Reality television now dominates primetime programming on the broadcast networks and is increasingly taking over cable as well.
The high ratings and low cost of these shows ensures that this type of entertainment, and I use the term loosely, is here to stay.
The reality show genre has not remained static. New boundary-pushing shows have emerged as networks try to outdo each other.
In an unsettling sign of the times, it seems that we have rapidly mushroomed into a reality show culture, with all of the attendant celebrities such as Kate Gosselin, Kim Kardashian, and the cast of “Jersey Shore,” who for no justification are outrageously overpaid and for no reason are ridiculously famous.
In many instances, young people now respond to the question of what career they would most like to pursue with the mind-numbing aspiration of “reality star.”
Of course, reality shows are anything but real. If audiences actually got to witness the makeup, lighting, staged setting, coaching, editing, etc., they would quickly realize to what terrible lengths they were being duped.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A. in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, commentator, media analyst and law professor. He is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and has made several appearances there on various landmark decisions. Hirsen is the co-founder and Chief Legal Counsel for InternationalEsq.com, a legal think tank and educational institute for the study of law in the media. Visit: Newsmax TV Hollywood
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