Jump to content

Why are MTV 'reality' shows like 'Jersey Shore' and 'Teen Mom' so popular?

Shortline Bus

By Shortline Bus
in Off Topic Lounge

Recommended Posts

Shortline Bus

Shortline Bus

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Guys here an interesting article about the 'extremes' not only in reality shows such as 'Teen Mom' and 'Jersey Shore' but all over TV as well.

 

 

 

"Extreme TV pushes the limits"

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

April 6, 2011

 

 

(CNN) -- Americans love extremes.

 

From super-sized meals to makeover shows that transform houses and humans into almost unrecognizable improvements of the original, we are a nation that loves just about anything cranked higher.

 

So it stands to reason that audiences would embrace television shows that feature ordinary people exploring the extremes of their everyday lives.

 

Such is the premise of a new television show launching Wednesday on the TLC network titled "Extreme Couponing," which takes the rather mundane chore of coupon clipping to a whole new level thanks to a group of devotees who have turned it into an art form.

 

These are shoppers who are able to bag thousands of dollars worth of groceries a year for only a few bucks. (On one of the first episodes, one participant pays less than $50 for a grocery bill of more than a $1,000.) They spend countless hours gathering, clipping and cataloging coupons, and shopping.

 

In many cases, items are even free -- thanks to the creative use of coupons and rebates -- and the series displays how the participants sometimes draw a crowd at the market, anxious to see how low their grocery bill will go.

 

But along with such savvy shopping comes the stockpiling. One woman buys dozens of containers of mustard to maximize her savings, while another has to have special shelves built in her home to store her bounty.

 

"I think part of it is that there's always a fascination with the extreme," said Mary Elizabeth Williams, a writer for Salon.com. "There's always something that draws us to the freakish, and that's why we had sideshows. There is something about people who are freaks or who have freakish behavior that is compelling because we don't live in that world."

 

We've really tapped into a fascination that America has about obsession or any type of extreme situation.

 

--Amy Winter, general manager for TLC

There are plenty of shows that feed the need to get a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people who live extraordinarily.

 

A&E features people grappling with morbid obesity on its reality series "Heavy" and those trapped by their compulsion to be surrounded by things with its hit show "Hoarders." Animal Planet put a spin on the latter concept, to appeal to its niche audience, with its series "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."

 

But no network has so thoroughly mined the world of the unusual as TLC, which over the years has found ratings success with shows about mega-families (such as "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting); little people (including "Little People, Big World" and "The Little Couple"); and the tiny tots who vigorously compete in beauty pageants on "Toddlers & Tiaras."

 

TLC's latest offerings include "Freaky Eaters," about people with bizarre eating disorders and food addiction, and "My Strange Addiction," which features those who battled obsessive behaviors like eating cleanser and sleeping with a blow-dryer.

 

"We've really tapped into a fascination that America has about obsession or any type of extreme situation," said Amy Winter, general manager for TLC. "I think the reason why is that we have a way of presenting those stories in a very humane way. People connect."

 

Williams said the popularity of such shows is evidence that run-of-the-mill-reality-show drama is no longer enough for audiences. Viewers now want "something that is going to excite all of the neural passageways," she said.

 

"I've come to believe that reality television is like a drug, and we have built up a tolerance for the regular run of reality TV," she said. "I am old enough to remember when 'The Real World' started and they were a group of people who sometimes didn't get along, but no one was eating the couch."

 

"Now, we have to find the most insane, outrageous thing [to watch], because we are numb to everything else."

 

--Writer Mary Elizabeth Williams

"Sure, [the cast of 'The Real World] fought, but audiences get bored with that, and then it becomes, 'I want someone who is going to throw a drink in someone's face or tip over a table.' But now, even that is passé," Williams said. "Now, we have to find the most insane, outrageous thing [to watch], because we are numb to everything else."

 

Jennifer L. Pozner, author of "Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV," said she views TLC as having the same programming strategy, versus A&E, as Fox has had with ABC in that the former often takes concepts from the latter, but pushes the envelope.

