After reading about politicians and journalists who lie in order to make the audience more receptive to his or her thoughts or ideas I began to think about reality TV. Reality TV is basically on every station. When I look through the guide on my TV I constantly see listings for shows like: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, The Bachelor… you get the point. What exactly makes these dramatic shows so addictive? And why are we all talking about them on social media?
I constantly find myself watching episodes over again and again when they are shown as repeats or even daylong marathons. I also become very interested in the people on the shows and I often look them up and read about them in the tabloids and follow them on Twitter. However, even though I like to obsess over these stupid, trashy shows I have come to realize that most of them are probably dramatized and exaggerated or completely fake altogether. I can argue with my friends for hours about whether or not the Bachelor on ABC is real or fake. How can one guy really date and get to know 20 women who he can see himself potentially marrying? It is just unbelievable, but I continue to watch it season after season. Another example is from the A&E show, Storage Wars. A few months ago I was watching the news where I saw that the show is staged and prior to the bidding on storage lockers the producers fill the spaces with treasures or trash.
Lying and deceiving the audience usually attracts attention. Politicians and journalists have been doing it for years. We become even more interested in it when it turns to scandal; just as we do when it comes to reality TV.