Yes, it’s a good escape

“The Hills”. “Cake Boss”. “Millionaire Matchmaker”. “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”. “18 Kids and Counting”. “The Real Housewives”. These are all legitimate TV shows, with large followings and larger-than-life stars. But what makes them so different from other shows on television is that they are unscripted reality shows.

Some people question why you would want to watch a show about some random person with a fabulous/privileged/fun life. All that you’re doing, they say, is making these people with no talent richer and enabling their horrendous lifestyles.

Not so, I say. Even scripted TV shows have their share of stars with horrific lifestyles (Charlie Sheen, anyone?) who we also make richer with every episode we support. And who hasn’t complained about terrible acting at one time of another? The difference in reality TV is that we aren’t seeing people who act for a living, we are seeing a regular person with a life that we could have.

What enchants us about reality TV is that the people we are watching have real problems just like we do, which don’t always get resolved by the end of the episode. Without carefully crafted jokes, a planned storyline, and a full crew telling actors exactly what to do, we get a real-life mix of drama, comedy, tragedy, and even love.

And with the new and expanding market for reality TV, candidates for a show are appearing everywhere. A polygamous man and his wives? Check. The republican nominee for Vice President of the United States? Check. New Jersey salon workers? Check. Teen mothers? Check. Nowadays, anything the slightest bit newsworthy has its own TV show. Who knows, maybe you could get your own someday. I mean, look at the journey the Kardashian sisters have made since their reality show first premiered: from little-known socialites to multi-millionaires with their own clothing chain, perfumes, and professional athlete beaus.

Plus, who can deny watching even a little reality TV? Possibly the best way to describe these shows is a “guilty pleasure”. They’re the type of shows that you watch after a hard day, curled up on the couch with a tub of ice cream. Boyfriend troubles pale in comparison to Ronnie and Sammi’s realtionship on “Jersey Shore”. Even though you might have financial woes, at least you don’t have to choose between the $25,000 wedding dress of your dreams and the less amazing $5,000 option like shoppers on “Say Yes to the Dress”. We might have sibling troubles, but they can’t compare to anything that happens on “18 Kids and Counting”.

We can relate to the things that take place on every episode of these TV shows. We can see the clear hardships of running a family bakery on “Cake Boss”, the partying and fun on the “Jersey Shore”, the Hollywood life on “The Hills”, and the fabulousity of the leading ladies of America’s cities on “The Real Housewives”. Maybe this is what draws us to reality TV. Some might say that reality shows are taking over television, but it must be argued that this was not an unwanted takeover. For every person that hates reality shows, there are two others that live for them. One thing is for sure: American TV will never go back.

No, it has bad values

“Study hard, but party harder,” was the message that the hit reality television show, “Jersey Shore”, star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi conveyed in her lecture at Rutgers University. According to the Washington Post, more students paid to attend her lecture than they did to attend that of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison, which was held the same day.  Each earned $32,000 and $2,000, respectively.  This is just one example of how reality television is corrupting society, especially the minds of the future generation.

An unscripted documentation of real events featuring ordinary people is the true definition of reality television. However, the genre has become so twisted over the years that it has simply become compiled of shows that feature people being glorified for their vices and mistakes. They are sending out the wrong message to the people who watch them, especially young adolescents/teenagers.

Take the popular English show “Big Brother”, which is about a group of people confined in one house for three months. The participants can win cash by avoiding evictions from the house. 14 years after its creation, “Big Brother” has become a staple for public controversy due to its constant usage of foul language and representation of drugs and sex. Clearly, “Big Brother” presents a lot to learn about good morals and values, right?

Then there’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, which revolves around the life of Kim Kardashian, her family, and the relationships they have with each other. Rather than advocate for having good family relationships, the family members constantly blast each other over small events. The program shows the women of the family constantly shopping, rather than using their excess of luxury to give back to the poor. The show depicts the life of an extremely high-end, spoiled, and unordinary group, which makes it irrelevant to the average family.

Finally, there’s “Jersey Shore”, which is one of the most, if not the most, popular reality television show in the past couple of years.  As a testament to its following, nearly 8.5 million viewers tuned in for the season three premiere of the show in Jan. 2011. The show is supposed to be about the relationship of eight roommates spending their summers at Jersey Shore. However, the show glorifies heavy partying, foul language, and sensual activity. Yet, judging by how many times people enthusiastically talk about it every day in CHS, the actions portrayed in “Jersey Shore” seems to be fine with people.

There’s a fine line between entertainment and unacceptable behavior. The reality television shows of modern day have not only crossed that line, but leaped over it. These shows not only exalt acts of idiocy, but indirectly advocate them to the public as well. In a survey done by eNotes, for every four teenagers, three of them watched and loved reality television. Furthermore, rather than talking about topics that matter for improving our future, such as biotechnology or fuel efficient energies, reality television shows adolescents that partying, drinking, and engaging in sexual activity is fine and accepted. If people do actually follow Snooki’s “study hard, but party harder” advice, who knows what our world will come to?