by Kelly Linman

Created on: May 17, 2009

Ever since the first season, I have been addicted to Survivor and a proud fan of reality television. Even though the argument is often made that reality television is not real, everything that happens makes for compelling television, which is the ultimate goal of any television series. Reality TV makes you feel a wide variety of emotions and often shows you that there is still good left in the world. I have found myself crying at more reality shows than scripted series, because reality TV makes ordinary people's dreams come true. In some cases, dreams that they never thought they could achieve.

In contrast to scripted television, reality shows how "real" people respond to a situation in which they have no control over. If a happy ending is not meant to be, then the people on the reality show will not have it. Life interferes and it is reflected on the show. There is control over a scripted show, if the writers want key characters together, and then they will be together. If a happily ever after is not meant to be in a reality show, then it won't happen. Even on the most ridiculous shows, if something isn't meant to be, then it won't happen.

Reality also gives a glimpse of what it is like to live a different life. There are shows about any career you could ever dream of having, from driving a truck on the ice roads of Canada to working for a designer in New York. These shows star the people that actually do this for a living, and you get to hear their own, unique and real perspective. You get to know these people, and feel their pain when their business goes under, or they lose someone they love. If a series is cancelled, you can look up the people on the internet and find out what they are up to since the show ended. If a scripted series gets cancelled midway through, you are left always wondering what happened to the characters on the show.

As it is with anything, there are shows that embarrass the reality TV name, that have contestants mortifying themselves and their families, behaving in a way that should disallow them from ever being let out in public again. There are those who are in it for the fame, and that is ok. What I like about reality TV is that for the most part, stories are told. You get to know each person on the show and see how they interact in a situation which is foreign to them. Seeing their interaction with people that they wouldn't encounter in their everyday life and seeing them overcome stereotypes is what makes me a proud fan.

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