Reality TV, I just don't get the attraction.

I'll start this by saying I've never been a huge TV watcher, and I have seldom if ever been an indiscriminate viewer. I choose what I want to watch and almost never watch for the sake of it. To my mind since we in the UK have become the 'proud' possessors of multiple channels, TV has gone down hill fast. Reality TV abounds. Programmes such as Big Brother make couch potatoes of people I always thought were relatively normal. What the hell is exciting about watching a bunch of bored, and often inarticulate, people eat, sleep, talk, scratch and argue? I can get the arguments for free in my own house thank you. Boredom inducing yes, quality TV no! And I don't care if loads of people watch it, when has popularity equalled quality? It's crap and cheap, and that must be the only reason why TV executives continue to conceive and make these types of 'programmes'.

Then we get talent shows. I think major embarrassment and boredom is my reaction. We get the same 'boy' and 'girl' bands churned out with looks being of far more importance than personality, talent and ability. Manufactured bands, manufactured singers, manufactured songs, manufactured styles and 'sexy' videos then follow. Yawn! Give me the voice and charm of someone like Alison Moyet any day. Not a size 8, oh dear, far too big for TV then, never mind that she can sing the rest of the manufactured puppets into the ground. Elton John? Not good enough looking, never mind that the guy can sing up a storm. Freddie Mercury? Buckteeth, never mind that he had the charisma and talent to wow huge crowds of people. Bob Geldof? Too messy and opinionated, never mind that he started Live Aid and kept it going.

All these things appear to do is to encourage some people to think that the only ambition worth having is to appear on TV. That fame, however you get it, is the most important goal in life. That looks and body size maketh the man or woman. That a person's appearance is of more importance than their character, intelligence, personality, knowledge, personal achievements and overall well being. Yes we all get dragged into obsessing over an actor because of his/her looks. I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt and undoubtedly will continue doing so, but what's behind the person is of greater importance to me. I suppose that is my final comment. Reality TV, rather like the instant 'celebrities' it creates, lacks any substance whatsoever. It's fluff, and cheap, often crass, fluff at that. Nothing wrong in enjoying fluff, but do we have to have SO much of it on our TV screens?

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