by Lowri Ann Davies

Created on: February 25, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

What is reality TV?
The enveloping phenomenon that has exploded onto our TV screens in recent years is this notion of 'reality TV', now in its crowning day it was fantastic something new and fresh. But really, it makes me ask myself why did people get off on such petty displays of the beauty's and flaws of human nature that were involved in so many of the shows?

Big Brother started off as a simple social experiment but as the characters left the house and made careers for themselves it became obvious that the TV exposure they had experienced made them into a sort of 'pet' of the nation and depending on how they had spread their vibes in the house depended on the nations willingness to protect them. To begin with the contestants of big brother were intended to be from all walks of life looking at how they communicate in a small confined space that was interrupted by the school teacher rule of 'big brother' and the looming threat of 'watch your back syndrome' during the run up to nominations.

The first few series contained contestants of fairly different lives ranging from mediocre to mental, but as the desire for fame and a 'career' as an 'it celeb' of the moment overrules the sense of dignity that had always been evident in the first few pioneering contestants, the competition to get into the house is becoming fiercer and fiercer. The every year contestants are going over the top to make themselves look as whacky and 'individual' as they can. Thus contradicted the REASON that this show even came about.

Will it ever come to that stage where rather than watching bizarre contestants hurl their game plans onto our screens from the four walls of the BB house we sit down to watch 'Paint drying house' or 'Decorator Idol', is it that the broadcasters are just flipping the social experiment on its head and tricking the nation into thinking that they are watching the experiment when really they are the experiment?

I find it sad that we the human race would largely rather watch people under controlled circumstances be put under pressure to compete 'survival of the bitchiest' fashion so to distract us from our own mundane lives. A sort of confirmation of our sanity in comparison to those in the house.

But should big brother be called 'reality TV'? because really it's no reality any more its become like an open mike night at the loony bin. Every year we claim to be watching 'individual characters' but really they are the same personalities re-occurring every year just in different guises and forms, conjuring tricks and ploys each more extravagant than the first, a sort of 'one-up-man-ship' to get them into magazines and newspapers either as hero or villain.

But the novelty is wearing off, Big Brother is becoming boring, what ever will they think of next to justify the title 'reality TV'?

Learn more about this author, Lowri Ann Davies.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.