There are so many reality TV shows now and I'm sure the networks are glad America is addicted because it's so much cheaper to produce these shows than sitcoms or dramas.

I only watch one reality show. Survivor. I am totally addicted to this show. I turn my phone off so as not to be disturbed during the show.

Three of my co-workers and I meet every Thursday at 2 in my office, discuss last weeks show, discuss what we think might happen in that nights show, place a dollar in a jar and choose who will be voted off at tribal council on score cards I created and update every week. Of course, Friday mornings are for water cooler talk about what happened the night before and to brag if we guessed correctly. LOL

Are you addicted to a reality TV show? If so, which one(s)?

What's your take on why this has captured America's attention?

I have a dirty little secret....I have watched most seasons of MTV's The Real World.
I can't even figure out why I like it, it just kind of pulls me in. But at the same time, I could care less for Survivor, Joe millionaire or any of the others.
Why the attention? It was a new genre that captured a lot of attention, and provided a televised escape that I think is starting to finally become old hat. I give it a few more years until there is m no more buzz than the average sitcom.

I watched the newest survivor for the first time last week so I wasn't familiar with any of the players. From what I DID see...Rupert is the man! lol.

Reality shows are becoming the mainstays of the big networks. Most are just so lame I cannot even watch, some I don't even KNOW about.

BigBrother has been the only Reality show I've watched consistently. This last one was the worst. I've watched the "firsts" of other RS. Temptation Island, Bachelor, Bachelorette, Marry a Millionaire, Cupid... There is a new show, "average joe", to see if a beautiful woman can find love with an average/overweight/bald/geeky guy.

alrighty.

What have we become! These shows certainly do nothing for the intellect. All of them are based on who wins/who loses and what has to be done TO win. Is it fascination with the dog-eat-dog realness of it all and how far we as humans will go or how low we will sink to achieve the prize? I guess. either that or there is nothing good on Sundance channel.

Perhaps we have a basic (and base) desire to peek unnoticed into other people's lives, and discover they are more messed up than we are.

what's my take on reality TV?

I wish all these shows would just go away!!!! and now they have a new "joe millionare" (surprisingly called "the next joe millionare")

the only reality TV show I have watched and liked was america's next top model, on upn, for a couple reasons: 1)hot females and 2)it was an ok show.

I watched most of joe millionare, especially after I found out zora was a coloradoan. It was ok, not good, just ok.

Reality t.v. is a misnomer. What could possibly be real about having a camera in your face and knowing that millions of people are going to be watching a "private moment" between you and the person you are vying with others to have supposedly as your mate?

The prompting of foolhardy stunts in order to win a million dollar prize is bogus and disgusting. Eating nasty things that are still alive, doing things you would never dream of doing otherwise--this is not reality by any stretch of the word.

But greed, manipulation, envy and betrayal are very real.

I have never, to my knowledge, known anyone who schemed the way some of these people scheme in order to get what they want. They certainly aren't role models by any stretch of the word, and I hope that there aren't a lot of very impressionable people watching who plan to use this kind of behavior in their own lives.

After having watched one or two episodes of any of them, I can only conclude that television would be better off with professional wrestling in their time slots.

Call me crazy, but I am a Survivor addict as well (have been since day one). Actually, I take part in some Survivor spoiling (meaning we look for clues from the TV/web promos to decide what will happen next week and who will get booted...it's a great "puzzle" for me). I actually frequent a Survivor message board for spoiling and chit-chatting about the show...you might be surprised how many extremely intelligent and "sophisticated" folks are HUGE Survivor fans

I do watch some of the others, namely American Idol and other "talent" contests as I'm hugely into the performing arts. The "talent" is sometimes severely lacking on these shows though (half of the final folks on the American Idol installments were pretty horrible. Don't forget though...being overseas, I am VERY limited in what I can watch as we only really have two channels (and one for sports), one with new shows, one with old shows (like Cosby Show and Bewitched) and family shows (family-oriented dramas, cartoons, etc.). I was intrigued by the Amazing Race before we moved here (promos were just starting when we got stationed here) and guess what...we've been here almost 3 years and they're JUST starting to air the Amazing Race (which I am definitely enjoying.

