Reality TV Isn't Really REAL

       I have never been a huge reality TV viewer. The few shows I have watched in the past are the Kardashian shows, Duck Dynasty (which I love and still watch on occasion), The Bachelor, Teen Mom 2, Real Housewives of Orange County, Little People Big World, Jon and Kate Plus 8, 20 Kids and Counting, and maybe a few others here and there. Actually, I rarely watch television at all. For one, I do not have the time and two, there is not much on today that really sparks my interest. For the most part I believe that reality shows are mostly fake and scripted. A few of the more family-oriented reality shows (Jon and Kate, Little People, Duck Dynasty) seem more real and normal, and then others (Bachelor, Real Housewives, Kardashians) seem more fake and scripted.

       Even the more real and seemingly normal shows I believe are scripted to a point. For example, there is an episode of Duck Dynasty where a couple of the wives go out hunting with their husbands and the experience ends with the wives going back to the truck after their husbands left them sitting alone hiding in the woods. One of the husbands sprays his wife with urine because he thinks her perfume is what is scaring the deer off, and they end up arguing about it, which is funny and entertaining! With things like this I believe the way the people interact with one another is (most likely) normal and not scripted, but the things they do in the show I believe are written and planned out beforehand for them to do. The producers have to have something that will keep the viewers' attention and entertain them, so they write bizarre things for the people in the show to do. Because, most of the time, in my opinion, the things that these people do in their reality shows are not things that would normally happen to anyone on a regular day.

       I have often wondered what my life would look like as a reality show and, even though I do not consider my life boring, I would say it would probably be boring to watch on television because it is not every day, or even that often, that I go out and do something crazy that would be worth watching on television. I believe that the average American has about the same type of everyday life as the people who have reality shows, with the exception of those of us who do go out and do crazy things from time to time. But reality shows portray a sort of "normal, everyday" type of lifestyle which causes the viewers to think that these people's everyday lives are what is shown in the shows, when that simply cannot be the case.

       With all of this being said, I am not against reality shows overall, but there are some that I strongly disagree with as being considered "reality" and, therefore, most of the time wish they were not even television shows at all. However, there are really great reality shows such as Duck Dynasty and 20 Kid and Counting (or however many there are now), because they display the more real and normal lifestyle as well as really great and spiritual morals that people seem to be lacking in society today.