My Guilty Pleasure: Reality T.V.

Written by:  Scotty 

Now I am one of those many people that have fallen in love with The Walking Dead over the last few years.  Something about the writing and having a true story line being acted out has made me more than a lifelong fan of this series, but what is there to watch to fill the void of their six month layoffs?

Like many people these days, I have fallen in love with what? Reality television. 

This is more of a surprise to me, for I have stated numerous times in the past that I would rather read a book (which is where my true passion lies) or do house work than continue to watch reality TV.  It all started back in 2002 when American Idol hit the masses, brining everyone to their TV sets and tying up their phone lines voting for who their favorite performer was the night before.  This was all well and good, but when the FOX Network airs a show that receives higher fan fare than NBC, CBS or ABC, executives are called into an emergency meeting to try to figure out what their networks are doing wrong.

In 2003, the reality craze hit the fan. Every network had their own reality shows and scripted television just flat out went away. By 2004, there were sixteen active reality series being shown a week and I turned off the television and picked up my first book since college.  Now it was not that the shows were disappointing in any aspect, but it was that there was no effort being put into our nightly programing.  This was a disappointment for me, as I was just starting to get some of my young writing chops together.

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Don’t get me wrong, I watched a couple of these shows more than once.  Who did not watch an episode of Survivor, hoping that one of the people would be eaten by a crocodile?  I did.  It never happened and the show quickly lost its appeal for me.  Thank God for cable!  Even though I was not a science freak, or history buff, two channels saved television for me.  The Discovery Channel was just fantastic and had a great yearly event called Shark Week.  I was hooked in more than one way at that point, and the History Channel showed a series called Haunted History.  These may not have been the greatest events on television ratings wise, but I enjoyed the heck out of them. 

Then the strangest thing happened.  Cable came up with their own reality series as well.  The Discovery Channel came up with an original show called Dirty Jobs.  Still hating the fact that all of the good scripted shows were off of the standard stations, I would sit back and watch the misguided adventures of this strange man by the name of Mike Rowe.  Damn you reality TV!  I did not want to admit I was captured by a reality series, but I was unable to look away, telling myself this is a learning show, not a reality series that made me almost walk away from television altogether.  

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Lying to myself, another fun series started up on the History Channel that featured a family run pawn shop called Pawn Stars.  Not ever being in a pawn shop my entire life, I was also intrigued by this series, what people would be willing to part with, and always for a price.  Damn you reality TV!  It happened again and I was more than upset with myself for being taken advantage of.  I mean, it is an educational channel and should not be airing programing to bring in ratings, but no one is above that.  Just look at John and Kate Plus Eight, need I say more?

So now I must admit to myself, that I am a reality junkie.  I do not watch what is on the standard networks, missing out on Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, The Amazing Race, Idol or The X-Factor…I have cable.  I am stuck with the twelve plus million people that are just addicted to Duck Dynasty.  Hey, I know what it is and yea Jack, I am very entertained by a family of rednecks that struck it rich on selling duck calls for a living.  If you have watched the show, you know what I am talking about, yeah.  Just a fun family story slowly unfolds along with along with stories that may or may not be true told by their Uncle Si.  

So, I admit it.  I watch reality TV these days and no longer am just trying to fill the void that The Walking Dead has left during their many month break. I have a new show to sit back and enjoy, guess that means I finally have to swallow my pride and say...thank you reality TV.    

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