by Dorothy Jo Bourbeau

Created on: March 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

First of all there is no such thing a reality TV. Watch the credits sometime, every one of the so called reality shows list writers in the credits. For something to be real it can not be scripted. Television is not real. I know many people find that hard to believe but it is the truth.

I can not say I have never watched a reality show. I have watched The Amazing Race on a number of occasions. Not because I believed what I was seeing, but because it gave me a chance to see parts of the world I will never get to. I also enjoy, truly enjoy, The Deadliest Catch. Yes, it is scripted but they do it in such a way that most of the time you don't see ahead of time what is coming.

I have never watched American Idol, or Big Brother, and never will. I find it baffling that these people would let themselves be humiliated on national television. How many people can name even one loser of these shows? Most would have a hard time naming a past winner. The celebrity status gained from doing reality TV is just a flash in the pan, soon forgotten by everyone but the person being humiliated.

As for Survivor, does anyone really believe that the people "stranded" on these islands are ever truly in danger? I have come up with the perfect scenario to make Survivor truly reality TV. Take 20 people, give them a canteen, a compass, and a pocket knife, drop them off in the middle of Death Valley; first one back to LA wins. No tribes, no alliances, no voting anyone off; filming done strictly from helicopters; medical personnel on standby just in case but no outside interference. Most importantly absolutely NO scripts.

I won't even get started on things like Paris Hilton's so called Surreal Life. I don't for one minute believe that she ever got her hand dirty. Hollywood makeup artists can do amazing things, passing off a nobody as Paris is well within their sphere of capability. Paris may have done some driving, and maybe a close up or two, but she never lifted a shovel in her life, and the closest she ever got to a pig was eating pork roast. (Pork chops are beneath someone of her status.)

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