For me, I'm a people person and like studying people and how they react to different situations and definitely enjoy watching the interactions between people on these shows. Oh and FTR, they DO forget about the cameras after a very short time. One of my best friends and her husband are the best friends of a former Survivor and his wife (no, I am not telling who) and they certainly don't realize that cameras are there after a couple of days. Granted some are terrible (Joe Millionnaire, Temptation Island, etc.), but Survivor and a few other gems are quite good, IMO

P.S. Bela, how are you doing in your office pool?

I like Survivor too. It's the only reality show i can take. The others are ridiculous and not worth watching.

I think this has captured America because the sitcoms they have nowadays are completley bogus with no content and worth.

This Reality Show boom is getting old though. People embarrass themselves on camera just for money and they fall in love with a guy they think is a millionaire.

I watch Survivor, The Restaurant(which is about a Italian restaurant in NYC, following it from conception through opening nights, all the kinks and mishaps of the staff) and The Osbornes!!! The last one is just to indulge my repressed MTV addiction!

I have a problem with the "reality" shows that trick people and put them on the spot. I like the ones whose premise is a game or a challenge. I HATE the ones that involve love triangles or deal with romance (like Temptation Island, Joe Millionaire). Those are petty and disgusting.

Personally the only ones I watch are the Real World, Road Rules, and the Osbornes. All the other ones seem to me like the contestants are selling their soul for a large wad of cash. DANCE MONKEY DANCE!

The closest that I come to watching "Reality TV" is the news. I get completely turned off watching commercials which place people's lives in danger. "Don't try rhis at home?" I'd rather they didn't try it at all. If the remote is handy, I'll switch channels until the commercial is over!

I also watch this one that follows up and coming actors around to their auditions and what all they have to go through to make it. I like the documentary style shows.

Well, I'm the kind of person who has favourite channels and really only peripherally watches television while doing other things, so when I turn on the TV, I just leave it on the same channel for the remainder of the evening. One of my favourite stations is BBC America, so I regularly watch some of the reality television that they air such as Faking It and Changing Rooms.

On American television, I have watched The Osbourne's, American Idol, and a few episodes of Extreme Make-over (which was like watching a train wreck, appalling). I also have seen some episodes of the Real World, Road Rules, Fear Factor and those trashy dating shows like Elimidate. As a rule, if the show is full of negativity, it isn't my cup of tea. I do like the project based shows, though, if that makes any sense...people building things or learning things.

Faking it is probably my favourite.



It's not just in America. I've noticed that the Brits have their fair share, as well, and if I'm not mistaken, Japan has a lot of "extreme games" that could be classified as reality television.

I think each show has a little bit different appeal. I like Faking it, because I find it interesting to see if people can modify their behavior and learn something fast enough to pass for someone else under scrutiny. Will they embrace it or will the change go fundamentally against who they are? I also enjoy the self-exploration that people go through in order to make those changes.

Changing Rooms is great, because they have a lot of ideas for home decorating on the cheap.

I can't wait to watch a bunch of fame seeking, gold digging, European girls shame themselves on national T.V. tonight. The think I like about Joe Millionaire is that it exposes the people on the show for what they are.

I'm an avid Survivor watcher, I think that is the only good Reality T.V show out there [along with Big Brother] that Joe Millionaire crap, is...well...crap.

CP

Exactly. It's not fun to watch artful reality t.v.

Only the really humiliating stuff is fun.

There is no such thing as reality television. The two words together form an oxymoron, the key word for this type of programming being "moron."

Ok. I read that previous post, however the phrase has been accepted into the vernacular as referring to a genre of show. I'm not going to attempt to define that genre because you all know what it is. It included The Real World, Joe Millionaire, Survivor. etc.

Therefore there is such a think as Reality T.V. even though it is a misnomer.

Um, yes, I was not being literal. Of course there is a commonly accepted genre called reality television. Mine was merely commentary on not only the 'oxy' of the idea, but particularly the 'moron' inherent in it...

I think Joe Millionaire is not a bad reality TV show, I guess its idea is quite interesting. Survivor is one of the reality TV shows that I would like to recommand you to watch. I was about to buy the game of Survivor when it came out, but many of the critics rated the game tremendously badly, so I eventually didn't buy it.
But the tv show is awesome