R eality TV is the most interesting phenomena to hit the entertainment world in the last twenty years. And what makes reality television such an interesting facet of modern American pop culture is everyone may outwardly despise the overall concept, yet completely adore one of that concept's subtle nuances.
It's not about the genre as a whole, it's about the individual parts that make up the entire spectrum. It's actually a lot like looking at the NBA: the NBA absolutely sucks, but Steve Nash is cool as hell. Nobody faults Steve Nash for being a part of an organization that is lame because it's the only place he'd ever fit in. He's doing the best he can, given the current situation and environment. And this is a lot like the current situation in reality television.
Actually, I surmise if someone created a show where Steve Nash interviewed and gave roses to potential teammates, the ratings would be astronomical.
But the thing about reality shows is that only the concept of each individual show is important. That's all that matters. Once you know the concept, the rest of the show just sort of falls into place. People don't remember what happened on "Temptation Island," but they know it was about couples who lived on an island with members of the opposite sex, in the hope that they would cheat on their loved one.
The premise is more important than the actual show. For instance, if you know that "America's Next Top Model" is about a group of prissy underfed girls who are forced to live together and do asinine things in order to procure a modeling contract, you can pretty much hypothesize what's going to take place without ever having seen the show. There will be girls posing, followed by a round of cattiness, then crying, the decision of the big winner and an encore of crying.
Just by knowing the premise and something about basic human nature, you can discern the entire outcome of the show and therefore decide if it's something you'd be interested in watching unfold. Because you know the story before it's told, it's just deciding whether or not you want to take the time to see it in its entirety.
Debating about reality television is important right now because a Dutch broadcasting station is going to be airing a reality show with a very controversial premise: a terminally ill woman is going to decide, among three contestants, who will receive her kidneys in a transplant after she goes to the big tulip field in the sky. She gets to choose who will lead out the rest of their life with her organs in their body, and this contest is going to be publicly aired on a European station, despite numerous pleas from the government. This pushes reality television to a whole new level: it's a matter of life and death for nothing but the sake of entertainment.
Before reality TV, we had sitcoms. Sitcoms were entertaining, but they were blatantly formulaic and they didn't really mean anything. When Stephanie Tanner drove Joey's car through the kitchen wall, there were no repercussions. A fictional character got in trouble for five minutes, and neither Joey's car nor the kitchen wall were ever mentioned again; everything returned to the status quo within a week.
But reality shows are different - the results of this show are cataclysmic in scope for those participating, and not in the traditional, "I won 64,000 dollars" sense, but rather in the "I'm going to be able to provide my body with adequate filtration" sense.
It's going to be interesting to see how the show's star chooses a potential kidney recipient. And hey, maybe if ratings are low, she can let Steve Nash choose.
Write to Paul at pjmetz@bsu.edu
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