BY HASHEM ANABTAWI, ’15
If we hadn’t already had enough of learning about people who eat walls in My Strange Addiction or a redneck girl with illegible English losing beauty pageants in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, TLC made sure we’d tune in even more with the new TV show about nudists buying real estate in Buying Naked.
It’s your choice. You can flip the channel up to E! to keep up with the family made of money, spray tans and the need to start every sentence with “I feel like,” or down to Bravo to find out what the housewives of wherever are really up to.
I’d say the reality TV shows are a demeaning addition to the human race because of the overdramatic scenarios and flat-out wierdness, but it turns out they give viewers just what they want: drama, drama and more drama. It really is a shame that the Kardashians only make 100 grand an episode. I mean, can they even spell “labor”?
I think it’s safe to say we’re all easily amused by this generation’s TV shows and maybe secretly want to be in the over-dramatic spotlight, whether it’s about the rough life of extreme couponing or releasing the Amish out of their cultural cage.
But you know what they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or in this case, a bad show to me is a drug to another. TLC and E! manage to keep the highest ratings on television, dishing out loads of money to rednecks who make fools of themselves on television as well as the posse of wrestling WWE “divas” where everyone secretly hates each other.
Reality TV is what makes the world go round. It gets people talking, thinking and judging the stars we just might envy a little. Even if we do talk about how dumb the concepts behind shows are, we still watch them don’t we?
Sometimes I like to tune in and keep up with the Kardashians just to find out which NBA basketball player they’re marrying next and divorcing soon after. We all know about the infamous 72-day marriage between Kim Kardashian and the only person who is captain of the Boston Celtics’ bench-warmers, Kris Humphries.
Maybe we love it, maybe we hate it, but nonetheless our modern day TV shows, although strange, have proven that we’re all just easily amused.