I’ll admit that I watch the Jersey Shore. The characters have easily passed my test of what’s worth watching. I also watch Pawn Stars, mainly to learn about the business, but also because of the characters.
To think that these people became famous for being nothing more than themselves. And while I believe that most reality television isn’t worth watching at all, I must applaud the formula that television has found in the past decade and exploited.
There once was a time when every season, the networks had to take chances on many forgettable sitcoms and dramas, which only really helped those involved find work for a while. And while not every reality show is a success, it’s certainly less of a gamble than putting up yet another poorly-scripted sitcom that no one watches. So now that it’s reality television first, old-school writers and actors lose out, because they’re getting fewer and fewer chances to make an impression.
Diminishing the chances for writers and talented actors may keep more failed sitcoms off the tube, but it’ll prevent some very talented people from ever catching the break that they need to provide us some actual entertainment. If Friends, Seinfeld, or Cheers were pitched to the network these days, chances are that two of them wouldn’t even make the cut.
At the same time, it’s great that ‘ordinary people’ can find fame on reality TV, which isn’t easily done in other fields, like sports and politics. The question is, how long will it last before these reality shows become more difficult and expensive to produce, and the networks suddenly find themselves accepting pitches from a new batch of talented writers?
Hopefully soon, because in the end, talent wins. Sorry, Snooki.