Trashy TV is not Complete Garbage
With the rise of sitcoms in the 1950s, we fell in love with the artificial. Laugh tracks over comedies and intense fights on scripted dramas made us invested into universes that didn’t really exist.
It was in 1992 when the world was introduced to Reality TV. MTV’s “Real World: New York” introduced the world to a genre of television that had never been seen before. Six strangers were put into a loft in The Big Apple. All they had to do was live their normal lives. The only exception was that they would constantly have a HI-8 Camera watching their every move. Viewers got to see what it would be like if the arguments you got into with your roommates about dishes were filmed for the whole world to see. It was a combination of documentary-style filming with all the tension you would find in your favorite critically acclaimed scripted drama.
An Orwellian Trainwreck
When people saw the intense drama ensuing over catty confessionals and physical fights, reality tv started to become more like documented social experiments. Producers started to wonder how far real people’s limits could be pushed. Bright minds had the idea of “Survivor;” The show where an unlikely group of people from all over the country are put on a deserted island to starve, and manipulate each other for the chance of a million dollars. The genre of competition shows with a combination of slight psychological torture became one of the most popular niches on television. They were the kind of shows where you would read the premise and wonder “who would voluntarily sign up for this?” The next second you would be at the edge of your seat daydreaming about how you would play the game so much better than any of the cast members.
With the era of intense mental challenge shows like Survivor, Naked & Afraid, and Big Brother, we also got the reality shows that pulled on our heartstrings. The Bachelor was released in 2002 with the intention of showing audiences what it might be like to watch real people go through the dating process, fall in love, and then get engaged within just a few weeks. In an era of romantic comedies, the bachelor attempted to show America a real-life Nicholas Sparks-esque love story.
Reality TV had become a genre of television that answered the questions we never would have asked but were glad got answered. “A Simple Life” showed us what would happen if we put two of Hollywood’s most iconic socialites in the midwest and give them minimum wage jobs. Temptation Island made us wonder if your partner would cheat on you if given the chance to be on an island with dozens of other single people. And of course, there was Wife Swap, the show that made you wonder what life would be like if you had a different mom for a week.
The 2007-2008 writers strike catapulted reality tv and resulted in some of the most outrageous content in television history. In October of 2007, we got our first taste of the Kardashians when a 9-year-old Kylie Jenner took a spin on the stripper pole in their Calabasas home. We also got not-so wholesome variations of the bachelor such as Flavor of Love with Flavor Flav on VH1. The world was introduced to Tiffany “New York” Pollard who is now known as one of the most famous reality stars of all time due to her iconic one liners and lack of filter.
The explosion of reality tv in the early 2000s where it seemed like very few people in Hollywood were told no. In today’s day and age I think it might be near impossible for reality television to be at the unhinged level it was at twenty years ago.
Can We Still Call it Reality?
The current state of reality tv is in something I’d like to call the “influencer era.” When people realized a tv appearance could potentially gain you a following along with thousands of dollars in brand sponsorships, it changed the way people acted on television
The Kardashians started as trashy reality stars and now they have built an entire empire based on their social media presence. Every first Monday of May, you will find Kim Kardashian on the steps of the Met Gala. The same woman who in 2007 was famously taking selfies while her sister was in jail for a DUI.
Dating reality shows in particular have turned me off the past couple of years due to the lack of authenticity that has come with the rise of social media. The Bachelor is no longer about people genuinely trying to find love. It’s now about making yourself memorable enough to become a full-time influencer. There’s layers to the facade that has become reality television. In the 90s and early 2000s there was not the same fear of getting “canceled” that exists today. Therefore, people are holding back a lot more than they used to. Reality TV shines a light on all aspects of your personality, including the ugly. If producers only showed the good parts of you, audiences would not be as entertained. In 2013, Big Brother contestant, Aaryn Gries was called out for her racist comments in the house that were caught on the camera’s 24/7 live feeds. People on social media begged for her comments to be shown on the main broadcast due to how cruel she was to other castmates of color and the contestant lost her job shortly after.
Shows with a money prize also don’t seem to matter anymore because it’s only a fraction of what you will make from instagram posts after the show. Many big brother contestants are casted without even knowing what the show’s premise is and most likely should have been casted on love island instead. On Netflix’s “Too Hot to Handle,” the objective is to practice complete celibacy. If the rules are broken, their money prize of $100,000 goes down. However, most cast members of the show do not care about the rules because they know they can probably make good money after the show. Harry Jowsey, a cast member of the first season of Too Hot to Handle has now become a famous influencer with 4.2 million followers on instagram. He was even in the final five of the latest season of Dancing with The Stars. The rise of social media has shifted our reality in many more ways than one.
The Voyeurs
We’ve seen in real time how reality TV can create mainstream celebrities, but what about the people on the other side of their screen? To many, Reality television is that crash on the highway we know we shouldn’t look at but just can’t turn our heads away from. There is something a little sick and twisted about watching real people go through mental and psychological warfare on television all while you’re on the couch eating a bowl of popcorn and drinking a glass of wine.
Some of it is mindless escapism. My mom’s favorite thing to do after a 12-hour shift at the hospital is to sit on the couch and watch a Bravo show. She says they’re the kind of shows where she doesn't have to think too much and she can just decompress. Since being in college, I have found myself watching reality tv more than any other genre of television. I can put it on in the background and I don't have to invest my time into a well-developed plot where I’m screwed if I missed last week’s episode. It’s intriguing how one of our favorite ways to escape reality is to dive right back into it. Rather than watching a carefully curated show with themes and curated character development that is supposed to make a statement on society, you can instead watch real people live life for you.
From Reality TV we can experience real connection. The stars of the show aren’t written in a writer's room and played by A-list Hollywood Actors. They are real people who have lived experiences just like ours. On American Idol Kelly Clarkson showed us that a broke 20-year-old girl from Fort Worth Texas can become one of the biggest musicians in the world. Victims of infidelity everywhere connected with Vanderpump Rules star, Ariana Madix after her partner of almost ten years cheated on her with her best friends. Despite the genre having a bad reputation, there is no denying raw and humane emotion that can come through on the screen when you are dealing with people who aren’t actors.
Reality TV can also be a useful tool in diving into your niche hobbies and interests. I grew up watching shows like Four Weddings and Say Yes to the dress with my aunt and planning my future wedding. A good friend of mine got hooked into The Great British Baking Show during quarantine and now has her own baking business. Seeing real people experience a life that you want to live one day can feel inspiring and motivating at times.
Personally, I’m often ashamed to admit that I enjoy “Trashy TV.” They are the shows I love to hate. I would argue that reality tv can have incredible nuance. Reality TV can open our eyes to unique subcultures that a wide variety of people might not have been opened to. For example, RuPaul’s Drag Race is an emmy-award winning show not only because it is incredibly hilarious but it has also become a staple form of comfort and belonging to the marginalized queer community .
Although reality TV can be deemed as controversial, it works as an interesting time capsule on what society is like at that given time. I don’t think that Reality TV should immediately be disregarded as garbage. Just because it is often used as a form of escapism and considered a mindless watch does not mean we should throw away the whole genre.