Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
IMO the reason reality TV shows are being cranked out more often than new TV shows is based in the lack of creativity in Hollywood.
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At the risk of getting way
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I suspect the real draw of reality tv shows (and we know the reason they're being created is because
they get watched; advertisers have success with products on them, or they wouldn't be made no matter how cheap they are) is that they're about the only genre that shows middle- and working-class people in something other than a comedy.
We have plenty of cop shows, and cops might arguably be "working class," but the shows aren't about "working stiffs." They focus on cops as authority figures, people with special rights that the rest of us don't have. They're power plays, not shows about how hard it is to make a living or raise kids and still have a social life. Those elements show up as side details, not the main drama.
Shows about working-class families are mostly comedies. (All in the Family. Roseanne. Malcolm in the Middle. ) Shows about people who struggle to make rent and pay bills are comedies. "Reality tv," for all its flaws, doesn't depict "half the company got laid off last week" as a source for jokes.