This was supposed to be my post yesterday, not a blank space, I don’t know what happened. Without further ado:
I spent 2 hours of my life last night in front of the tv awaiting the winner of the Dancing with the Stars winner. When I first heard of the premise for the show I guess last summer before the first season, I thought it was the stupidest idea ever. The title is cheesy, the idea seemed cheesy, and I’m not into the celebrity reality shows. Shockingly, it turned out to be the biggest hit of the summer and I attributed it to America being dumb, but sure enough, midway through this season I got hooked and I’m ready to sign up for dancing classes now. I think the key to the show is that, especially this season, the “stars” were at least moderately relevant and likeable C+ listers, unlike on Fox or VH1 when they pick anyone who was famous for doing anything at least 10 years ago and isn’t currently in rehab. Also, they could really dance.
On a related note, I’m fascinated by the fact that reality tv is still going strong years after everyone predicted it would fade out. It’s not still at the point where anything reality would be a ratings juggernaut, but most of the big originals are still going strong, though not quite as strong (Survivor, The Bachelor, Real World) and new hits keep popping up. These aren’t “good” shows, what is it that makes them so popular now that the novelty has worn off? Also, what makes certain ones succeed (Stars), fail (too many to name), or succeed and then fail (Apprentice). For me, I usually watch b/c they’re mindless things to turn on when there’s nothing else to do, without really having to be invested in them and watch every week, but I’ll definitely be more inclined towards some than others—usually if there are appealing people and some sort of worthwhile competition--but I don’t know if it’s that way for everyone. Meanwhile, if our grandchildren even still watch tv, will they be thinking our generation was revolutionary or laughing at the fact that we ever sat around watching real people on tv and voting for them.
The next thing I’ve already gotten hooked on is Deal or no Deal. This actually started during it’s limited run around Christmas and it’s still the most oddly captivating show ever. It’s just a regular person picking a suitcases and trying to pick the one with a million dollars. Suitcases are opened one by one, and after every one “the Bank” will offer the person money to buy the suitcase from him and he has to pick whether to make the deal or not. It’s like watching Price is Right with 1,000 times the yelling and anticipation. This has been a huge hit around the world, and I don’t know what the ratings have been like here, but I’ll predict that it could really help NBC if they deal with it right and don’t totally overexpose it like ABC did with Millionaire.
I spent 2 hours of my life last night in front of the tv awaiting the winner of the Dancing with the Stars winner. When I first heard of the premise for the show I guess last summer before the first season, I thought it was the stupidest idea ever. The title is cheesy, the idea seemed cheesy, and I’m not into the celebrity reality shows. Shockingly, it turned out to be the biggest hit of the summer and I attributed it to America being dumb, but sure enough, midway through this season I got hooked and I’m ready to sign up for dancing classes now. I think the key to the show is that, especially this season, the “stars” were at least moderately relevant and likeable C+ listers, unlike on Fox or VH1 when they pick anyone who was famous for doing anything at least 10 years ago and isn’t currently in rehab. Also, they could really dance.
On a related note, I’m fascinated by the fact that reality tv is still going strong years after everyone predicted it would fade out. It’s not still at the point where anything reality would be a ratings juggernaut, but most of the big originals are still going strong, though not quite as strong (Survivor, The Bachelor, Real World) and new hits keep popping up. These aren’t “good” shows, what is it that makes them so popular now that the novelty has worn off? Also, what makes certain ones succeed (Stars), fail (too many to name), or succeed and then fail (Apprentice). For me, I usually watch b/c they’re mindless things to turn on when there’s nothing else to do, without really having to be invested in them and watch every week, but I’ll definitely be more inclined towards some than others—usually if there are appealing people and some sort of worthwhile competition--but I don’t know if it’s that way for everyone. Meanwhile, if our grandchildren even still watch tv, will they be thinking our generation was revolutionary or laughing at the fact that we ever sat around watching real people on tv and voting for them.
The next thing I’ve already gotten hooked on is Deal or no Deal. This actually started during it’s limited run around Christmas and it’s still the most oddly captivating show ever. It’s just a regular person picking a suitcases and trying to pick the one with a million dollars. Suitcases are opened one by one, and after every one “the Bank” will offer the person money to buy the suitcase from him and he has to pick whether to make the deal or not. It’s like watching Price is Right with 1,000 times the yelling and anticipation. This has been a huge hit around the world, and I don’t know what the ratings have been like here, but I’ll predict that it could really help NBC if they deal with it right and don’t totally overexpose it like ABC did with Millionaire.
posted by Alexis @ 3:50 PM
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