Reality Television

What is reality television? Let's start out with a very good definition.


Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted melodramatic or "humorous" situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors. (Wikipedia 1)


I'm not afraid to admit that I am unbelievable obsessed and addicted to reality television. There is just something about watching a group of people fighting, arguing, crying, laughing, etc that is extremely entertaining. I can almost relate reality television to the time where the Romans would assemble at the Colosseum to watch gladiators fight to their death. Although one is fatal and one is not, they are very much fulfilling the same emotions and sensations to it's viewers. People like to view other people as spectacles. People enjoy seeing others experience emotions, and ultimately enjoy experiencing how they act on their emotions. What makes other human beings SO entertaining? I don't know that answer, but I do know that human's enjoy being let into other people's overly dramatic, absurd, emotional and heroic lives. I love learning about different life styles, and the easiest way for my to accomplish this is through reality television. Not only do I enjoy these TV shows for pure entertainment, but there is a tremendous amount of information that you could actually learn from these shows. Just from reality television alone I have learned how I do NOT want to act or come across to fellow human beings, different diseases people suffer from (ex. hoarding), and a variety of careers that I never knew existed (ex. Dirty Jobs). I have also witnessed very shameful behavior from these television shows. I feel like some TV shows condone poor behavior, and this can influence the younger generations in a negative way. Children repeat what they see, and if a child grows up watching trashy, inappropriate television this could influence the way they act. Nonetheless, reality television will always be one of my weaknesses because I enjoy witnessing the crazy things that happen in other people's lives.