You know, I feel like reality has overtaken scripted television and it can be a good thing. There is a lot of great reality television. Had anyone heard of Oak Island before that show? I think Survivor and Amazing Race and every chef competition are great shows. Most of the competition shows are great. I could go on and on because there are so many others that work really well and are smart and informative even though the drama can be forced. I think part of the problem with scripted shows is that the great ones come along so infrequently or are streamed all at once for binge watching that we are left with a lot of other time to ponder all these reality shows.
As I told you before, I try and watch every show at least once so I know what I am talking about. Yes, even Mysteries Of Laura. Yes, even Dash Dolls. You can’t say a show sucks or is brilliant if you have not watched it. The thing is, there is so much out there that it takes a lot of time just to watch one episode of each show, let alone stay committed to something.
This is not where I was going with this. It was going to be a piece about how Scott Disick is still an a-hole. Yeah, he went to rehab and promised to stop drinking for the millionth time, but Instagrammed himself getting on a private jet. He will be back drinking soon. Not really soon. he has to get back on the show and pick up a few paychecks and some appearance money, but it won’t be too long.
It is a holiday for many today, so you have the time for this. I just watched the second season of Ladies Of London. Awful. I watch it all in one day. I enjoyed the first season. I thought it was fresh and a new take on how women on both sides of the pond are willing to fight over nothing and to rehash the same crap week after week just to be on television. I think the accents made it more interesting and the backstories. There was nothing like that this season and it was just like watching a season of RHNJ.
Speaking of them. Actually speaking about the Real Housewives franchises, I have an idea. No one is watching each city for everyone on the show. We all know that the others are just filler. What we need is to pick one Housewife from each city and just have an all-star version of the people you actually find interesting.
I personally don’t care if Amber and Jim come back. I found them as annoying as the twins. You know what I would find interesting? Kristen Taekman coming back to RHNY to see how she is dealing with the husband cheating on her and Ashley Madison thing. But, she isn’t coming back because then the show would be real. And personal. It always kills me when on one of these shows someone inevitably says some version of, “She shouldn’t have said that to everyone. It was private.” Umm, you are on a reality show.
From about the third season of Real World this is how reality television has been. If you want to make your living or get noticed for appearances, you have to stand out. A couple of decades later and there is no more plot, it is all about trying to stand out and too much standing out makes a show awful.
There needs to be a fine line. Some fighting is good. Some stupid hey lets go here for the cameras is good. You need all of those things, plus some good backstory and other characters brought in to keep things moving.