by Samuilovna

Created on: May 22, 2007

Ever since Reality TV hit it big in America, quality television shows have been canceled. Networks figured that Reality TV shows are cheaper because their stars go on TV for free, unless the show is a contest where one participant wins money - and the prize money still probably proves cheaper than paying a cast of actors per episode. Desiring to cut expenses, networks canceled some of their more expensive television shows, the very shows that viewers considered high quality. Thus, networks left viewers with no choices other than to watch Reality TV or hit the off button.

The first few years after Reality shows appeared on TV, I watched a few and grew quickly bored. Season after season, the shows seemed the same. The Bachelor, Survivor, Big Brother, Fear Factor, and The Amazing Race contained publicity hungry people willing to do practically anything for their fifteen minutes of fame. These people made fools of themselves, and that's not what I consider quality television.

In addition, I have a gut feeling that some of these shows are contrived. For instance, the Bachelor never seems to marry the woman he chooses, and the girl next door type always seems to do best on that show. Survivor and Big Brother seem to attract the most manipulative backstabbers, yet I doubt the contestants act this way in real life. So the phrase "Reality TV" is just one big lie.

Quality television shows contain strong plots and multidimensional characters. The writers do their best to surprise us every episode, so we can't bear to miss one. The actors do their best to make us fall in love/hate with their characters, so we care what happens to them. The story arks weave multi-season tapestries that become part of pop culture. In 2007, the only shows on network TV I've seen that meet these definitions of quality are Heroes, Lost, and Prison Break. That's probably why I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to watch six years ago, when Reality TV had yet to catch on.

Who knows? Maybe the networks will realize how important quality TV is and start cutting down on Reality TV. In the meantime, they're just going to lose viewers like me who prefer quality shows over trash.

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