MTV used to be a music channel. They still play an occasional music video but the station (like most other stations) has been taken over by reality tv shows. It was fun when they began the first season of The Real World, real people living in NYC, getting jobs and hanging out and hooking up etc. Then another season of the Real World, and another, and then Road Rules, and the the RR vs RW challenges. Then The Hills, Next, SuperSweet 16, and so on and so on. What happened to The Grind and Headbangers Ball!?

What is all of this realty tv doing to us? Turn on the tv and most stations have some sort of reality tv program. Actors have been replaced by “real people”, the sitcom has been replaced by a “real-life” drama. Everyone and their mother has got their own show now and is dying for their 15 minutes. Famous is no longer about talent, or being a star. Famous is about getting yourself on some horrible show, or posing in Maxim or trying to get yourself into a group of young Hollywood hotshots and get your picture in People magazine danging on a table top at Hyde lounge.

What happened to regular tv and regular tv stars? Where did they go? Did real tv die with shows like Friends and Sex in the City?

Don’t get me wrong there are still some great shows on tv, Grey’s Anatomy, LOST, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock. But reality tv is gaining ground with lightening speed. More people would probably recognize the kids from Laguna Beach or Rob and Amber from Survivor fame than Forest Whitaker or Pete O’Toole, or most TV actors.

I keep thinking the tides will turn and reality tv will peter out. But it seems the opposite is happening. Every year more and more reality tv sneaks its way onto our screens. And I will admit I watch some of it from time to time. I think most of these reality shows are exploitive and cruel and they are not uplifting in any way.

Bring back the music MTV and ditch the spoiled California teens vying for their 15 minutes! 

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