The reality of it all

Lately I have been thinking about reality tv a lot for some reason. I guess getting geared up for the new school year also entitles us TV addicts to get in gear for the new season of shows. There are so many reality TV shows now it is unreal. Really, how many of them are full on reality. Probably not a one. I mean is "real life" THAT exciting to watch?? Not so much. If it were we would constantly be spying on our neighbors. *cough* Big Daddy *cough* You have to admit that these shows are produced to some extent... so as real as it is there has to be some direction to them given by the producers. Wether it comes in the form of editing to lead your mind in certain directions or in the case of Survivor, rumour has it the camera men instigate some of the fights/drama by passing along information from one player/survivor to another.

I have to laugh thinking back to when the reality TV scene really came out and the first season of Survivor aired, my Uncle and I were talking about it and he had a few choice words. He said he had heard about "Survivor" and he wanted to tune in to see what it was about. So he said he thought about survival methods and what his time serving in the US Army being at war was like. Probably one of times he, like many other soldiers, had to use many instinctive survival methods. So keep all this in mind he tunes at 7pm and hears the opening music and then he says all he see's is a TV show of a bunch of whiney bimbos in bikini's. I will refrain from sharing with you his choice words after that. But really does the term "survivor" really define what they do out there?

Another thought I have wondered about lately in this reality TV phenomenon is that with the copius amounts of reality tv shows that air these days it really won't take long until everyone in North America has appeared in some form on one of these shows. Think about it. How many reality tv shows are on these days:
1) Survivor
2) Amazing Race
3) Fear Factor
4) Big Brother
5) A Baby Story
6) Trading Spaces
7) Overhaulin'
8) A Wedding Story
9) A Makeover Story
10) American Idol
11) Canadian Idol
12) Inxs Rockstar
13) Extreme Makeover
14) Extreme Makeover Home Edition
15) Property Ladder
16) Moving Up
17) Taking it Off
18) The Bachelor/Bachelorette
19) Beauty and the Geek
20) Perfect Proposal
21) Trauma in the ER
22) Trading Spaces Family
23) So you think you can Dance?
24) In a Fix
25) Clean Sweep

Now 25 shows... times how many seasons and episodes multiplied by how many people appear in each show it won't take long for every person in North America to have been seen on one of these shows. In all honesty 25 is just the start of the list of show there are actually out there. There is probably a TON more shows that I haven't even heard of. To top it off I feel for people who have a real passion for acting & performing. Some of the people struggle to make this there career singing, dancing and acting and the industry is flooded with "reality" tv shows of people who aren't even actors.

But I have to say I truly am one of the suckers that makes these shows successful. I tune in faithfully to my few favorites and talk about them constantly with my friends, co-workers and Big Daddy. Maybe I should start signing up to appear on a few of them.... should we start bets on how long until I am accepted to one of them. Place all the bets you want, my bet goes to Canadian Idol, I sing so terribly awful I would be one of the people they show at the very beginning whom they put in the show just for everyone to laugh at.

At least my kids love the way I sing! At the end of the day I couldn't ask for anything more.