![]() That’s not fun, that’s not watchable, and that’s certainly not profitable. If they were, we’d see people sit around awkwardly in real time for 22 minutes trying to make stilted conversation. Which is why it’s okay that reality shows “aren’t real.” Of course they’re not. Reality isn’t a story it really is just a bunch of stuff that happens. There isn’t a reason for most of the things you’ll experience…no mustache twirling villain lobbing obstacles in your way, no ultimate goal that you’ll need to achieve. Bad things happen to good people and they just happen. You’re always stuck with the boring parts there’s no skipping them. This prevents real life from ever making a good story. And - fun fact - the meaningless stuff will always and must always outweigh the important stuff, in a quantitative sense. You have the important stuff on one side, and the unavoidable but ultimately meaningless stuff on the other. ![]() What I’m getting at is this: your life, anyone’s life, real life, is a combination of components from these two categories. Now think about all of the meals you’ve eaten, the days you’ve spent sick in bed, the time you’ve lost in traffic jams, the numberless uneventful trips to the supermarket, and all the weekend afternoons you spent scrubbing the bathroom floor. There might be a good story in there, somewhere. ![]() Think about what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve failed to accomplish, the relationships you’ve had, the jobs you’ve held, and the people whose lives you’ve affected. It’s the narrative flow that I’m really going to dig into here, because that’s why “reality programming” can never be real. After all, if they didn’t have their dramatic moments, quick zingers and narrative flow, would you still be watching? Perhaps you’d fault a “reality show” for using scripted segments and set pieces, but ultimately they’re doing it for you. ![]() You’re allowed to feel both of those things, but ultimately those are just two different paths that two different shows have chosen to follow in order to achieve the same thing: profitability. Maybe you feel the Duck Dynasty guys play it up to the camera, while Intervention features real people with real problems. “Reality” is low on the list of things to strive for when assembling any given episode. They don’t want to be real, no matter what they may say. Which is why the argument that reality shows “aren’t real” is meaningless. #YEP STORAGE WARS TV#In both cases, whether you’re a yellow-skinned cartoon dad or flesh-and-blood human being who is filmed as you go about your business, you fill the same role: you’re a character in a TV show that wants to keep viewers entertained. But that does not separate him as solidly from any openly fictional creation as one might think. Here’s the big secret, though: that doesn’t matter.ĭave Hester - or any “character” from any reality show of your choice - may well exist. He’s a real person you can find actually doing this in real life. He’s not played by Dan Castellaneta or Matthew Perry or Alan Alda. #YEP STORAGE WARS PROFESSIONAL#Right? In Storage Wars professional pest Dave Hester is a man who really exists, of the same name, who really does buy storage lockers for a living. ![]() Of course the difference between reality shows and my other examples above is that reality shows are populated with people rather than characters. You’ll fool only yourself if you try to think otherwise. The aim of any television show - of any kind, in any genre, from any time period - is singular: to entertain enough people that it remains profitable. The Simpsons aren’t real either, nor were the group of friends who hung around Central Perk, nor were those wisecracking doctors in the Korean War. There’s probably no more tiresome criticism of reality television than the parroted claim that “it isn’t real.” It’s a meaningless comment that misses the point entirely. The heat doesn’t get to me, but I know it takes a toll on the other buyers.
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