an almost real reality-television

The onslaught of reality television that emerged in the late 90s gave motion to the potential humanization of us on TV, the most currently accessible media outlet. In a median that has traditionally portrayed human expression in perhaps the most contrived, detached, exploitative, and glamorized polarization of all mass medians, the late 90s reality-TV boom was necessary in the transition toward accurate visual media humanizing, and from this, the possibility of true, sincere idealization.

Though still in a exploitative, and many times, mean-spirited sense, late 90s reality-TV showed a glimmer of sincerity -- of relatively unscripted people with real insecurities, flaws, and vulnerability. But, most importantly, it perpetuated our self-commodification and evidenced that we are truly all 'actors'.

With the millennium, the initial onslaught of the late 90s reality boom inevitably lost momentum, inundated in a free-for-all of overexposure and over-programming. The shifting of post 9-11 sentiment effected the platform as well. The heavy reliance on reality shows that were sexy, controversial, and essentially marketed around bringing the worst out of people became generally less appealing. To survive, the reality-TV platform had to adapt. Outside of a few shows that became mainstays, the conceptual median of reality-TV had to be rethought and repackaged for longevity and growth-potential.

This led to reality-TV 2.0 -- the second wave of reality-TV, post 9-11. These shows centered on self-help, self-healing, self-empowerment through self-commodification, and most tellingly, empathy and redemption. Although now detrimental, American Idol was a genesis in this transition. Shows such as Supernanny, Wifeswap, Dancing with the Stars, and even the Extreme Makeover series, were marketed around the empowerment and celebration of individuals. Broadly speaking, the reality show landscape shifted from one that was built on novelty, game-playing, communal drama to one that centered around self-celebration and cultural and familial healing. This credo in programming, (for me) inspired by ABC, continued past the 'end' of each episode and into the real-life of the contestants. For example, Supernanny and Wifeswap. In many of these post-show updates, families have found varying degrees of integration and success after the show. Some families have reverted to their prior ways, some have lapsed, some have embraced their lessons, some somewhere in between, etc. This is paramount because 'program glossification' is abstracted. It shows that change is not sudden. It takes focus, perseverance, effort. It takes moments of failure to succeed. These shows embrace universals, modes of learning, positive domestic philosophies, and enable and encourage active change from within.

This overview is mainly focused on basic TV programming, which is still the most accessed median. Though, cable programming presently carries a large proportion of reality-TV that still rely on the older marketing platform, this dissolution and transition is evident in this median as well. We see that MTV/Viacom has been steadily declining in its ratings, as shows such as Real World, The Hills, Next, etc. no longer pull in viewers like they used to. On E!, most of the reality shows are concreted in irony, which is surely running its course in the cultural pop lexicon.

You may have picked up by now that I'm not a proponent of FOX, news and programming. I believe in destiny and the significations that momentarily reveal and enable destiny. This transition in reality-TV was made possible because of economics. Because hypercapitalism saw an opportunity to capitalize, to exploit, and simultaneously save money doing it. Change comes from negative as it does positive.

We may one day look back and depending on our collective state, guffaw, "their name was FOX... it was right there in front of us." When thinking of FOX, people usually relegate the issue to FOX NEWS, but that is only a microcosm. FOX is more problematic because of their entertainment programming. FOX capitalizes on our perversion, on postmodern cynicism and indolence, on sex, controversy, drama, deflating sarcasm, trusting no one, everyone is out for themselves, on being aggressive and defensive, on arbitrary labels of color, creed, religiosity. To juxtapose, ABC had Supernanny. FOX had Nanny 9-11, which if you watched steeply contrasted the prior in it's solicitude of self-righteous judgment and public shaming. FOX has Moment of Truth. It has Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader, which promotes the machinic, capitalist mentality that remembering and regurgitating historical facts and math equations equate to being 'intelligent'. Watching the NFC championship yesterday (which is the only exception in my boycotting of FOX), I saw something emblematic of what FOX stands for. For NFL and college football (sigh), when the telecast transitions back from commercial to the coverage of the game, on the lower left side there is a robot football player hopping around. Not a real football player. A piece of technology, a drone.

I don't have some sort of stubborn bias toward ABC over other media conglomerates. Who knows maybe somewhere later in our journey, ABC may become the detrimental network and FOX may become serviceable. And if so, I will boycott ABC. To conclude, we are at a juncture of slightly-past reality-TV 2.0, so what is the next progression? I feel CURRENT TV, as an entertainment news template, is on the right path.