and staged circumstances) like soap operas. And because of the unpredictability of sticking 15 strangers together it is occasionally funny and just as silly and trite as sit-coms. And we can't forget the staged drama of will they live or will they die and will good triumph over evil like the dramas (one hint, they will live and depending on how you define good, it will win.) Despite all of the good parts it borrow from the other genres of television programming it still isn't compelling.

Viewers are already tired of the reality programming as evidenced by the small market share (and poor concepts) of a host of other "reality" based shows. I could go on and on about the rest of these monstrosities, but for now I'll just leave it at this: the reality show concept has no basis in reality and it stinks.

I know to most of America's television viewers what I just said is great sacrilege. I suppose I should point out that aside from the ONE episode of "The Real World" that I saw in it's first season I haven't seen another show that would even qualify as reality programming. So discredit me if you will but think about it, think really hard for a minute and you'll realize that there is a grain of truth in what I've said.

All that being said, stay tuned to this site for my continued coverage of Survivor 2 to find out if I somehow by watching this poor excuse for network programming I'll somehow be turned into a believer. And for those of you who are diehard fans we've got a few of those who will be offering their commentary as well. Until then...

- Shankster