Reality Stars?

OK, so this is not a blog post on theater or movies, but after Donald Trump's ridiculous anti-climatic announcement yesterday I felt a need to unload a little. 

When did we become a nation of eavesdroppers? 

Everywhere you look on television nowadays that's all we seem to be doing with these reality shows. I know from having been a television producer at ABC TV that these are relatively inexpensive shows to produce, and I will admit that I was a fan of the original reality show, America's Funniest Home Videos, but this is just too much. Even our news has become nothing more than an outlet for gossip. They will go from a story about floods in the south to who is sleeping with whom, what will Oprah give away at her next show, will Charlie Sheen implode?!  Who cares? 

When I was younger, the news was news! People looked to newscasters to get information that mattered to them and to the country, not whether Snooki was going to sleep with the Situation.

We had shows that made us laugh and cry and even taught us values. We even had shows about single parents raising their kids, such as My Three Sons, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and Family Affair, but they focused on positive messages presented with humor, not negative images with people screaming at each other and getting into fist fights.  And we had shows that dealt with controversial issues like racism, drug addiction and infidelity, but they did it without the audience cheering for a fight to break out.     

Look, I am the first in line to see a movie or television program with a good car chase or incredible special effects or realistic fight scenes, but those are not real. And so, I can indulge in them knowing that at the end of the day, everyone goes home unharmed and ready for the next day of shooting. 

That is not the case in reality shows. People get hurt, physically and emotionally, and it seems like the more that happens, the more people watch and the more of these shows get on the air. 

I know that the standard argument is that this is America and we have a right to watch what we want, and if you don't like it you can always change the channel. And that is true, but let's face it, it's getting harder and harder to find a channel that isn't broadcasting reality-based programming. Big Brother is watching and the scary thing is that Big Brother is us!