Post by Keith on May 23, 2007 19:03:49 GMT -8
It seems that over the last few years that the sub-genre of Reality TV known as "Celebreality TV" has been growing into a trend. I was certain that after a few years, it would be just a fad that would fade away. However, I was mistaken. Instead of fading away, it became a trend that has brought the networks mass streams of revenue. There are several reasons these shows have been becoming more of a trend. In a sense, the reasons and factors are related and interlinked with each other.
One reason is something that very much appeals to me is that certain Celebreality TV shows focus on the everyday day lives of celebrities. There are a few prime examples such as The Osbournes where it revolves around the daily lives of Ozzy Osbourne and his family. We learn that asides from their money, they live just like everybody else. They're just the same as us. Only difference is that they have fame, fortune, and celebrity status. Fans of Ozzy Osbourne would want to know what goes on at Ozzy's house and what they're family are like in reality. There's the innate desire to see how celebrities tick.
Another example would be Newlyweds with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lashay of 98 Degrees. That attracted both fans of the two singers. Before the divorce, the show as highly successful. It gave fans the opportunity to see into the daily lives of both singers. The show kept viewers glued to the TV sets. With viewers' eyes glued to the TV screen comes all sorts of businesses wanting to buy up commercial space to advertise their products. There are plenty of themes and twists to these shows just like other Reality TV shows.
One example is the Surreal Life with washed up celebrities trying to get famous again. One season included Trishelle from Real World: Las Vegas and pornstar Ron Jeremy. In a sense it was like Big Brother but they weren't confined to just the house and they had to do certain tasks and challenges. And we're fascinated and curious to see how it's like for celebrities to live under the same room for a certain amount of time, how well they work together, etc. Though it's an interesting take, but I felt that Surreal Life was pretty trashy. But it still stands that for unknown reasons we're fascinated and we want to watch. It's pure psychology.
There was one season of the reality show called Bootcamp on FOX where contestants have to go through a Marine style bootcamp and do military oriented tasks. One season was a celebrity special with celebrities trying to get into the spotlight again. They had celebrities like Lorenzo Lamas from Renegade, Hip-Hop singer Coolio, and David Faustino from Married with Children. Viewers wanted to see what would happen when forced to have to work together. Plus we wanted to see celebrity drama. We wanted to see celebrities argue with each other.
For whatever reasons they wanted to be on one of these shows was good enough for the networks. With washed up celebrities trying to get back into the spotlight, there was a possible cash crop with its leaves ready to be plucked.
While there are good Celebreality TV shows, there are trashy ones that act as a counter-balance. I remember Eddie Izzard during one interview on The Henry Rollins Show is that TV is getting far better at the same time it's getting far worse. For every good show there's a bad show. It doesn't matter how good or bad the show is, as long as it draws viewers in.
For whatever reasons they choose to show up on shows or have their own reality show doesn't matter for the networks. Most of the celebrities that faded away, we as viewers are pretty curious to see what they're doing today. These shows are one such medium in which we can find out. Whatever they do is more than enough to attract viewers like hyenas to a dead carcass. The more viewers that tune in, the more money the networks make. In return, the viewers get all sorts of juicy things to gossip about the next day.
I myself am personally fed up with the amount of Reality TV shows let alone Celebreality TV. I want to watch some "real" TV and not some Reality TV garbage. But as long as the networks have something to make money off, the trend will continue for decades. When one show ends, there will always be another show popping up at another place. Once we look beyond their appearances and see that celebrities are no different and just as fallible as other everyday people, then perhaps the trend will end. In the meantime, it's not going to happen for awhile.
If you want Reality TV, go watch the news. If I wanted to watch some reality TV, I'd tune to CNN or MSNBC because the news covers real life current events. For anybody disgusted with the influx of Reality TV shows, we have to educate ourselves and other people much more. We have to break out of the curiosity and fascination of the lives of other people let alone celebrities.
