Our class has finally entered its last 5 weeks of the semsester which means that we finally get to talk about reality TV---Yay! a guilty pleasure of mine, if I do say so myself. I will admit that I love watching Jersey Shore, I'm pretty sure i've lost a couple brain cells while I watch it, but it is fun and entertaining as hell to watch.
The first article I read was the Poniewozik article which talks about whether or not Reality TV should be accepting or not. I really love what he says at the end of page one, the very last sentence that read "In 1992, reality TV was a novelty. In 2000, it was a fad. In 2010, it's a way of life" (1). I think that is so true. First off, it has been considered to be very popular, with tagging along other network series and classifying itself as its own genre. Not only that, but the article says that it has even been considered now as a professional job. I don't think it is a bad thing if someone wants to be a reality star, and I don't believe that reality TV becoming so popular is a bad thing either! Poniewozik classifies reality TV into two categories--- one where the reality TV is all about competition, and the second one is the ones where it's just for fun watching people do lude, drunken things for a laugh. I have to admit that I watch both types, and I'm ok with that! I love watching shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" because it appeals to me. I used to be a dancer for 10 years, and getting to watch these amazing artists have a shot at becoming a professional dancer and get recognition is an awesome thing. I also watch Jersey Shore because who doesn't love watching people make fools of themselves and also makes you feel better about yourself at the same time. All the more power to them, you know why? They're making more money than I am right now, so good for them!
In the second article that I read by Raphael "The Political Economic Origins of Reali-TV" talks about where reality TV came from, and how it started. Believe it or not, in the beginning of all of the reality TV, it went on a hiatus for a little bit, because it just didn't do well in syndication, according to Raphael. Reality TV came about because of budget costs to the prime time networks. The Screen Actors Guild didn't want to participate in a merge with union workers, and companies and writers went on strike. Raphael states that "economically, the genre [reality tv] fit the needs of producers and distributors alike for cheaper programming" (124). It ended up working out because, Reality TV became popular, and it didn't push network televison series away, but was right up there with the shows as its own genre. It was so much cheaper for networks to make reality tv shows because they didn't need to use star names, and they didn't have to pay as much to edit, or produce the shows, which helped the costs for union workers. I think that reality TV was a good thing to do, because not only does it provide for a fun watch, when you don't want to overthing on a reality show, but it has helped shape new comedy series that uses that reality type look. For example, Modern Family. It is a non-reality tv series, however it seems like it is because the characters use the "on camera interview/confessions" through out the episode. How did that help Modern Family become so funny and successful? Answer: it won them best comedy series this year at the Emmys.
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