Alexus Westberry

Ms. Ingram
UWRT 1102-047
March 16, 2015
What Happened to the Real in Reality Television?
Reality television is defined by Dictionary.com as a genre of television programming
where real people are followed in a situation, game, and other things. I beg to differ. Growing
up watching television, I was always drawn to reality TV, even as a child. The shows that I chose
to watch may not have been age-appropriate at the time, but I was mature enough to handle
shows that were suited for older audiences. As a kid, you do not quite notice things that you
notice when you get older and better understand how the world works. For example, VH1s
Flavor of Love was one of my favorite TV shows, let alone reality shows on TV at that moment.
I had to be about ten or eleven years old and there was no reason why I should have been
watching that show. Initially, my first thought was, Who would ever be THAT attracted to and
in love with Flavor Flav?! There is nothing that the naked eye can identify that would even
minutely attract me to him. That was kind of harsh, but that was my exact reaction when first
tuning in to the show. It never crossed my mind at the time that the show could have been a tad
bit staged or that the women trying to be Flavs main lady had, indeed, auditioned for the show.
As I got older and more socially and culturally aware of things, little situations that would
arise on some of the shows that I would watch and would have originally disregarded began to
become clear to me that something was not right. I am a very realistic and literal person, so I can
confidently say that I know BS when I see or hear it. Referring back to Flavor of Love, I would

always watch the reruns when they would come on TV. Then, I would realize some parts of the
show that seemed made-up or had some influence behind some of the events that would happen.
Most of the girls seemed like they were there for their fifteen minutes of fame, which in reality,
they were. For instance, Deelishis was and is still known for her very large butt. After Flav
eliminated most of the contestants, Deelishis and another girl made it to the end where they had
win over Flavs heart. After the show finished, Deelishis was everywhere from flyers promoting
big parties to wanting to start her own jeans line for women with big behinds. Just that short time
of being on TV got her where she wanted to be in life, which is why I am starting to despise
reality TV, although I am overly obsessed with it. There is a love-hate relationship between
reality TV and me.
My argument is that somehow producers of these TV shows need to put the real back into
it. Long ago when reality TV was first introduced to the world, it was just that, and was
successful in addition to that. I admit, reality TV is one of my many guilty pleasures. Like I
stated earlier, I am completely obsessed with it, but not only the risqu, drama-filled, no-so
reality television. I also love the shows that are positive, honorable, and uplifting, like Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition. However, my focus is on the shows that need some serious revision
and/or deletion. To clarify my argument a little better, I totally understand that the reason
Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives series, and MTVs Catfish: The TV
Show constantly come back with new seasons. My conclusion is that its viewers cannot get
enough of its drama, pettiness, juiciness, and in a way, these shows remove us from our regular
lives while we watch them, not to mention the fact that we tune into the new episodes weekly. At
least, that is what happens to me. But, lets just face it. As humans, we love drama that is not
ours. Many people like to gossip. Reality TV is like visual gossip and that is why we crave it.

I am not a producer, but I believe that ways can be made for reality TV to go back to the
way it once was while bringing in the big bucks and remaining entertaining. I get that things
change and change is good. But, when I can see the fakeness blaring from the television screen,
that is what irritates me. At least make it seem as authentic as possible. Using The Real
Housewives series as an example and I may be wrong, but I do not think that there is any way
that all these women do is slander and criticize each other, fight, party (although most of them
are in their forties and fifties, or at least look it), and shop. I refuse to believe that. I want to see
the real stuff, things that happen to me and them. Real life situations. The candid moments. Raw
emotion besides just anger and bitterness and crocodile tears that were clearly forced out.
While doing some research, I discovered a few articles that somewhat supported my
argument. Many of the authors of these articles centered their attention on what reality TV does
to young girls and their self-image. But beyond that, I wanted to discover the truth behind the
transformation of reality television from what it used to be to what it is now. Let me take it back
to the very first reality TV show to ever air on television called An American Family. This show
was about an upper-middle class family living in suburban California. Although it only lasted for
one season, it was the beginning of a new craze. Shortly after that, networks began producing
these new shows that would document the lives of the cast members. But who would have
thought that in the future, you would have to audition and make things up just to be on a nonscripted (or so we thought) television show? Perfect example. I came across an article that
directly corresponds to my previous statement. Kelly OMara wrote an article that was published
in Pacific Standard titled The Ugly Reality of Creating Reality Television. In that article,
OMara described her experience when she and her sister AUDITIONED to be on a reality show.
It was like anything else you would audition for. Think about when you had to audition for

