The lines between reality television shows and our everyday reality have long been blurred. It's not a secret that scenes in popular shows are often scripted, centering around creating drama and action that will bolster number of viewers and network ratings.
The original intrigue of reality shows was that they're about candid, ordinary people like us. Portraying relatable people was the capitalizing concept, the way to connect on a more personal level with viewers. They go through breakups that are real, have fights that are real and go to parties that are real. What used to be a refreshing dose of hilarity or entertainment has become a contrived and often pretentious genre of television that has little to with real life.
Fact versus fiction questions often come into play when watching a show that is supposed to be about real life. It's easy to watch any of the Real Housewives series and wonder, "Do people really live like this?" While it may be wildly entertaining to watch a group of faux friends run around town, drink and shop, it's difficult to believe people really act like this without prodding from show directors. But think about it: would your life be a primetime reality show without the added element of staged events?
Shows like Grey's Anatomy and Lost are, despite their ridiculous and unrealistic plotlines, at least not generally perceived as real by viewers. They film on the set and have a planned script, plot, actors and characters. We can separate Patrick Dempsey from his character, Dr. Derek Shepherd, because one is real and one is fictional.
Recent developments have become hard to relate to. TLC is debuting a show about residents of a trailer park called Welcome to Myrtle Manor. The network also launched a spinoff to My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding called Gypsy Sisters that centers around four gypsy women living in West Virginia.
Shows like these are giving us a contorted sense of reality. We don't live our lives going to opulent balls every weekend, buy thousands of dollars' worth of clothes on any given day or constantly confront enemies. It's not realistic to think life can be lived like that. Life is not set up in a script format. We must make our own decisions and own up to our mistakes. While it's funny or captivating, it's not real.
Wasn't the whole point of reality television to relate to real people?
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