Besides, with these shows all you're going to get are washed up celebrities desperately trying to whore they ways back into the spotlight. It may seem entertaining at first but you grow sick and tired of it.
www.helium.com/tm/230410/seems-years-genre-reality
One reason is something that very much appeals to me is that certain Celebreality TV shows focus on the everyday day lives of celebrities. There are a few prime examples such as The Osbournes where it revolves around the daily lives of Ozzy Osbourne and his family. We learn that asides from their money, they live just like everybody else. They're just the same as us. Only difference is that they have fame, fortune, and celebrity status. Fans of Ozzy Osbourne would want to know what goes on at Ozzy's house and what they're family are like in reality. There's the innate desire to see how celebrities tick.
Another example would be Newlyweds with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lashay of 98 Degrees. That attracted both fans of the two singers. Before the divorce, the show as highly successful. It gave fans the opportunity to see into the daily lives of both singers. The show kept viewers glued to the TV sets. With viewers' eyes glued to the TV screen comes all sorts of businesses wanting to buy up commercial space to advertise their products. There are plenty of themes and twists to these shows just like other Reality TV shows.
One example is the Surreal Life with washed up celebrities trying to get famous again. One season included Trishelle from Real World: Las Vegas and pornstar Ron Jeremy. In a sense it was like Big Brother but they weren't confined to just the house and they had to do certain tasks and challenges. And we're fascinated and curious to see how it's like for celebrities to live under the same room for a certain amount of time, how well they work together, etc. Though it's an interesting take, but I felt that Surreal Life was pretty trashy. But it still stands that for unknown reasons we're fascinated and we want to watch. It's pure psychology.
There was one season of the reality show called Bootcamp on FOX where contestants have to go through a Marine style bootcamp and do military oriented tasks. One season was a celebrity special with celebrities trying to get into the spotlight again. They had celebrities like Lorenzo Lamas from Renegade, Hip-Hop singer Coolio, and David Faustino from Married with Children. Viewers wanted to see what would happen when forced to have to work together. Plus we wanted to see celebrity drama. We wanted to see celebrities argue with each other.
For whatever reasons they wanted to be on one of these shows was good enough for the networks. With washed up celebrities trying to get back into the spotlight, there was a possible cash crop with its leaves ready to be plucked.
While there are good Celebreality TV shows, there are trashy ones that act as a counter-balance. I remember Eddie Izzard during one interview on The Henry Rollins Show is that TV is getting far better at the same time it's getting far worse. For every good show there's a bad show. It doesn't matter how good or bad the show is, as long as it draws viewers in.
For whatever reasons they choose to show up on shows or have their own reality show doesn't matter for the networks. Most of the celebrities that faded away, we as viewers are pretty curious to see what they're doing today. These shows are one such medium in which we can find out. Whatever they do is more than enough to attract viewers like hyenas to a dead carcass. The more viewers that tune in, the more money the networks make. In return, the viewers get all sorts of juicy things to gossip about the next day.
I myself am personally fed up with the amount of Reality TV shows let alone Celebreality TV. I want to watch some "real" TV and not some Reality TV garbage. But as long as the networks have something to make money off, the trend will continue for decades. When one show ends, there will always be another show popping up at another place. Once we look beyond their appearances and see that celebrities are no different and just as fallible as other everyday people, then perhaps the trend will end. In the meantime, it's not going to happen for awhile.
If you want Reality TV, go watch the news. If I wanted to watch some reality TV, I'd tune to CNN or MSNBC because the news covers real life current events. For anybody disgusted with the influx of Reality TV shows, we have to educate ourselves and other people much more. We have to break out of the curiosity and fascination of the lives of other people let alone celebrities.
Besides, with these shows all you're going to get are washed up celebrities desperately trying to whore they ways back into the spotlight. It may seem entertaining at first but you grow sick and tired of it.
www.helium.com/tm/230410/seems-years-genre-reality