If you watch television on almost any weeknight, you will mostly likely come across one or more reality television shows. In-fact the highest rated television show right now is American Idol, which averages over 31 million viewers per episode. It seems these days, the major networks will produce any type of reality show in an effort to attract viewers. The latest craze is with game shows.
Two new game shows have attracted my attention, Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter than Fifth Grader? I think these shows have reached a new low in reality television. Both shows have super perky, hyper, annoying contestants. In the show, Deal or No Deal, the whole concept of eliminating numbers to get the million dollar briefcase is based solely on luck and requires little intelligence. Even more annoying are the contestants family members trying to assist the contestant, I just wish they would shut up.
I cannot believe the lack of intelligence of the contestants on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? One contestant was not sure what country neighbored the United States to the north (sigh). The most annoying part of the show are the contestants high-fiving the kids who help them answer the questions ... it just aint kool.
I remember the good old days of television, bring back the Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Growing Pains, Cosby Show, Family Feud, and Seinfeld. Those were good quality television shows ... ahh those were good times, I must be getting old ;-)
15 comments:
Exactly. The reality of reality television is that it is not real...
In defence of American Idol, it has launched the music careers of many an aspiring singer and made stars out of former nobodies. Seems pretty real to me.
I must admit, I am a fan of Deal or No Deal. It's dumb, pointless and random, but I like it. :) Anyhoo, one part about that show which is unrealistic, is when they ask you what numbers you "would" have picked, had you not made the deal. These numbers are pretty random too, so it's not like those numbers they're saying would have been the same, had the contestant moved on instead of making the deal. You know what I'm sayingggg? And I don't like it when the models talk because they don't say anything constructive and are pretty fake. They should either say something useful or nothing at all. :) /endrant.
I do agree that American Idol has launched the career of many singers, but that does not excuse it from some of their reckless practices. This season, they were accused of being "over the top mean" for the sake of entertainment. A lot of singers chosen to perform in the audition stages were hand-picked because they would make for good television and be easily criticized in-front of the judges. I aint saying be super nice, but they should show some class and restraint.
I do admit to watching American Idol on and off, hopefully they boot off the Sanjaya dude, he is annoying and cannot sing.
You're right, tv is pretty bad these days.I think television producers have probably just run out of ideas or something. That and reality tv must be so much cheaper to produce cause you don't have to pay actors or writers! Just those sneaky little guys in their editing booths...
Yup, your exactly right, the cost of producing reality television is a lot less than real shows. It's interesting how people find the lives of real people more interesting than fake people.
The reality shows I hate the most are the ones where they follow around people ... like Newlyweds, Osbourne family, etc ... Why do people care how these people live? I just don't understand.
What I don't understand the most about Deal or No Deal is the cheering motivation of the audience. What are they so excited about? Imagine watching some random stranger scratching numbers on a lottery ticket and then cheering for him/her at each scratch (hmmm..do you even scratch lottery tickets? or am I making stuff up?)
Yousra, I totally know what you're sayinggg! It's not like a trivia question where they might have kind of known the answer. This is just so random. I don't get it. :(
One reality show concept that I did like was 'Amazing Race', cuz it requires intellect and strategy, and you get to see pretty places around the world. :D
I would have never thought my post could cause bonding over the randomness in Deal or No Deal ... I know what ya'll sayinngggg.
I remember watching the Amazing race episode when they had two Muslims participating, but they were the first one eliminated. I automatically thought conspiracy ;-) .. but anyways, I wonder what they could have on a reality Muslim show ... The challenges of doing wudhu in public places, parking at the mosque, explaining people that you cannot eat gelatin because its not halal. On second thought I am glad they don't have a reality Muslim show ;-)
Someone said Muslim is the new gay in entertainment. It's becoming the thing to have Muslim characters in shows, and Muslim-oriented issues be part of mainstream TV themes.
Ali, I also read that article on "Muslim being the new gay" in Macleans magazine here. Not sure if you read about it somewhere else.
The guy who wrote it has a pretty blatant bias against Muslims irrespective of his dislike for little mosque on the prairie.
Hehe, yeah I know about the guy. I didn't want to bring up all the anti-Muslim bias stuff, just the Muslim/gay comparison, which I found amusing. Good to see you picked up on where it was from.
I didnt have TV for the 5 yrs I was in Toronto :)
Ozair.. mebbe you can cut some TV time and do some arabic. zabardast idea, na?
I dunno Hafsa ... I already have problems posting on my blog consistently.
Ozair... you forgot about Family Matters... that was one of my favourites... too bad it became so corny near the end and got cancelled as result... poor Urkel was never the same... literally... he got very few acting jobs after that... was last seen in Dreamgirls...
Thanks for the Urkel update ... I admit to being a Family Matters fan too ... it was part of the TGIF lineup with Boy Meets World. The whole Steve/Stephan thing got pretty lame at the end, which probably led the cancellation of the show
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