Reality or Ancient History

I was recently reading in which a comparison between today's reality television and the blood sports of the ancient times was made. The main draw to reality television is public humiliation which is the same exact reason why there were such large crowds for the bloodsports. It seems as time passes the maturity of our society doesn't evolve too much.

Another important point made by the psychologist who wrote the article, is that when people are exposed to voilent and wreckless, they become immune to its severity. It causes viewers to experience more violent and angry emotions when they see violent behaviors.

Monumental Fight

The picture to right (top) is of Brooke Thompson known to most avid reality television viwers as Pumkin. Thompson had a problem with the woman below for most of the time they were together fight for the love of Flava Flav.



The woman to the rightis Tiffany Pollard, but better known as New York. She was a contestant on the first season on Flavor of Love (and later became a contestant on Flavor of Love 2).

When Pumkin was eliminated things finally went down (we had all been waiting for it) and it was a complete train wreck to watch. So enjoy :)

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Misinterpretations

Many people watch reality television and have a character that they favor. Most favor the character because they are "real" or "down to earth." Many of the reality television stars are portrayed to be crazy people who are inches away from ruining their lives along with the lives of everyone around them.



That is not always true. There are some stars that are portrayed to have a drinking problem because Americans love watching people who have more problems than they do. The person may drink in perfect moderation and never cause any drama because of their drinking, but the producers and editors can twist it so that the character is shown having a drink in their hand constantly.

The fine people of America love themselves a good scandal every now and again. It is horrible to think that people to tune in for the sole purpose of watching someone else's life crumble. It is hard for the viewers to not want to watch thought when the show is being promoted on the basis that something catastrophic is going to occur.

The way that reality television works is almost heart-breaking, but it is hard to feel sorry for these people when they know how easy it is for them to get hurt on show of that sort.

Two Sides of the Coin

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Many people do no support reality television because the main basis of most reality shows is people suffering through conflict. The conflicts usually arise when the participants are in complete disarray. The shows are full of sex, obsenities, drinking, and sometimes even violence. This basically shows society that it is perfectly acceptable to participate in these outrageous behaviors.



On the other hand, there are reality shows which promote people bettering themselves. Of course they go through hardships, which may invovlve some less than model behaviors, but our society is in no way perfect. It is inspiring to watch someone overcome adversity to better themselves in an extreme way.

Johnny Fairplay

This is one of my favorite moments ever in survivor history. It was so horrible to say that his grandma had died but it was one of the most clever things I had ever seen as the same time.

It is hard to believe that any average joe that resembled Flava Flav would be able to get the kind of women that are were on his show Flavor of Love 1,2,and 3. The women on his show were beautiful and decades younger than him. Other than being famous for being a member of the group Public Enemy he has nothing very attractive about him.



For example, if I was approached by a very unattractive man who was years older than me, I would never think of him as a dating option. Since Flavor Flav has fame and fortunate these women lost their minds over him. It is completely ridiculous because if he didn't have the status he does, do you honestly think they would want him? He has had three seasons of his show and and has not stayed with anyone of the winners. All his show is doing is getting him more publicity... but no love.

A Sticky Situation

Megan Hauserman (the image above) has been on reality shows such as Beauty and the Geek, Rock of Love 2, I Love Money, Charm School: Rock of Love Girls, and I Love Money 3. After her appearance on all these shows she was known for her tiny dog and her even tinier bikinis. Megan had an obsession over men with money, so it was not a surprise to anyone when Megan aquried her own show called Megan Wants a Millionaire. The show was awkward and creepy, to a point. The men basically worshiped her and spoiled her with extravagent gifts after just knowing her a few days. As horrible as it was I could not stop watching this trainwreck unfold before my eyes.

When I came up here to school I had noticed that I hadn't seen any previews or new episodes appear. I looked it up on the VH1 website where I saw that most of the information about the show had been taken down. I started to do some investigating and soon came across information showing that one of the contestants, Ryan Jenkins, had been charged with assult on his WIFE recently before coming to the show. Soon after the charges were filed his wife was found strangles in a dumpster just outside of LA. Jenkins fled from the US and then later killed himself. All of this happened while the show was airing so the VH1 producers pulled it to protect their reputation.

New Reality Television

There is new breed of reality television that is becoming a huge trend. This type of reality show films people in their everyday life and how they interact. They aren't put in an unfamiliar location or dropped off with strangers. It is simply a camera man follow around one person (or a group of people).

Above is a picture of the Real Housewives of Orange County. The women have a hit show on BRAVO. All the women have to do is go about their daily lives and be filmed. It is interesting to see how these women interact on a daily basis. Of course, like every other reality television show, there is editing done to portray the women in the light that the producers find most advantageous to the ratings.

Business Is Booming!

While I was reading an article in the New York Times, I was able to see that the rapid increase in reality television is due (for the most part) to the hit that the American economy has recently taken. The television stations have a more limited to budget and reality television shows last a full season and require absolute no talent at all. For a station to have any show besides reality television they would need to invest in actors, multiple sets, make-up consultants, etc. When a reality show is produced, there is no need for those expenses. It saves the companies enormous amounts of money and is just as entertaining, if not more, than scripted shows.

Want to read more about this? Visit : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/weekinreview/29carter.html

Last weekend I was watching one of my favorite reality television shows, Frank the Entertainer: A basement Affair, and I was completely shocked when the girl I was rooting for was kicked off for having "risque" photos on the internet. Jenny was smart and had a lot more dignity (or so I thought) than the average skank on thosed reality dating shows. I honestly don't think anyone say that coming, well except for the people who had already seen the pictures.

In the article I read on http://www.buddytv.com/articles/frank-the-entertainer-in-a-basement-affair/jenny-from-frank-the-entertain-33974.aspx
Jenny claims that she was not at all. She completely covered up, VH1 was just exaggerating by blurring it out. She had it as her profile picture for twitter, so how bad could it really have been? Long story short, the producers of reality television shows don't care at all who they are hurting. Jenny now has a reputation for being another girl with naked pictures up on the internet when in fact she did nothing wrong. She was humilitated on national television when she had nothing to be ashamed of. Now everyone sees her in a completely negative light for no reason. It is a risk you are taking when going on to a reality television show.

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