When I learned that Jersey Shore, MTV’s vicious gold mine, was soon to end after its sixth season, I wanted to praise break like David on the Temple! Nothing personal, people-I just can’t understand the money-making logic of pitting seven overtly-tanned strangers á la Real World spend a summer in a share house in the Jersey Shore (sorry!) and spread some fist-pumping, fist-punching, pickle-eating, and drama-making trouble. I never liked the show; I could only digest it for about fifteen minutes. Every time I heard Snooki coif her hair and utter some words in her thick, Brooklyn accent, I felt compelled to ask the God of the Heavens, “Why?”
What tickles your fancy, America? Would you like to become someone’s Big Brother, or prove to the world that you’re a Survivor? Does you or your friends behave like The Real Housewives, or is your singing worthy of becoming an American Idol? Can The Voice in you sway America, or does Toddlers and Tiaras reminisce you of your former prepubescent fame?
Reality shows play out our vicarious dreams through the silver screen. Even though we saw early prototypes of reality television in the 80’s and 90’s (Cops, The Real World, Road Rules) the fad exploded in the 2000’s-and every major channel in the world wanted to cash in on the success. The same decade that brought to us MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and the iPod also brought us Laguna Beach, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Fear Factor, and even more. With reality television, there was no need to waste your money on pleasure trips to California, India, New York and that nasty restaurant along the corner! Reality’s a win-win: you don’t have to waste money -just hours of productivity and dead brain cells-, and companies don’t waste their investments! Yay!
In the 90’s, fame achieved by killing someone, winning a medal, or making a horrible sex tape. In the “naughties”, reality television stuns our fame-hunting passion to the core. In this new decade, reality shows seem to be trying so, so hard to recoup the (guilty) pleasure they desensitized to us in the past. I guess that we’re finally seeing the real deal! (Drumroll, please!)
P.S: Did I forget to tape The Bad Girls Club again?