 

"ABC would do 'Wife Swap,' which would be exploitive enough, but then Fox would do 'Trading Spouses,' which was even more so," Pozner said. "ABC would come out with 'The Bachelor.' and then Fox came out with 'Joe Millionaire.' Fox seems to always bite at the heels of ABC, but to rip off their premises with a wink and a nudge and make it even more bottom feeder."

 

So after A&E found success with "Hoarders," Pozner said, TLC debuted "Hoarding: Buried Alive." And while Pozner said she believes A&E plays to "voyeurism and the entertainment value of human tragedy," she also thinks the network balances that with mental health information."

 

For rest of article http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/05/extreme.couponing.tv/index.html?hpt=C1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BJC

BJC

Posted
Posted
I dunno, as in if a person has to go to college, does it make a difference what type of institution of 'learning' they go to?

 

Unless they go to school to learn about a trade....this summer I'm going to take classes to become an EMT at lease I know if a pass the test,I'll land a job somewhere....I decided not to go to college,because it's not worth the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shortline Bus

Shortline Bus

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Unless they go to school to learn about a trade....this summer I'm going to take classes to become an EMT at lease I know if a pass the test,I'll land a job somewhere....I decided not to go to college,because it's not worth the time.

 

Not to get off topic. BJC it's not a waste to go to college. However it should be only if you want to get a specific goal i.e nurse or lawyer. What this recession has proven is that you can't screw around in your college years anymore with the cost of college now the price of a house if you go to an expensive school.

If you wanted to go to college in your later years at say age 35 to get a degree in mangement related to EMT then might make the most sense.

 

Back to topic. "Real World" though not I am not a fan of it was more of a 'documentary' then a crappy scrpited 'reality' show like "Jersey Shore.'

 

It was basically just taking a camera around the lives of the cast members with the job or school they attended. Then coming home in sharing a house or apartment. "Real World" is much more genuine than "Jersey Shore.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LRG

LRG

Posted
Posted

Hey if BJC doesn't want to go to college then it's his choice. For what it's worth I'm starting to think that college is a farce seeing how people with Masters' degrees are unable to make their way into the doors of a high-entry level job. Nowadays jobs want a four-year degree and you can land a position as manager for a retail clothing store.

 

If I do decide to go back to college next semester (whichI HIGHLY doubt I will), I'll just stick to collecting as much credits as I can that relate to my major so I can get the hell out. I'm pretty much done with Gen Ed courses anyway. But all in all college has seriously gotten annoying, and ever since I got out of high school I don't enjoy going to school anymore...I'm not saying that I actually liked school but when I was 15 or 16 I was apathetic to going to school. Now I just loathe school as a whole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shortline Bus

Shortline Bus

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hey if BJC doesn't want to go to college then it's his choice. For what it's worth I'm starting to think that college is a farce seeing how people with Masters' degrees are unable to make their way into the doors of a high-entry level job. Nowadays jobs want a four-year degree and you can land a position as manager for a retail clothing store.

 

If I do decide to go back to college next semester (whichI HIGHLY doubt I will), I'll just stick to collecting as much credits as I can that relate to my major so I can get the hell out. I'm pretty much done with Gen Ed courses anyway. But all in all college has seriously gotten annoying, and ever since I got out of high school I don't enjoy going to school anymore...I'm not saying that I actually liked school but when I was 15 or 16 I was apathetic to going to school. Now I just loathe school as a whole.

 

 

I was not knocking BJC. Good luck to him. I was stating that good for him to get his EMT license and it's nothing wrong later on in his 30's or later to go back if he wanted.

 

My point is if you do go to college you better be damn sure you get the degree since it so expensive. Thus not waste it and use it as a time to party and use it for the "Dating Game.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LRG

LRG

Posted
Posted
My point is if you do go to college you better be damn sure you get the degree since it so expensive. Thus not waste it and use it as a time to party and use it for the "Dating Game.'

 

Lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept