I think it must be true, that there are no new ideas, and that when someone finds something that “works,” innovation stops.  It’s true in lots of things, but most notably (for me) television shows.  Especially on cable.

The formula is the same:  pick some profession, the weirder the better (alligator hunters, truckers who drive in icy places, fisherman on the high seas, people on massive diets, house flippers, ghost hunters, cake or cupcake bakers, dog trainers, etc.); start filming them doing their “jobs;”, encourage them to nitpick at each other on camera, then put all that drama-filled footage on television for the uneducated masses to enjoy.

I have yet to see a reality show where the “drama” is anywhere close to realistic.  There is always nitpicking, outright fighting, snarking about each others’ abilities (or lack thereof) and some sort of “I’m so out of here” crisis in each episode.  There is cursing, which of course is bleeped out, and somewhere in there, we might get to see how they do what they do in their profession.

The thing is, alligator hunting, or cake baking, just might be interesting enough for me to watch it.  Maybe learn about something I have no experience in.  It’s why I watch Dirty Jobs, or Mythbusters.  I learn things.  And I might learn something one of these other shows, but I’m just not willing to sit through all of the enhanced, over-hyped, “drama” that they infuse these shows with.  I don’ t know anyone, honestly, that has that much personal, nitpicking drama in their lives in real life.  I live real life, and while Klown and I have our disagreements and pet peeves, we aren’t spending all of our time telling everyone we know what those annoyances are.  I can’t imagine living a life with the kind of “drama” I see in these reality shows going on in my world.  It would be dreadful.

And in all seriousness, do I really want to hear all the horrible things you want to say about your wife, children, coworkers, etc.?  You are living with these people, and working with these people, and THIS is how you feel about them?  Wow.  Just, wow.

And what bothers me most is that people obviously watch this crap.  They watch a LOT of this crap.  Every time I turn around, I’m hearing a commercial for a new one coming out.  The shows would not survive, and new ones wouldn’t come out, if people weren’t watching them.  And that makes me sad.  Really, can we not find something better to do with our time as a people?  When I die, am I going to regret I didn’t catch that last episode of Teen Mom or Dog, The Bounty Hunter, or am I going to regret I didn’t climb that mountain or take that cruise or learn to make chocolate souffle?

Ugh.  Television was always bad to me.  But these days.  Ick.  No reason to turn the darned thing on to begin with!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2012 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.