I have become addicted to Reality TV of that I am in no doubt. For a long time, I saw it as the bottom feeder of the medium. The snob in me believed that it added no value to the life of the viewer. It gave the ‘performers’ the 15 minutes of fame they craved, whilst it instilled nothing but lust, envy and avarice to those of us on the other side of the fourth wall. Reality TV comes in many disguises, there are reality shows based around every conceivable action or activity, and I watch them all. Any discerning spirit or will power that allowed me to be selective seems to have gone AWOL. This caught me unawares; it is comparable to putting on weight, one day you just notice that nothing fits like it used to and you are left wondering how you lost control.
How did I go from hating Reality TV to becoming one of its greatest fans? I can’t answer that. My favourite shows on TV have always had two things in common, great writing and great execution – Reality TV has neither. Generally, the Reality TV shows that are spoken about around the water coolers have the element of DRAMA, and I mean that in the colloquial sense of the word, particularly those aimed at the ‘Yoof’. The women on these shows are ready to pull out each other’s hairweave and false nails at the first sign of an affront. The ladies, I use this term loosely, may think they purvey a sense of sexual freedom and identity, when they actually come across as emotional and needy slags with no respect for sisterhood. The gentlemen, again I use this term loosely, come across as juvenile and as Neanderthals. Women to them are no more than objects for their sexual gratification. Additionally, neither party appears to be in gainful employment, yet are able to live the champagne, non-meritocratic life of Riley.
I am now both repulsed and attracted to Reality TV. It has become for me that car crash that I just can’t seem to look away from. I have become a voyeur and I particularly like shows that afford me a sense Schadenfreude, i.e. enable me to derive pleasure from the misfortune of others. I think this says more about me than I care to know. I now realise that it has no value other than as an exercise in time wasting and for that reason, I have decided to step back from it all before it totally consumes me. I have determined that something must be missing from my life for me to be so fixated with the lives of strangers; therefore, I am going out there to find it. I have taken a vow of partial abstinence from Reality TV as going cold turkey is just too hard. I have yet to decide how I will use my spare time, write that book perhaps? Possibly – nevertheless, whatever I do decide to do will be undeniably more enriching.
