Markley's Blog

Not another one?! If it’s not couples dancing, i’ts couples losing weight. If it isn’t tribes fighting against each other, then we have super model want-to-be’s stabbing each other in the back to be the next super one. In the beginning of the millennium, we had Survivor. Now we have Super nannies and husband swapping wives. When it will it all end? The real reality is that people seem to believe that what they are watching is real. Each show has the same premise. If it’s not sorry cooks doing terrible right before dinner, you have house builders driving in nails with little or no time to spare.

Dance offs, cook offs, runway walk offs, or body weight coming off, the real stars should be the ones sitting in front of the TV believing it all to be unprepared and unscripted. Let’s face it. Reality TV is bringing in big bucks so all the networks are cashing in. Even cable channels are hosting their own. I myself am tired of the same old script with different characters and situations, but the same outcome. When I was growing up I had four channels to watch and saw the birth of UHF. If they had reality TV back then I would have nothing else to watch. Talk about saturating the airwaves. What fun is there when each channel you turn on is a reality show? It’s like watching after midnight and seeing nothing but infomercials. How depressing. Are they running out of ideas? As long as they have viewers watching, they’ll think of other shows. I just hope they run out soon.

But just like all other business if money can be made than why kill the piper? The bottom line is that they are not looking or caring about quality, just content. The only show I feel that is real is the one that you see changes in characters. 340 pound people turning their life around and dropping 200 pounds. Now that’s real and that is inspiring. I feel good when I watch a show like that, instead of a bunch of celebrities fighting amongst themselves each week as the task has the same formulation. Is that real? Do we need another show that just points a finger and makes us feel good about ourselves, while trashing a person.

Money talks. If the network can rake in more of that green paper that has the pictures of dead Presidents printed on it we will continue to see more of the same shows. I remember when sitcoms had live audiences and bragged about it. It must have cut into the profit to much because there is not one that I know of anymore that boast “filmed before a live studio audience”. Now all we get is “Find out what happens next week when… ” Enough already. Lets get real.