One of my favorite topics, Reality TV, developed a new wrinkle. New York Magazine identifies the downfall of reality TV: it's not real. I discovered this article a few months ago and kind of forgot about it. As the Writer's Strike burns on, something must be said of our future propects for prime time entertainment as they chew up and spit out their contestants.
Jay McCarroll's split-second design fame no where near matches the experience one gets from clawing their way through the fashion world from intern to success. The designer's name was instantly known around the world but he couldn't get a job if his life depended on it.
Even while Project Runway champions skill (not that Survivor doesn't champion grunt work as a skill and Big Brother, surviving boredom as a skill), it still manages to drain their subjects of all their integrity in the industry, leaving even their most talented, like Austin Scarlett, to turn down bit parts on crappy sitcoms and once again return to the clawing. Scarlett managed to tear himself into a pretty good job, no thanks to his patrons in the reality TV world.
Perhaps such a fate beats that left to those veterans of the early reality show formula. Eric Nies, who made young girls swoon for a short time on the original Real World, enjoyed a quick career with some exercise videos. Now he's set to air in some ill-fated TV series but he hasn't had acting work since 1995 when he played a "Hip MC" in the Brady Bunch Movie. He hasn't even been invited back to the Real World/Road Rules Challenge for a number of years. Certainly, this was not what he'd intended when he signed up to be one of the first reality stars.
Newer victims of the same formula, like Howie Gordon of Big Brother, may be destined for something darker. On his Web site, Howie has posted video of himself doing a commercial for a shoe store in Syracuse. It might remind one of something that cocky guy from high school sent to everyone to prove that his "career" is really taking off. Unfortunately , he fails to mention that he's only in the commercial because he's working at the shoe store.
Of course not every reality show is out to exploit everyday people just looking for a chance at fame. Some of them exploit those who are already kind of famous for a few more moments. The Simple Life gave us some pathetic role models while Hogan Knows Best bores us with the daily activities of a retired wrestler. And we keep watching.
I will note that our attention has granted success to those savvy enough to use it. Rocco DiSpirito of Top Chef fame used his Bravo connections to sell a cook book. And Nick Verreos manipulated his fifteen minutes into a stronger career than he had before. There has to be a couple happy endings, right?
Anyhow, what viewers should really be considering is how much time they are willing to invest in shows so apt at exploiting people just like them. Or maybe a bit more talented. I guess it is rather similar to those ancient lion's dens where Christians were ripped to shreds. This time the lion is TV.
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