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People like to blame the whole reality TV trend on MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules" but it really goes back a lot farther than that.

First, you had the TV game shows like "The Price is Right" and "Let's Make A Deal".
Did people really care how much the Whirlpool Washer/Dryer combo retails for? No, they just want to see the yokels jump up and down while screeching about winning money and being on TV.

Then there was the old show called "Candid Camera". "Candid Camera" was the original "Punk'd", a show where normal people, rather than celebrities, would be pranked on camera to capture their hilarious reactions.

Next came TV talk shows like Oprah, Donahue, Geraldo, Morton Downey Jr. and Sally Jesse Raphael. These shows focused on human interest stories and conflicts resolved by the host/mediator. People seemed to be drawn to the real-life stories.

Then "The Jerry Springer Show" took it far past the limits of good taste.
Early Springer episodes were similar in format to the other talk shows, but later shows almost always featured at least one hair-pulling fistfight and so many bleeped expletives that it sounded like Morse code. People really enjoyed seeing the misery and heartbreak of others and Jerry Springer shamelessly capitalized on it, although he would end each broadcast with his "Final Thought", a sappy moral message meant to justify the carnage that had just been witnessed and exploited.

"The People's Court", featuring Judge Wapner, is another example of a show where people tuned in to eavesdrop into people's personal affairs. After the verdict, you would get to voyeuristically hear the satisfied and disappointed reactions of the loser and winner of the case.

It is similar to the sentiment that I have heard among some Nascar fans, that they watch the races waiting to see a crash; Some people just enjoy the suffering of others.

It is the same reason people submit videos of themselves being whacked in the testicles with a Wiffle Ball bat by a toddler on "America's Funniest Home Videos"- People just can't get enough of seeing other people suffer embarrassment and pain.

In conclusion, by the time Puck stuck his finger in Pedro's peanut butter, America had been watching for a very long time, and America will keep watching because these programs distract them from the failings of their own lives.

Learn more about this author, Billy Sunshine.
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