Not to deny (a) that some non-dramatic, non-informative TV shows are watchable, and (b) that some non-dramatic, non-informative TV shows have been around a lot longer than the current seemingly inexhaustible spate of shows that are commonly referred to as "reality TV." You're right on both counts. This kind of show, properly and carefully conceived and carried out, has its place.
What I object to in the current vogue for "reality TV" is (a) the self-evident fact that it is cheaper to build a set, put a bunch of people in it, train cameras on them and wait than it is to commission a writer to produce a series of scripts, hire a bunch of actors to learn the lines, rehearse and then act the parts, hire a director to tell them how to do it and then *still* have to do the bit with the sets and the cameras and so on, and (b) the other self-evident fact that in these money-obsessed days cheapness outsells everything else. The combination of these two facts means that, unless one of them changes, all scripted, directed, acted programmes, all shows that have a story, will eventually and inevitably be supplanted by reality shows. As a crafter of stories myself, I see that as a bad thing.
However, since objecting to self-evident facts is about as useful as complaining about corruption in government, I don't think my opinion matters a hill of beans in this crazy world.
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Date: 2007-08-27 12:14 am (UTC)What I object to in the current vogue for "reality TV" is (a) the self-evident fact that it is cheaper to build a set, put a bunch of people in it, train cameras on them and wait than it is to commission a writer to produce a series of scripts, hire a bunch of actors to learn the lines, rehearse and then act the parts, hire a director to tell them how to do it and then *still* have to do the bit with the sets and the cameras and so on, and (b) the other self-evident fact that in these money-obsessed days cheapness outsells everything else. The combination of these two facts means that, unless one of them changes, all scripted, directed, acted programmes, all shows that have a story, will eventually and inevitably be supplanted by reality shows. As a crafter of stories myself, I see that as a bad thing.
However, since objecting to self-evident facts is about as useful as complaining about corruption in government, I don't think my opinion matters a hill of beans in this crazy world.