Is "The Reality Show" Over? - Page 2

Very little actually happens on these shows, which tend to verge on being product infomercials. The fun lies in waiting for the next revelation to tip over the apple cart. The people behind these shows walk a fine line. On the one hand, they benefit from scandal in terms of ratings. On the other hand, scandal often threatens to destroy the entire enterprise, as has happened this week with Jon & Kate Plus 8. It must be pretty nerve-racking for the producers.

Still, I believe it is these multiple levels of “reality” within the reality show genre that have helped keep it fresh, and that keep people watching long after the original formula has worn thin. Think of it as "The Producers versus The Tabloids." Can the folks behind Jon & Kate keep the show going, even as the Internet-fueled gossip-mongering makes everyone involved squirm? For that’s the reality show we are now watching. It must be very disconcerting for the media companies broadcasting these shows, even as it’s wicked good fun for everyone else.

My students who are writing memoirs, though, should probably keep this in mind, as they pen the literary equivalent of the reality TV show. James Frey sold far more books after he was excoriated on Oprah’s couch for his fabrications. But was it really worth the humiliation and the damage to his reputation? If you write a memoir these days, or if you produce a reality show, you need to be aware that you are stepping into the shark tank. A cynical public and the tabloid media are no longer looking at your narrative; they are looking for the holes in it.

Article Author: Kimberly Davis

Kimberly Davis is a poet and prose writer whose work has appeared in Nimrod, The Iowa Review, Cairn, The Briar Cliff Review, and other fine literary journals. She teaches creative writing at the Cambridge Center in Harvard Square, and writes Kim's …

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