What Would Your Reality Show Be Called?

Reality television has really hit it big in the past few years. There has been a small history of the reality television phenomenon before that, but it has seen a huge boom in recent history. The first hint of reality-based television was with the popular hit Candid Camera in 1948, so while reality TV has been around for quite some time, the demand for it has definitely not been as strong as it is now. Of course the first big MTV reality TV hit, that still holds the attention of many viewers was in 1992 with Real World. MTV since then has added many other programs of similar merit to their programming. You don’t have to find reality television on just MTV. They are everywhere. At any given time, I believe there has to be 10 other reality shows.

When thinking of reality television you automatically think of The Simple Life, Real World, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Laguna Beach, The Hills, American Idol, America’s Next Top Model, and Project Runway. These shows are based a lot on look and how far it gets you in the world. These shows focus primarily on the female perspective and showcase how important it is to be attractive to be able to get you somewhere in the world. These shows are part of the reason why young women feel the need to be a size two and create this unrealistic ideal to what a young woman is supposed to look like. It’s terrible and causes so much stress on high school and college aged women. These are the real issues. They should create reality shows on how devastating an eating disorder can be and how it is possible to rise up in the world by not being this 5’10”, skinny blonde girl, that goes around saying “that’s hott” every other word.

The reality TV shows that are based off of celebrities or people that have become celebrities, because of being on television, like many of the MTV stars, have become role models to young women. Now not all of them are bad and have made poor decisions, if I had to choose to look up to Heidi Montag or Lauren Conrad, Lauren would be the better choice. I don’t deny that someone like Paris Hilton has done something with her life, but she is not exactly the best role model for a 13 year old girl, what mother wants their daughter going around calling her friends and saying “Hey Bitch” as a term of endearment. That’s not something to be proud of, how many times has Paris shown the world her “vah jay jay” (to quote Miranda Bailey from Grey’s Anatomy), or been caught in the backseat of a police cruiser? She needs to have her own reality show to find her next best friend. What is this saying to the world? Does she not have any self-respect? Are young girls going to think that best friends are expendable and don’t worry you can treat your BFF like complete shit and in no time you can hold your own competition to see who wants to be next in line?

Now not all reality shows have the snooty, rich, girl complex. There are about 50 different home improvement shows, thank you TLC and HGTV. Trading Spaces, Flip That House, Extreme Make Over: Home Edition, and Flipping Out. Don’t worry, these shows promise you that you can buy any old rundown house in any neighborhood, flip it and make a huge profit off of it.

Oh, and if you have any doubt that you need a little bit of style or can’t dress yourself, or your husband needs a little help kicking his wardrobe into gear, there’s a show for that! If you are desperate enough for a makeover and feel like you just can’t afford paying for one yourself, just go online and fill out an application, or send in some pictures of you on your worst day and you will have no problem getting a visit from Stacey London and Clinton Kelly. Or, if you are really down on your luck, Extreme Makeover will take you from that ugly frog that you are and turn you into a beautiful prince or princess, but don’t forget your sappy, heart-wrenching story to go along with it.

Many of these shows poke fun at people who are not the best looking, the best singers, or don’t have the best talent. American Idol is notorious for putting you in front of cruel judges and making you look like a complete idiot, because you believe you really do have a good voice. Come on, they let these people through three other sets of judges before they throw you in front of the ever loving Simon Cowell, just to boost their ratings. I’m sure these shows have started off on the right foot, not all reality shows have been created to show you how stupid the American people are. The Biggest Loser, for instance really does change the lives of the contestants, they are able to create a better lifestyle and improve their health. Top Chef and Project Runway allow these professionals to showcase their talent and jumpstart their careers. These shows are great and a lot of people do watch them, but they spend a lot of their time watching shows that hold no merit, as well.

I'm sure every one has heard of Perez Hilton, a huge gossip in the celebrity world. He can single-handedly make or break a celebrities career. He in notorious for spreading rumors and gossip about the latest thing a celebrity has done to taint their reputation. Perez knows his stuff; he is on every little mishap as soon as it happens. This isn’t the typical reality television that you may think of, but he discusses and makes popular celebrities and people that are on these shows. Even Perez has made a life at poking fun at reality television stars.

The American Dream is the belief in the freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and bravery. Today, it often refers to one’s material prosperity, which is dependent upon one’s ability and work ethic, and not on a rigid class structure. There has been some talk that all these reality shows have come to molest the idea of the American Dream. They have showed to the world how easy it is to just sit on your ass, fill out and application, and get your 15 minutes of fame that can lead to you getting millions of dollars. This is not what the American Dream is all about, it is about working hard and doing everything you can to get where you want to be and to achieve all that is important to you. How is this achieving the American Dream? Is this what America is coming to? It’s simply pathetic. People are willing to do everything and anything to make their bucks and get their names out there. Why are these television networks just trying to meet quota, instead of coming up with more substantial television shows, they are throwing any reality show out on the television. They are competing with each other to see who can create the better show and gain the better ratings. There have been court cases in which different networks are battling each other, because they have created the same reality television show and just used different names.

An example of this is “CBS and Burnett tried to protect the "Survivor" format against such early knockoffs as Fox's "Boot Camp" and ABC's "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!," but those cases settled. Simon Fuller, creator of the global "Idol" phenomenon, sued "Idol" production partner FremantleMedia and judge Simon Cowell in 2004 over the comically similar "The X Factor." ABC claimed that Fox's "Trading Spouses" stole its concept from "Wife Swap." DreamWorks TV and Burnett argued that Fox's "The Next Great Champ" was a direct rip-off of "The Contender." Howard Stern even claimed that ABC's 2003 Lorenzo Lamas laser-pointer show "Are You Hot" was lifted from his radio segment "The Evaluators."

College students seem to be the biggest viewers of reality television. They seem to have taken pop culture by the horns and have been the ones to embrace it. 76.4% of college students have said that they watch a reality television show on a regular basis.

Reality television has become such a huge part of American culture, no wonder other countries think we are lesser than they are. We spend so much time in front of the television watching mindless television and we get the idea that we can do the same as they are and be as big as the reality stars. It can’t be that hard can it?