Reality T.V. sucks!

Commentary by Mac Olsen

Oh, for the good old days, when turning on the television meant watching the evening news, family-centred entertainment and talk shows that really had interesting topics. Alas, in the 500-channel universe, those qualities have faded into distant memory. Now, it’s all about the “reality shows” and trash tabloid “entertainment.” I find it on nearly every channel I watch; there’s just no escaping it. It just makes me want to yell, “Reality TV sucks!” and put a DVD on instead. Just turn on TLC (The Learning Channel) and you get ‘A Baby Story’. Who should care about a couple’s emotional roller coaster ride about the impending birth, or their overanalyses of what the experience was like for them? Sure, welcoming a new life into the world is a cause for great celebration, but not over the airwaves. The same goes for the “ . . . and they lived happily ever after” mushy weddings of ‘A Wedding Story’. Who cares about the bride and groom’s nervousness before the big event, or the 1,001 details that have to be dealt with beforehand? If the couple wants to show off their big day, then have someone record it for private viewing later. Channel surf over to A&E and you’ll get ‘Intervention’, where drug addicts perpetuate their self-destructive natures and their families boo-hoo and about the turmoil it has caused them. If everybody in those episodes is that badly off, then send them all to a shrink and out of the limelight where we won’t have to be tortured listening to their sob stories. Then there’s ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’, showing Dog and his family in hot pursuit of fugitives. Last fall, A&E pulled the series because one of Dog’s relatives made a disparaging racial remark, although the broadcaster has since forgiven this and is allowing it on the air again. But there’s something very ugly about seeing someone get his jollies from hunting down fugitives. More to the point, you have to wonder if the accused can get a fair hearing or trial in those shows because their faces are being splattered all over the airwaves beforehand. For home improvement aficionados, there are shows like ‘Flip This House’ and ‘Canada’s Worst Handyman’. The camera takes us inside homes that were stylish in the 1960s and 1970s, have long been in a state of disrepair or were built shoddily in the first place. The people in these shows go on and on about the problems they find, or their plans have to change when somebody doesn’t like something that’s being done, or they whine about the cost overruns they’re incurring. But to whom is this going to matter the most? Only the owners and carpenters, and if the home is such rough shape, then level it and start over. That’s simple enough. There are some interesting and entertaining shows. Take Discovery Channel’s documentaries about construction megaprojects like oil tankers and bridges. They’re great at explaining complex technical subjects in layman’s terms and why things fall behind schedule or become more work than originally thought. These documentaries are more worthy of broadcasting than watching somebody’s home being torn apart, or somebody drooping over a toilet hacking their guts out from drug abuse. However, these high quality shows are the exception in the 500-channel universe. So keep pressing that remote control button and surf passed the “reality shows,” as there’s bound to be something good to watch.