Reality Shows are Crap... Kinda

I think reality shows are a total work. "Work" is carny talk for "set-up" or "staged." I think a lot of the stuff that happens might be real, considering the situations are contrived, but the emotions coming out of those situations are probably real. But the "worked" part comes from video editing.

Every TV show, movie, etc, needs a PLOT. It's essential. The generic make up for a movie is 1) The Good Guy Shines a little bit in his everyday life, 2) The protagonist messes up the good guys life in some way by distrupting something. 3) The Good and Bad guy face off, and 4)The Conclusion happens.

Let's take the VH1 show Rock of Love for example. My take on what happened is that the show was filmed, everything happened, and Brett Michaels picked his winner. Now, typically everyone wants a) the underdog and b) the good guy to win. So, why not take all the flattering shots of Jes, the winner, and make her look like a) the underdog and b) the biggest sweet heart? Why not manipulate the shots to make the "reality show," in reality, have a Storyboard Arc?

Now, lets make a protagonist. Lets find the girl that's kind of edgy, dig up all the shots that make her look as manipulative as possible, and splice it all together to make it seem like this stuff was a well written drama?

So now, we painted one of the runner-ups to look like a Villain, we painted the actual winner to look like the Hero. When we run the TV show, people will NATURALLY prefer that one who's painted to be the hero, and the one chosen as the villain will get the people wanting to see what happens week after week. And finally, when the hero wins, everyone feels like they're justified, and it's a huge pay-off.

Televisions all psychology. It's manipulating people's emotions to get them to tune in week after week. Reality TV's a work.