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THE national airwaves are full of "reality" TV shows where participants can't stop making jackasses of themselves in prime time and Americans can't stop watching. ‘Reality’ TV is
trashing our cultureNormally, I'd say it's none of my business how other people behave on TV or what others watch on the tube. But these shows have become so ubiquitous that they're degrading our national culture. That makes it everybody's business.
I'm not proposing censorship -- just suggesting that we give more thought to the consequences of encouraging this garbage before we flock to tune in each week.
It started with tame offerings like "Cops," where viewers could watch self-important peace officers roust pathetic drunks. It was cheap programming and its success inspired TV networks to up the junk with shock shows featuring people plunging to their death from towers and being attacked by vicious animals.
MTV's "Real World" threw strangers together in lavish homes under the camera's constant watch. In a segment filmed in Hawaii, we got to see the self-destruction of our own homegrown pathetic drunk, Ruthie.
"Real World" begat "Survivor," which features people running around an island acting like animals in every imaginable way. "Survivor" begat "Big Brother," where occupants of a house have a camera watching 24 hours a day -- including in the bathroom. Good grief. My Shar-pei Bingo would feel right at home on that show.
Big-time game shows have reappeared after being absent from prime time since the 1950s. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" is harmless enough. At least it tests our knowledge of trivia. Unfortunately, though, it gave some moron the idea for "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire."
That disastrous coupling is now annulled and the ex-spouses are touring the country acting like victims -- he as a comic with a one-joke act and she as a centerfold in some girlie magazine.
"What else could I do?" she asks. Indeed.
Talk shows have devolved from the agreeable Phil and Oprah to Jerry Springer, who encourages women of low self-esteem to claw off one another's blouses to win a few moments in the spotlight.
We used to call these programs our "guilty pleasures." Now we don't even have the shame to feel guilty about watching.
"There's nothing good to watch on TV," we wail. "We have to watch something."
THAT'S just the point. No, we don't have to watch. I see these sleazy programs only in my peripheral vision -- from reading about them or seeing promos for them during the commercial breaks of the few programs I do see. I don't actually watch any of these programs. Ever.
Here's my secret to resisting: If there's nothing good to watch, I don't turn on the TV. If enough of us don't turn on the TV often enough, they'll give us something good to watch.
I wish I could be less snobbish and just dismiss it as innocent fun. But it's not innocent. This pervasive rubbish is eroding the American spirit, trashing our national culture and corrupting our sense of who we are. When we give the networks such a cheap and tawdry path to programming riches, it denies good people the opportunity to create and view good work that elevates and enlightens while entertaining us.
These shows appeal to the worst side of our nature rather than our best. They wouldn't disrespect our culture like this if so many of us weren't showing our approval by watching.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
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