TV helps enlighten real-life issues
By Jen Tran
Honestly, seeing drunken people on reality shows making idiots out of themselves isn’t as big a problem everyone makes it out to be. Their lives are just recorded and other idiots’ lives are not. It doesn’t mean that every TV show will end up as trash. If viewers would ease up, they would realize that some reality shows help people.
Shows like Extreme Home Makeover have truly helped people. Ty Pennington, host of the show, goes around the country with a team of experts and helps unfortunate families and builds them a new house. Biggest Loser helps extremely obese men and women “gain” control of their lives and create a healthier life for themselves.
The soap opera dramatics of other shows like Teen Mom, or Jerry Springer, much to everyone’s concerns, do not encourage viewers to become pregnant at a young age or cheat on their loved ones.
The first reality shows were made for good and fun entertainment; in fact it was the old-school hidden camera jokes that first made an impression for reality shows. Now reality shows are for entertainment purposes, but some also involve helpful and informative purposes as well.
Breaking Amish is a show talking about five people coming from different Amish communities wanting to get rid of what they consider an oppressive lifestyle. It shows the pros and cons of leaving the Amish community.
Some critics like to complain about how TV show producers go “too far” and delve too much into people’s personal lives. But viewers need to realize that these people who have signed up for the show put themselves up for the risk of humiliation as well as judgment from the millions of people watching. No one is threatening these people to participate in these shows. They do it to themselves.
Reality shows are exactly what the name says – reality. It’s the honest truth in most shows. People are too quick to make judgment on the shows that leave a bad taste in their mouths, but these people decide to do that to themselves. Reality shows expose the gritty aspects of some people’s lives, whether viewers like it or not.
People always have the option to shut their TVs off; many just refuse and decide to criticize instead. Eventually, reality shows will cover every single topic and problem known to man. Viewers should embrace the honesty and tragedy of the shows that do prove these incidents happen in people’s lives.

Reality television too influential
By Elaina DePetro
Reality television, once something people watched for entertainment purposes, has become a source that too many people base their lives on.
From reality television, people who have no real talent have become famous. While people who have talent are searching for work, reality TV participants are making money and gaining success for no reason.
This year, “Toddlers and Tiaras” star Alana Thompson, more famously known as “Honey Boo Boo,” got her own reality television show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Family members are now known publicly for their nicknames, games such as smelling each other’s breath, bad manners, and poor etiquette. The mother is known for giving her daughter “go go juice,” made of Mountain Dew and Red Bull. If Honey Boo Boo is famous this year, who is next? What can top this crazy family?
In a recent interview with Andy Cohen on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, The Hill star Kristen Cavallari was asked how fake this “reality” show was. Cavallari responded by saying that most of the show was fake, including the friendships, relationships, and conversations.
The popular show Bad Girls Club publicly displays behavior that is bad, including cursing, fighting between women, and feisty, mischievous behavior. Though on the show to fix their pernicious behavior and accomplish specific goals, their bad behavior is shown. Why are young people seeing that behavior? Why would people want society to become full of people with the behavior of those displayed in the show?
The younger generation is watching shows like Jersey Shore and looking up to the participants, especially how they dress and act. When the younger generation grows up, does the population really need a bunch of little Snookis, J Wows , and Mike the Situations? The drinking, partying, and the other bad things that go on have the older generation questioning whether the next generation will grow up like that.
This genre of television has now created what is known as the fame game. Normal people have become famous for no other reason than having a reality television show. Hello, Kim Kardashian.
For people who don’t take reality shows seriously, they provide about 30 minutes of silly entertainment. Yet too many people see them truly as “reality.” It then has a hazard of harming audiences with unrealistic, unhealthy, and ridiculous expectations and opportunities.