Reality television

I don't understand the appeal of this genre. I really don't. I hope I'm not the only one that feels this way. I thought the point of turning on the television was to escape from reality for awhile? At least it used to be. I get enough reality in my own life. Why do I need to watch someone else's reality? And let's face it, there is nothing really real about shows like "Survivor". Someone is going to rescue the idiot before he gets dead or maimed or does it to someone else, because no one wants that insurance claim. It's "reality" within a set of parameters.

Okay, shows like "The Deadliest Catch", I get. You're watching the realities of a dangerous job that otherwise you would never get to see. That I understand. "Ghosthunters", I also understand. I don't have to watch them to understand why someone else would. Those shows, I would actually file under educational. "Jon and Kate Plus Eight"? Come on, give me a break. They are not the first people in the world to have a lot of kids. I personally know a couple who were both younger children in families that had, respectively, seventeen and twenty-one children. None of those children had more than three of their own. So Jon and Kate were fortunate--or unfortunate, depending on your point of view--to have eight children. Last time I checked, most women were capable of birthing children, and yes, while it is a miracle each and every time it happens, it really isn't something unique, or the world's population wouldn't be what it is today. And, really, people--maybe they wouldn't have the problems they seem to be having if there weren't cameras shoved in their faces every moment of every damn day.

And the celebrity reality shows? Okay, let's think about something: these are people who live in front of cameras and papparazzi all the time. How "real" do you think they're going to be? Even Ozzy Osbourne, who has apparently ingested so many drugs in his lifetime that he is permanently befuddled, while he amuses me to no end, I'm quite certain he is aware of the cameras! Well...in his case, there's a possibility that he isn't...

The point is, the celebrities almost certainly have their on-air personalities on every second that the cameras are on. Reality? I don't think so.

Let's be honest here: how many of us would want to be a reality show, no matter how much we were paid? I wouldn't. How much stress must it be? I would be compelled to watch every word that passed my lips, to be made up at all times, to be dressed to the nth degree every minute, to bite my tongue to bloody ribbons every time my daughter did something wrong...no, thank you.

And I don't need to watch this crap either. If I want reality, I turn the tv off and go do something with my family. Jon and Kate? Sorry about your problems and your issues, and I hope you guys can work them out to your satisfaction and that of your kids, but they are your problems and your issues, and they should stay that way. Really, if you guys wind up in court, how hard will it be to find an impartial jury, now that the entire world has been privy to your drama?