Reality Bites

I have a bone to pick. I was informed by someone in the know (one of those reliable TV types that shows up on those Best of…/top 100…/greatest shows, probably Dominik Diamond or someone of his ilk) that the reality TV era was a time bomb, ticking ready to explode in the face of all the grotesque members of the MTV generation that fed into it. And so I went along with it, tolerated it and even grew to be entertained by the antics of that ridiculous nouveau ghetto caricature that was Victor (AKA the plumber because he’s always laying pipes apparently).

8 years on I’m still waiting to see when Big Brother’s seemingly impregnable bubble will burst as it is re-commissioned year after year, the contestants (prisoners? surely this could be an amicable answer to the governments 42 days terrorism bill) become more and more dislikable as the producers continue to see how much they can get away with in terms of trying to get people to have sex on TV. Sociologist and philanthropist Joseph Rowntree (not of fruit pastilles fame but of the Jospeph Rowntree Foundation) called Big Brother an invaluable social experiment regarding human interaction. Maybe at the outset however now, indisputably this is the worst in trash television, Loose women and Jeremy Kyle included.

I’m not predisposed to hate all reality television, in fact far from it. BBC’s The Apprentice vehicle makes for an entertaining watch, regardless of what you think about Sir Alan (or “Siralan” as the contestants were wont to call him) Personally I saw something gratifying in the ill-educated Lee McQueen’s true underdog story, a decision the Knight of the Realm will probably regret but a decision well made nonetheless. And also how can Shipwrecked be forgotten, T4’s spoilt-stunning-gap-year-kids-grow up and all learn something about themselves-thus win or lose everyone comes out a better person. The merit in that is it is one less year spent bringing down the student loans company at cost to the taxpayer. See, everyone is a winner in this show.

With this latest scandal concerning the case of the xenophobic/racist/thoroughly unsavoury Alex it is merely dragging the channel through the gutter, a difficult feat for a Broadcaster that has commissioned programs including I’m Disabled but Somebody Loves Me. It’s time for the madness to end yet Dominik’s phone just rings and rings.