Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Arts & Society

Media Credit: VH1 Reality shows like "I Love New York" are less about the depth of the characters and more about the entertainment value of the drama between them.

Compelling. Provocative. Talked about. Loved. Hated. These are all adjectives that have defined quality television for decades. Programming such as MASH, Seinfeld, and the Sopranos have definitively changed television forever. To replace these magnanimous hits, today's primetime features Californication (a personal favorite), The Office (highly overrated) and Lost, each show representing the best of their network's programming.

Stupid. Inane. Sophomoric. Degrading. Worthless. These adjectives have defined "B" television, especially throughout the past decade. At the essence of these words, then, should be reality television. There has never been a bigger love-hate relationship in popular culture than the "blight" of the reality show. From an objective perspective, are these really a blight on pop culture? Maybe. However, it can be debated that reality TV, from a sheer entertainment and ratings angle, is among the most successful programming to date.

Take your average day on campus. You wake up tired from the tedious hours spent studying (or hung over). Stumbling out of your bedroom, you flop onto the couch and turn on the TV. You watch the same four episodes of sports center. Catch up on how the whole world is going to hell and taking you with it on CNN. Enjoy one of every five videos on MTVU, and maybe catch the second half of a movie on AMC that either you have never seen, or have seen a hundred times. So now we find ourselves at a last resort: an episode of "I Love New York II" on VH1.

"In reality," this is not as much of a last resort as it seems. There were plenty of other channels that you skipped over, and furthermore you may not have even stopped at the above channels. Let's assume for a second that you are not much of a reality fan at all. So why do you keep it on anyway? Well, to begin with, it is fairly mindless television, which is something you want when you are stuck reading some obscure text for hours on end. Also, because it does not take much brainpower to comprehend, you are more likely to stop at reality programming than some regular show that you have never seen before. What exactly is in it for the reality fan that has seen the same episode before?

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools