The Snooki wannabes of the world have taken over. With the fake tans and Bump-it hair, the world of reality is becoming less and less genuine. From dating escapades to survival of the fittest, reality television is taking real to a whole new level. It started off simple, with a reality show here and there. Today, you can’t flip through ten channels without having your mind flooded with staged drama and cat fights. It doesn’t take a very classy and quality human being to be willing to put oneself out in the public eye like so many do. ‘Real’ is not a word commonly used to describe reality stars when they are purposefully transforming themselves into an unrealistic character in order to gain attention through the lie they have strategically constructed.
As we brew up a list of considerably tolerable reality shows, “Teen Mom” is one among the few. To many adult television viewers, “Teen Mom” is a terrorizing plot strategically written to show teenagers the ‘perks’ of bearing a child at such a young age. Yet, to those teens glued to the television for the 60-minute run time, “Teen Mom” is seen as a wake-up-call for their hidden desire to be a teenage mother. Within its mere hour long time slot, the MTV producers manage to show us how one’s life can spiral miserably out of control after having a child so young. Between dealing with relationship limbo and budget bingo, these moms are posing as the perfect anti-sex ad for the youth demographic.
We watch, entranced, as the 25 beauties cat fight and bad mouth their way into the heart of one lonely, yet quite attractive, man. What began as the true quest for love while living in luxury has turned the tables 180 degrees, revolving around publicity stunts and hopes of fame. ‘The Bachelor’ has had a marvelous eight-year run, yet is becoming just another chance to get your name in lights. Poor guy, say viewers, all those women who don’t truly love him. The shocker is, these men may not be as genuine as you think. It is a rare find to see an engagement from ‘The Bachelor’ last longer than a year, let alone long enough for their to be an actual wedding. Yet it isn’t the men and their inability to commit that makes the show what it is. In fact, it’s the drama you see seeping from the pores of these hormonal-wreck of females which makes ‘The Bachelor’ receive its fame. Many can’t resist to watch as two girls duke it out in a verbal bashing over who Mr. Bachelor likes more.
As we travel over ‘The Hills’, we find ourselves in a land full of boyfriend stealer’s and backstabbing BFF’s. You never know what you will see next when tuning into an episode of ‘The Hills’. From the return of Kristen to the Justin Bobby dilemma, the crazy lives of the many youngsters who appear on this show allows us an inside scoop on the realm of ‘Fake Town’. ‘The Hills’ never came off as an overly-scripted show, and the over-the-top arguments seemed too real to have been staged. Yet when a large sum of America tuned in to watch the drama-packed season finale, many were shocked. As the show came to a close, they threw us for a loop. Having suggested the entire show was filmed on a set and scripted all of the way, it is still questionable as to what was real and what wasn’t. Yet, with the wardrobe catastrophes and club cat-fights, who cares if it was real or not? ‘The Hills’ gave us more than a satisfying dose of laughter throughout the season’s and the many ‘tough girl’ throw downs.
Now, we move to the bottom of the pile, to what’s rotting away beneath last week’s empty tanning lotion bottles. With the Miami ‘Situation’ and the Snooki cookie diet debacle, “Jersey Shore” has taken over the minds of innocent MTV junkies and tossed them into hair gel-induced comas. You cannot sit through an entire episode of “Jersey Shore” without losing at least an eighth of your previously functioning brain cells. While the ‘guidos’ and ‘guidettes’ are spending their less than real on-air time partying like there is no tomorrow, I spend my time pondering the relevance of GTL. The gym, tan, laundry motto is meant to be followed to a tee, and is highly promoted by the fake bake industry. Yet, in the unfortunate number of episodes I have stumbled upon, the Jersey go-getter’s have yet to show the world that they are living up to their ‘maximum perfection’ standards. So much for reality, since the only real thing shown was Snooki receiving a fist to the face while on one of many partying extravaganzas.
Reality television may be whisking away our precious sanity, but it is an addiction we have yet to cure. No matter whose life is falling apart before our eyes, we cannot stand missing a second of the drama being projected into our living room. Wherever the wind might take us, there will, no doubt, be a steady stream of ‘reality’ following close behind. Now, since the Snooki’s are taking over, I might as well go get my GTL on.