by Monty Hamilton

Created on: November 04, 2007

Reality TV's affect on soap operas has been two pronged. On the one hand, reality TV has stolen a lot of the soap opera's thunder, but on the other hand, reality TV has lent a lot of credence to soap opera stories. Think about it. Reality television is filled with moments that you absolutely have to see to believe, and if they were included in the plots of fictional stories most would cry foul. Now, I will admit, reality TV's about ten percent reality and ninety percent TV, but still, that is more than any scripted television show can say (except maybe all those Law & Orders).

And that leads into my other point, which is that there is very little that a scripted TV program, even ones as over the top as soap operas tend to be, can do to top the outlandish acts and salaciousness of reality TV, because at the end of the day on one show you are watching life in this worldwhich carries with it an instant believabilityand on another show you are watching life unfold in a fantasy worldwhich carries with it an immediate skepticism. As a result of the influx of reality programming into the television landscape, soap operas have had to take their plots even further over the top, and their raciness to whole new levels just to try and keep up with their reality TV counterparts, that don't have to be nearly as over the top or racy to garner the same level of attention, because seeing those types of things occur in our own reality, however skewed, is always going to be more intriguing.

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