It’s prime time on a Tuesday night. I’m sitting with a few friends as we settle in for another episode of the hit reality series, NBC’s The Biggest Loser.
With soft drinks and comfort snacks in hand, fittingly ironic while tuning into a show that revolves around overweight contestants trying to lose weight, we share laughs and watch intently as another week of reality television unfolds. Later, my friend’s mother makes her way into the living room and sits down with us. She’s never seen it before.
“This is awful! How can you watch overweight people be exploited like this?” She cries.
By show’s end, she’s still sitting in the room watching with us.
TV networks have finally found a way to provoke every generation’s attention. Previously, reality TV was a centerpiece of entertainment for younger generations and a bane to older generations. However, by taking scenarios we can compare to our own lives and putting them on screen, they have turned a much-maligned genre of TV into something that can connect generations.
A staple for most people who tune in to prime time television, reality TV involves us living vicariously through (relatively) ordinary people as they compete for cash prizes, vacations and love, no matter the consequences. In the past, reality TV meant Real World or Road Rules on MTV. Those shows were cast with beautiful and busty twenty-something’s carefully selected to live in an upscale penthouse apartment or compete in American Gladiator-like elimination challenges. Mix in some naive social behavior for inevitable culture clashes and the result is 30 minutes of what most people would call reality TV. While amusing to us millennials, it did nothing for older generations except this.
The ‘reality’ of it all is that reality TV is a lot like the clearance rack at a department store: most of the things that are available don’t fit us or aren’t the style we’re looking for. But if we look hard enough, chances are we’re going to find something thing that really appeals to us. Shows like The Biggest Loser give proof of the hardships people face with being overweight and contestants are men and women aged 18 to as old as 70. The show provides an in-depth look at how humility, hard work, and self-determination change people’s lives no matter how old or young they may be. That’s something a person of any generation can relate to.
Bravo’s Top Chef is another award winning show that’s catapulted people’s interest not only for the show, but for cooking, baking, and wine. After watching an episode of Top Chef, it’s impossible to not take a risk in trying a new food or branching out in our culinary abilities. The show, like cooking, can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. I’ve even convinced my mother and some of her friends to watch it on weekly basis!
Has a middle ground for reality TV that both younger and older generations can agree upon been reached? I believe so. Networks have finally broken through the barrier of one-dimensional genres and are putting real, everyday people in the spotlight. Popular reality TV shows have found a nice balance where both older and younger generations can be entertained by believable scenarios, cast with people who are no different than us, without omitting the entertainment value of competition that millennials are accustomed to.
For once, generations can agree on something on TV because of a shared interest in something other than what’s filling the screen for 30 minutes. This certainly helps eliminate arguments over who gets the remote!
If you admit to watching reality TV (raise your hand!), are there any shows you like to watch with others much older or younger than yourself? I’d like to know!
Photo Credit: leunix
This post hit close to home because my dad always gets sucked into watching whatever I watch. He’ll come in to the room, watch 5 minutes, ask me questions, and then get sucked in and take a seat. I think I’ve gotten my dad to watch the Surreal Life (used to be on VH1) and 18 Kids & Counting!
This post is amazing. I’m addicted to reality television and a lot of times my mom makes comments about it. However, because of me she now loves Top Chef and Project Runway. I don’t know what else to say other than the fact that I totally agree with you.
The funny thing is that I rarely watch reality TV, mostly because it is not reality and also because I barely have time for TV, but my mom watches a whole bunch of reality TV shows. Even my dad watches them. Networks have found a new way to keep all generations glued to the TV.
I agree. I watch tons of reality shows and so does my mom, younger brother (20) and younger sister (16). It’s great because we can all watch shows together. Survivor was a big hit for us because it was one of the first shows we all enjoyed together. Now my mom and sister watch Top Chef, Project Runway, The Biggest Loser, and the list goes on. It’s good because some of these reality shows give parents a way to bond with their kids in a way that was avoided even just a few years ago. I can count on one hand that amount of shows that I was allowed to watch with my parents when I was about 14.
This post is amazing. I'm addicted to reality television and a lot of times my mom makes comments about it. However, because of me she now loves Top Chef and Project Runway. I don't know what else to say other than the fact that I totally agree with you.