Why Do We Love Reality Television?

Last week in my post Why TV? Why Now? I touched on my hatred love guilty-pleasure that reality television is, and briefly mentioned the sadness it sometimes brings me when I think of how popular it actually is. But before I go off on a tangent, judging anyone one who's found pleasure in this television franchise, I must admit that I too find myself watching it.  I know shocking right? A teenage girl interested in reality? Shut up. In fact I think my favorite indulgence would be Celebrity Apprentice.  I'm not proud of it, but it's something that has become sort of a tradition for my household. Sunday nights my family gathers in the living room, cuddled up on our comfy couch and recliners next to a burning fireplace. We don't really care who wins exactly, but instead we watch to laugh at the celebrities and witness the drama that ensues.  So it's here that I find myself wanting to judge, but I will first take a step back to try to figure out why we love this garbage masterpiece phenomenom that is reality television.

To figure this question out, I looked to my best friend Google.  I found lot's of really interesting information such as in the article Why America Loves Reality TV. It touches on the fact that a lot of people watch just to be able to talk about it with coworkers and friends. This makes sense to me, I think it is nice to have something in common to talk about with people, and when it's something that doesn't take too long to discuss, it's a great conversation starter.

But this doesn't explain the whole audience. Not everyone is talking about their obsession with the X Factor are they? And how did it become popular in that group of friends anyway? There must be another reason. Well, as I read on I found that the competition is what really drives us to watch.  Watching an ordinary American succeed and become some sort of "celebrity" is exciting! We like to root for them, and watch in anticipation for the results.  We like to think that one day we could be in that position and have some sort of "celebrity" status.  This rings true for me as well. When watching these shows I am always picturing myself competing, wondering how well I would do.  Whenever I catch the show Wipeout on TV I'm always telling people how much I want to go on that show. They then proceed to think I'm crazy because every contestant on that show literally looks like they are going to get a concussion from all the falling and running into things that they go through. But I keep telling myself that I could win it. That I'm better at jumping across huge bouncy balls than all those other people.  Whether that's true or not, I think a lot of us can say that it's easy to picture yourself in the same situation as the players of the show.

So is the mystery of reality show obsession solved? No. Why are shows like Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing with the Stars popular? Well, one could argue that we root for celebrities just like we do any other contestant. Okay, but why do we like non-competition reality shows such as Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant? With that I must come up with my own perspective because I can't find an article to explain it for me.  Honestly I think there is one reason why we like these shows, we like to see a glimpse into someone else's life.  Really though, why else would we watch some middle-aged ladies bicker at each other on those "Real Housewives" shows? One, we like to watch the drama. It's exciting to the majority of us. And two, because we get to see into a life that is both interesting and different from our own. Similar to my post last week about why we watch TV  in general, we like to picture ourselves in a different life. Whether it's in the glamorous Orange County or as a 16 year old dealing with a pregnancy, the aspect of reality is appealing.