I think the reality-show format is brilliant, has endless possibilities. It's documentary! But unfortunately, it's rarely executed well. So it becomes just a scripted show, but without actors.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I think it's a lot easier to put together a reality show than to actually create a scripted show.
I don't want to be one of those 'hour' guys who is all bitter about reality TV. It's as viable as any other genre - when it's great, it's great. However! Reality does a certain thing. It burns quickly, brightly, and then it burns out. You can't repeat them.
Reality shows are all the rage on TV at the moment, but that's not reality, it's just another aesthetic form of fiction.
I have a thing against reality shows. I think they are so fake. I think they are produced before they begin. I think people know where they're going, what they're going to say, what the situation is. These things just don't happen and you know that.
When you film a reality show, it's so jumbled. They shoot episodes in all orders!
I think that reality TV is so bad. It is a tool by the media to not make people think.
Reality television hasn't killed documentaries, because there are so many great documentaries still being made, but it certainly has changed the landscape. There is this breed of gimmicky documentary that is basically a reality show.
There was a time when idealistic folksingers such as myself believed that Reality TV was a programming vogue that would peak and recede, leaving only its hardiest show-offs. Instead, it has metastasized like toxic mold, filling every nook and opening new crannies.
Reality TV is anything but.
What has reality shows got to do with reality? It is beyond unreality; there is nothing real about it.