I remember when the Discovery Channel had quality documentaries. Now all they have are rednecks and vapid reality show people. History Channel too! When did swamp people become cooler than WW2 weapons?
And the Science Fiction channel! They had epic space adventure like “Farscape” and “Battlestar Galactica”. And now they have nothing but wrestling, ghosts, and shark tornados! Thanks to stupid execs!
They could have made a show combining space exploration with soap opera drama for the casual viewer! Beverly Hills meets Houston!
Oh wait someone else is already doing that!
At this point “Syfy” should give up and shut down!
Why were we so obsessed with reality shows in the early 2010s?
Why did we stop dreaming of space? Of a better future for humanity?
I watched the first season of American Idol, many seasons of Amazing Race and Deadliest Catch, and a few seasons of Gold Rush. That’s about it, and I haven’t followed any in a few years.
For All Mankind was good, but I had forgotten about it. Glad to see Season 2 is coming back 14 months later. (It took me many episodes of “she looks familiar” before I realized that Molly was Penny from Lost).
On the Space side, there is plenty of material from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and YouTube content like Everyday Astronaut and Scott Manley to more than makeup, for me, for what used to be on Science, Discovery, History etc., before they turned to the dark side.
Apparently people watch them. It’s caused us to watch a lot less TV and nothing from those channels that switched (Travel, Discovery, History, etc). If you can get it, the Smithsonian Channel is still quite worthy of watching if you liked the shows on the other channels. It’s one of our favorites.
PBS has some shows too - Nature and Nova are regulars and then they throw in some others once in a while.
I have never watched a reality show I really liked. We watch some of the HGTV ones to scout out areas of the world we want to see and might want to buy a condo in, but we’re very choosy about episodes within series. Overall, reality shows are so contrived it’s rather painful to sit through them.
I grew up in the US and watched a decent bit of TV. I moved to a country and did not speak the language so quit watching any TV during the 14 years I was overseas. By not regularly watching sports events I lost track of the college players so professional sports became less interesting.
Upon returning to the US 10 years ago I never really began watching TV and am very glad I broke the habit. DS complained a bit sometimes when he was in middle school as friends would discuss something that he was not familiar with but overall I think it has been very positive for us to not spend much time sitting in front of the TV.
Reality TV hit the airwaves in a big way due to the writer’s strike ( From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor unions went on strike.) - Reality TV producers and studios actually took advantage of the situation by creating a new genre, that didn’t fall under any category and definitely not under “scripted tv” so they (the studios and producers) were able to get original programming on the air without the need for writers (which prolonged the strike, and also changed TV season starts from that point on…we used to see the fall season start, with all shows (new and returning) starting all at the same time, within a 2 week period). Those first (writer’s strike) “unscripted” shows became popular and from there became an actual TV genre that now even is eligible for Emmy Awards.
Reality TV has actually been around for decades under various monikers including Queen for a Day and Candid Camera.
Well after 9 months of living alone and in isolation, I have watched quite a few. Mainly when I am tired. I actually find some of the dating/marriage type shows fascinating. My daughter and I discuss them sort of sociologically, maybe hoping that excuses me! The worst are the real estate ones- ugh.
I had a health issue with my eyes but am delighted to say that I can read again and the last two months I have read books instead, though one reality show did slip in somewhere there.
Maybe I am dumb, or dumbed down, but being totally alone and responsible for every second of my day, for so long,- books, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, walks, Netflix, there are times I need some Netflix trash. Fessing up. Anyone else?
