Reply #6: crotchety

[lazarus]

Maybe if people understood the history of television, they wouldn't be decrying this fad.

Every hear of "Queen for a Day"? "This Is Your Life"? Aren't those reality shows?

The Dating Game is nothing but a one shot version of The Bachelor/Bachelorette.

As for reality tv's "dumbing down" of television, or making it too trashy, let's remember that shows like Springer pre-date the modern reality tv wave.

And that, in the '60s, we had shows about a talking car, a talking horse, and a man who had a genie who called him "Master".

Yeah, the Golden Years of high-class television.

You don't have to like reality TV, but accept that it is an old genre that's been around as long as any other. Remember the 80s, when sitcoms were everywhere? Or the periods we've had cop shows on every night?

TV shifts and adapts. This is just another fad, and it will cool off. But there will always be reality tv shows, just as there have always been.