something. You made sure you said or did something that would leave a mark and keep the
person in charge thinking about you long after the audition. One of the many problems with
reality TV is that too many people are willing to have their lives documented 24/7 (OMara,
2013). I totally agree with that. So, I guess that does make the job harder for casting directors
and producers to choose the perfect future reality star.
Personally, television has a huge impact on the lives of its viewers, especially the impact
reality shows have on its young viewers. I think that the line between what is appropriate and
inappropriate for television is becoming nonexistent. Nowadays, there is almost no censor for
what these shows broadcast. Popular television network MTV appeals to people between the
ages of 12 and 34. Twelve is a tender age for a young girl. So, when she watches Teen Mom,
what ideas does she get from watching that? I am not bashing Teen Mom, but I do not consider it
suitable to be an on-going documented series. If it were a special, one-time, never to be aired
again, documentary, that may be different. However, that is, too, debatable. Since MTV does
appeal to such a young audience, they should maneuver around what they choose to air on their
network. There is no doubt that being a mother before your time is hard. However, on a few
episodes of Teen Mom, there would be that rare case where raising the child seems way too easy,
whether it is because there is help being offered from both sets of parents or that the childs
father actually wants to be a part of the childs life. If a young girl had never seen an episode of
that show and just so happened to watch it one night when one of those special episodes were on,
that could potentially give her the idea that teenage parenthood is easy and that she can do it. we
do not need that coating the minds of our young girls. Most of the time, they (producers) show
the negative things, anyway. What do you see on the front pages of magazines when it comes to
the popular teen moms from the show: Macy, Janelle, Amber, and Farrah?, Teen Mom in Rehab,

Teen Mom Gives Birth to Second Child, Teen Mom Makes Sex Tape, Teen Mom in Jail for
(whatever). There is very little positivity that comes out of this show in particular. These young
women do not know what they are getting themselves into prior to signing their contracts; with
high ratings comes a bigger payday. Money is probably the biggest influence as to why these
women even come back season after season to display their lives on TV.
As I try to put myself in the shoes of producers, a plethora of theories and reasons about
why these shows are constantly being produced begin to make sense to me. Number one, reality
shows costs hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what it would cost to make a scripted
television show with in-demand actors and actresses (Cogdell, Gelsey, and Rivera, 2013). That is
understandable. It sounds a little bit like I am beating up the people responsible for the
production of reality shows, but I cannot put all of the blame on them. The people that agree to
audition to be on these shows and either act like their extreme selves, exaggerated versions of
themselves, or someone they made up in their minds to fit the character that the casting directors
were looking for, are just as responsible for their predictable rise to reality superstardom as the
other parties. Now, since pretty much everyone can get a show and can become an overnight TV
personality, people see that and run with it. I will use one of the articles that I came across while
researching called I Was on Reality TV: Behind the Scenes Secrets of Faking Real Life written
by entertainment writer, Anna Klassen. She briefly discussed her experience attempting to be on
a reality show. She was only filmed for three days to make a pilot for a makeover show. She
admitted to falling in love with the process of creating the pilot, because to her, it was acting,
something she was always interested in. But, why would she consider that to be acting if she was
there to be on a reality show? Continuing on with the story, two things that she said stuck out to
me and was kind of like that ah hah moment. She said that she enjoyed PRETENDING to be

someone that she was not. That is huge. But this right here takes the cake. The last sentence of
the article was revolutionary. There is nothing real about reality TV. What more is there for
me to say? That sums up my whole argument.
I love reality TV. There is absolutely no doubt that. I just wish that producers would
replace grown women fighting each other with women encouraging one another. We do not see
enough of that on TV and I think that is something that needs to be broadcasted more often than
it is. Money and entertainment seem to be the most influential factors when it comes down to
creating new reality shows and keeping them on air. But, personally, I think more revenue will
come in if what is being played all over different TV networks was real, authentic, and raw
material. Quite frankly, the general population who is watching these shows cannot even relate to
these Louis Vuitton handbag carrying, Christian Louboutin high heel wearing, Chanel No. 5
perfume smelling women of high class, or low class, for that matter. We want to see shows that
we can really connect to and make us realize that this is actually real life; not that mess we have
been watching.