Reality Television

Reality Television

I openly admit that I am a reality televisionaholic. Every Thursday night I look forward to Jersey Shore coming on. I could have plans to go out that night but I always make sure that I watch it before I head out. I don't know why but for some reason it makes me feel better about my antics and myself. In the back of my mind I always know no matter how crazy of a weekend I may have I will never be as trashy as the lady's on The Shore.

Reality TV came into my life when I was in high school. I had never really watched primetime reality TV until the first season of big brother. It started as a summer show that I watched with my mom on the nights I wasn't working; from that point on I was hooked. I already watched MTV religiously but I never really cared for the real world I found them kind of boring until the real world Hawaii. That was the first time I had ever seen and openly gay woman with an alcohol problem on television. I soon felt a connection with Ruthie, I wanted her to get help and lead a good life, and I wanted to see she succeeds. Now when I watch some reality TV shows I prefer to see them fail or the drama of possible failure.

There are some styles of reality shows that I can't watch. I was never a fan if the hills or Laguna Beach those shows seemed fake and over worked for my liking. Maryann Haggerty writes in, Reality Television Harmless Entertainment or a Cultural Threat, "It's [Reality TV] dismissed as lowbrow and routinely slammed for being unreal." She starts her writing off with a discussion about how The Hills producers chose to end the show with a reviling display of stagehands and Brody parked in a Hollywood back lot. I remember that episode, one of the few I watched, and how my friends were so upset when they found out it was lightly scripted. I had always assumed it wasn't all real but for the longest time I thought Jersey Shore was 100 percent real until our lecture on reality TV. Ryan pointed out a topic list sitting on the coffee table by the phone. I was heart broken but than Ryan explains that it wasn't a word for word script just subjects that needed to be discussed about with in the week. Since that lecture every week when I watch the Shore I look for the script on the table.

I have noticed that reality TV seems to follow everyday stereotypes more than a scripted show normally does. It is rare to see a successful calm caring black women on a reality TV show. It is more common to see the stereotypical angry black women. Haggerty writes, " if there are 8 or 9 people in a cast 1 will be a black male and 3 will be women." Along with stereotypes we likes to focus on traditional gender roles. IRIS writes in, so Wrong It's Right: the Guilty Pleasures of Reality Television, "The Bachelorette's Ryan, he of the firefighter occupation and white-tiger-painting