The future of reality television

Everyone loves reality television right? American Idol, Survivor, Bad Girls Club, even the Housewives of wherever and the rest of their ilk continue to dominate the programming of virtually every network on television today. But you know that at some point soon (which will not be soon enough for me) there will come a ratings slump. Then what will the television execs do?

Movies have already looked at the craze for "reality" television. They have pondered the pro's and con's of the idea. They have considered the ineviable decline in interest and the subsequent efforts to spice up the programs to keep the eyeballs on theiur shows. The ultimate result, according to movies, is



or maybe an idea from 1975



Still not quite right?



I know. Not possible. That's just sci-fi movie fantasy. It could never happen.

Except that in France, 64 people on a "reality" television show gave a 'contestant' electric shocks until he 'died'.



Are you sure we are still that far away from the movies?

Maybe there is hope for mankind yet

In probably the happiest news I've learned about in year I can now say that the Fox 'Reality' Channel will be ending. That's right, a 'reality' network is going to dust.

After what seemed like an endless run of this programming trend, turning countless numbers of people into chattel for the television corporations, an end is in sight. And not a moment too soon as Flava Flav is about to venture into schools and directly corrupt minds with this trash.

I cannot say that I will miss a single program. In fact, I can say with glee that I have never seen more than 5 minutes of any 'reality' program since I watched a full episode of Survivor the first season. That experience was enough to kill more brain cells than the grain alcohol party in my freshman year in college.

Maybe, just maybe, television executives will spend a little money and get writers to provide something with the semblance of originality. Just maybe a spark of innovation will venture through the ITV and provide the next generation something more than the notion that acting like a buffoon is desirable.

Considering the plethora of copycat shows (CSI is CIS: NY is NCIS, Law & Order is Law & Order with an alphabet, they all are more original than Medium, Numbe3rs, Cold Case and so on) and the near limitless ways that Viacom found to market Flav and his nymphette minions, I was ready to declare that the Romans watching the gladiators as Rome decayed into ruin were riding the crest of the wave of their civilizations demise compared to today. But Fox may be ahead of the curve in noticing that reality is what people want to escape while watching TV. And there is just so many times you can watch some idiot make a complete churl of themselves.

I don't know what the next trend in television might be, but I can only hope that it might have some tiny bit of imagination and intelligence. I'm asking for way too much, but you never know. You can't get what you don't ask for.

The worst show to ever be on television

Well this is what you learn if you are on the net at 1:30am. A list of the worst television shows ever. It won’t change your life but it will entertain you a bit to know that there are worse things you could have been watching.

I am no fan of most of the television shows on broadcast television these days. The attempt to find the lowest common denominator in programming overwhelmed by ability to vegetate right about the time that “reality” television took hold – specifically Survivor and American Idol. Call me a purist, but I enjoy a show that requires someone to have made a thought at some point past the title.

That said I had to look over this list and see if they had my all-time (in my lifetime so far) worst television show. This program was so bad that it died a quick death. Luckily most people were spared the chance to see it. And it was the first clue of the demise of the network that spawned it. I won’t give any more clues yet.

Shows in the list from the Chicago Tribune include:

My Mother the car
Mr. T and Tina
The Ropers
Joanie Loves Chachi
Cop Rock
The Jerry Springer Show
The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer

The last of which somehow had a video of it preserved. Hopefully its video is a warning to Hollywood executives of programming never to dare try again.



I truly think that Kenneth Chi McBride was lied to about what the show would be like. I am sure he will forever be upset that I have found and presented this piece of trash from the depths of TV hell he hoped it was securely locked in. But I forgive him. I just hope he got paid a lot for this.

Still the worst show I have ever seen (besides and maybe slightly worse than the mind-numbing American Idol), which also made the list, has to be …

Homeboys in Space

Aired on the thankfully defunct UPN Network, the title was the first clue on how bad this show was. Darryl M. Bell should have pimped slapped his agent for this one. Considering he has had little work since tells you how badly it affects those that watch the program.

To protect the minds of my readers I have found the intro to the program, and that alone. I also really did not want to relive the pain and revulsion of the full episodes, so I didn’t search harder to see if more is out on the web. You’ll thank me for that.



But like any list everyone might recall something they consider worse. Though I don’t know how.

What was the worst television show you have ever seen? And if you agree and saw Homeboys in Space, I know your pain.