I saw “American Idol” for the first time on Tuesday night.
I don’t get what the big deal is. Basically a bunch of people sing songs and Simon Cowell says mean things.
Then again, I can’t stand most reality television. I’m possibly the only person in the entire country who didn’t watch “The Apprentice.” When Donald Trump hosted SNL a few weeks ago, I felt like I was watching some big in-joke. I was actually annoyed that I was supposed to know who Omarosa was.
I guess there are worse possible #1 shows than “American Idol.” It seems like good clean fun, at least, with nobody stabbing each other in the back or eating worms or trying to live out deluded notions of romance. “American Idol” is harmless and bland, and thus it appeals to the widest possible portion of the American public. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.
But I’m distressed (OK, not really “distressed,” as we’re talking only about television here) that reality TV has taken over. I watch TV in order to escape into different worlds, not to further immerse myself in modern American society. The shows I’ve watched regularly over the last five years have included “The X-Files,” “Buffy,” “Angel,” “Smallville,” and now “Alias.” I avoid reality TV for the same reason that I avoid TV news: both pretend to show the real world and the people in it while actually distorting it and them. When you watch traditional narrative television, you know that you’re watching fantasy, and the writers aren’t trying to pretend otherwise; not so with “reality” TV.
I was going to say that the reason I don’t like reality TV is that I’m uncomfortable with people-watching. But that’s not true. I love to people-watch. In New York, you can people-watch on the subways, on the streets, in the parks. But reality TV takes the fun out of people-watching. The people on reality TV shows know they’re being watched, so they’re not being real. Furthermore, they’re being attention whores, and I don’t like paying attention to attention whores.*
(* Except for bloggers.)
Finally, I’m probably a highly sensitive person, so all the quick jump-shots and shaky cameras and loud music of reality TV combine with the inherent “loudness” of videotape (as opposed to film) to drive me up the wall.
It’s not that I don’t find anything redeeming about reality TV; entertainment doesn’t always have to be redeeming. It’s that I find reality TV the opposite of redeeming. It has a net negative effect on me. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but these are at least some of the reasons.
That said, I guess “American Idol” isn’t quite as bad as most of the others.
Wait until Amazing Race comes back. Ah, June is just around the bend.
What does it mean for videotape to have a “loudness” when compared to film?
I guess I mean that things on videotape are more “present” than they are on film. Video looks more “live” than film does.
You’re not the only one. Except for sometimes catching the first four seasons of “The Real World” when I remembered, reality TV has passed me by. Remember when you couldn’t turn on the TV without “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “The Missing Link” assaulting your senses? I know this new scourge is more ubiquitous, but it too shall pass.
Phew, I was beginning to doubt my sexuality, since it seems that the whole of fagbloggerland experiences a collective spontaneous emission with every episode. My willy shrinks at the merest thought.
Now I don’t think that American Idol is in fact “reality tv”. It’s lttle more than a perfectly ordinary talent show. But the rest of the genre, from Survivor on down is remarkable for how unreal it all is. Carefully chosen people put in the most unnatural situations, with every hint of spontaneity edited out in the quest for fake suspense. It’s just bad fiction featuring bad and poorly paid actors.
Give me Six Feet Under any day.
(but don’t get me started on the Law and Order franchise!)
Based on your other favorite shows, you should really check out Stargate SG-1 (SciFi channel). Even though it’s been on for 7 years now, I never got caught up in it. I just started watching this year starting with Season 1 on the repeats on Sci Fi. It’s much better than I ever thought it would be (as long as you make it through the first half of the first season). If you like Buffy, Alias, X-Files, you should really give it a try. I just started on Season 6 this week (had to buy the DVDs as Sci Fi is too unpredictable on their schedules) and it is really good.