As if the nightly news isn’t enough reality for television viewers there is a ten-year phenomenon called reality television that was made popular by the first Survivor series in 2000. Two years later another hit emerged with American Idol.
Every night your television set is saturated with reality shows that depict supposedly real people doing supposedly real things. How real depends upon everyone’s belief that what they are watching really did take place as the edited views and voice overs have said. Many shows hit the edit button heavily and we never really see what goes on.
More shows seem to take reality television to the extreme and almost go too far. If you ever see an audition come up for any shows listed below please avoid them at all costs. Here are some actual reality television shows that have gone too far to get ratings and advertising dollars.
Newlyweds
Perhaps the first huge fallout from a reality series came as Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey’s lives were plastered all over the television and internet when they starred in Newlyweds. Ratings skyrocketed for the music channel and Jessica Simpson’s popularity took off. Over forty episodes and four seasons aired with Simpson’s music selling hotter than her show.
Nick Lachey later blamed the show as the reason the couple divorced. Their lack of intimacy and virtually no time away from the cameras left the newlyweds broken and battered. Yes, they are celebrities who will move on with their lives but Newlyweds proved that love can conquer many things but apparently not reality television.
Runnin’ Wild…From Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent is still rocking hard and taking names. He may also take your life, accidentally of course. In a new CMT reality show called Runnin’ Wild…From Ted Nugent, the solo rocker and his son will attempt to hunt down contestants as they try to survive without anything but themselves to rely upon in the wild.
This show hasn’t aired yet and don’t be surprised to see some live fire or even some bowhunting as Entertainment Weekly reports that Nugent is a pretty good shot with both guns and arrows. Even if the show gets canceled or never airs, Nugent still goes on tour. Just don’t make Nugent mad at his concert or he’ll shoot you in the eye at fifty yards.
Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office
Levi Johnston probably has no business being a celebrity but in this media-frenzied age somehow this deadbeat dad has got a shot at being mayor of a small town in Alaska. Entertainment Weekly reports that Johnston will attempt to follow in the footsteps of his baby’s grandmother when he runs for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Is the governor’s office next?
Apparently when Playgirl barely (pardon the pun) paid for his services Johnston went west to seek his fortune. Reality television shows have literally ruined marriages, caused people to get seriously injured, and has numbed the minds of many millions of viewers. Now the media wants to run for public office? To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi from the original Star Wars, “Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”
When did reality television go too far? Has it reached that point yet? I think that these examples of television causing life-changing events for the worse proves that television is bad for the brain and makes life more miserable in general.
Entertainment Weekly, CMT, and MTV provided information for this article.
