Kenneth Nevling
Professor Whitworth
ENG 114: First draft- Reality TV
07 November, 2010
Reality TV and It’s Effect on Society
A reality TV show stars a non-celebrity or a volunteer who wants to participate in the program. The core role is to see what their reactions in certain scenarios are, and how they face given situations. The audience feels like they have a connection with the show’s stars as they feel that they are real and normal people representing them. Viewers are then entertained by the sadness, depression, frustration, and emptiness that the reality stars will express in the show. Audiences cannot seem to get enough of the drama of other regular, everyday people placed in unrealistic settings manipulated for the world to see. Overtime, exposure to these shows will subtly cultivate viewer’s perception of reality. Reality television shows have a negative influence on today’s society by portraying a false sense of communal experience, creating unrealistic standards of living,
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GET BETTER GRADES as well as affecting the productivity of growth to the younger generation. If television was all that was important to our existence then we would be very well off. Marketing and production for reality TV shows are much less costly than it would be to pay for a whole set and professional actors/actresses. James Poniewozik, a writer for TIME magazine’s Tuned In column, writes about how reality TV has been the best thing to happen to viewers and television companies. Poniwozik states, “It has given the networks water-cooler buzz again; it has reminded viewers jaded by sitcoms and dramas why TV can be exciting; and at its best, it is teaching TV a new way to tell involving human stories” (01). Ratings for networks have skyrocketed ever since reality shows first began to hit the air. People are entertained and excited to watch drama that reality stars go through, forgetting about their own drama. He also states that “Reality shows don’t just reach tens of millions of...d
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