The appeal of reality TV eludes me.

[ClusterFreak]

This is a totally subjective post, I will freely admit. And I don't want to come off as some sort of TV watching snob, but I just don't get it. Above and beyond anything else, my answer to every reason someone might have to explain to me why I should watch Survivor, or The Bachelor, or Wife Swap, or Big Brother, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, or Dancing With The Stars, or newest arrivals like The Singing Bee and it's immediate copycat Don't Forget The Lyrics...is...who cares?

Who cares?

Who cares what these people do? Who cares about their squabbles, their highs and lows, their battles for supremacy....their lives. Who cares.

Other than the fact that these reality show "performers" (read: erstwhile cattle call applicants) have turned their amateur status into professional status because it is economically viable for the networks to make it happen...these people, with stars in their eyes, would almost surely never find their way to network television other than as a member of a studio audience. Or porn shoots in Van Nuys.

I know why the networks make the shows...no big actor contracts, no real scripts, just concepts, so it's way cheaper...but why do people at home, continue to watch? I can understand checking out some of the earliest efforts back around 2000 when Survivor exploded on the scene...but it's 7 years later! I checked out Survivor at the beginning, I have checked out numerous other shows too, including non-contest-driven shows like Dog The Bounty Hunter and even, gulp The Surreal Life. But then, I had to take a pass. It's like, alright I get it...Dog and his crew chase fugitive, catch fugitive, lecture fugitive, rinse, repeat. And after allowing myself to watch washed up celebrities humiliate themselves once or twice, I could no longer stomach the inanity.

Who cares?

I don't get it.

[Eurobabe]

1. I tend to agree with you, TOP CHEF is the only 'reality'

show I watch. And that one has garnered an Emmy, so I don't feel it is worthless. I've watched all three seasons on Bravo.

[Longhorn]

2. I like Top Chef, too,

but I also like the other Bravo competition shows, such as Project Runway and Shear Genius. I like shows where you actually learn a little about how things are done in that business.

[Qanisqineq]

3. I like some reality TV

I am a faithful viewer of Survivor and The Amazing Race. I tend to watch Big Brother, Top Chef, Project Runway, and even America's Next Top Model or Hell's Kitchen sometimes. I have no desire to watch 20 women fawn over some arrogant twit or watch people singing or watch young people getting drunk every night (The Real World). I do like the break from what seems to be the same recycled stories in scripted shows. Some days I don't think they can come up with anything original.

I don't think reality TV should over run the networks like it seemed to back in the early 2000's and some of the ideas for these shows are downright ridiculous. But I also don't get the hatred for reality TV that some people exhibit. Some of these reality shows only air for about 12 weeks once a year. There are so many other channels with scripted TV shows of all kinds -- there is always something else to watch. I don't like most of the scripted shows (or the reality shows) but if there is nothing on TV that I like I just shut it off and do something else.

I can understand why airing reality TV during the summer is lucrative. Normally the networks air reruns and I am less likely to tune in for a rerun than I am for a new episode of Big Brother -- even if I don't really like the contestants.

I live in Korea right now and while they don't have the reality shows with every-day people competing for prizes or living sequestered somewhere for months, they air hundreds of hours each week of shows featuring the same group of celebrities competing in silly contests or just acting ridiculous. THAT is annoying.