Is Reality TV A Thing Of The Past?
By JuWan Graham
It was Real World: Portland, a reality show running on its twenty-eighth season. A particular episode always stands out for me. Before I go on, let me jog your memory on Real World (put link in). Yeah, every season has a different intro, but it always has the same words of "7 strangers living in a house…" blah, blah, blah. Include alcohol, no technology, and hormones for these twenty somethings and you have the Real World of every season.
Anyway, back to Real World: Portland. So Nia (one of the castmates) steps in dog poop from Daisey (Johnny and Averey's dog). Nia lets them know that it needs to be cleaned up and the house needs tidying up as well. Johnny and Averey don't adhere to these requests and decide to therefore, act childish. Then all hell breaks loose on the show. Nia hits Averey and Johnny. Averey retaliates by hitting Nia. And from there, it's a bunch of hitting back and forth, yelling, and a bunch of other unnecessary stuff. As I'm sitting there, illegally streaming from my computer, I think to myself, "Wow, it's going down." I'm also thinking, "Is reality tv this desperate?"
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Reality tv has long been a staple in American households for the better part of twenty years. Shows from American Idol and Survivor, to Cops and Keeping up with the Kardashians; reality tv has made an indelible impact on society. But it seems as if it's going too far.
Does anyone notice how the past five years of reality series has gone? Let me name some of the shows (both successes and failures): All my Babies Mommas, Buckwild, the aforementioned Kardashian's, Real Housewives of (Insert name), etc. You get the point. Every one of them has some sort of violence, betrayal, sex, etc. I know that conflict sells, but it's getting ridiculous. It's getting to the point where they are having show's that feature naked men and women. Dating naked is the newest reality show to feature naked people on dates with other naked people. It's like The Bachelor, but with no clothes.
The violence is also getting out of hand as well. I mentioned earlier about the Real World (which was extreme), but there have been numerous episodes of violence when it comes to these shows: New York vs. Pumpkin, CT vs. Adam, K.Michelle vs. Karlie Reid, and the list goes on and on. So the question needs to be asked, is reality tv dying? I don't know if I'm the person to answer, but it doesn't need to come from two women yanking their weave around.
JuWan Graham is an aspiring public relations practitioner with a passion for writing and sports, and currently interning at CBS62 and CW50. He is a senior attending Eastern Michigan University, majoring in Public Relations while minoring in Marketing.
