Blog #7

I think that reality TV is so darn entertaining because it gets us (viewers) something to compare our lives to. By watching reality TV we are able to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. For example, on Teen Mom, one of the moms is currently having medical problems with one of her daughters. Many people's hearts go out to this mom, but many people don't have to deal or handle with this issue; so many viewers are able to say that their current situation is better. Reality TV can also help us see that certain problems can occur no matter how rich and famous you are. An example of this would be the divorce of Camille and Kelsey Grammer. Camille is on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and on her show the final moments of her marriage were played out for viewers to see. Many people go through a divorce at least at some point in their lives, so this is something many people can relate to. As you can see through my examples, I love reality TV.  As I watch the show, I think to myself, "what are they doing? Are they seriously doing that?" To me, reality TV shows how really stupid people can really be. I am aware that majority of the shows have some type of scripting to it but not all of it is scripted. There is definitely somethings on the shows that happen without scripting and those are the moments when I'm glad that I'm not that dumb or stupid.

As viewers we definitely encourage and support these shows. Most of these shows have some sort of script. This script depends on what the viewer wants to see. For example if they (viewers) want someone to hate, the producers will "hire" or "create" a villain. An example of this is Danielle Staub of the Real Housewives of New Jersey and Angelina Pivarnick of Jersey Shore.   

I know this is not a clip of an episode, but it is the trailer for the season 2 of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. In this clip, its a mesh of clips from the season.  A lot of the mini clips in this clip did not show too much reality. I think that a lot of what was showed was staged. I have seen this season and an example where the scene was staged was when Dina and Danielle got into an altercation at a restaurant. Normally, when two women are fighting in a restaurant, the by-standers are not going to just sit there like nothing is going on. People are going to stare and in this episode the by-standers were just sitting there continuing with their meals.

The women in the video are from the state of New Jersey and have some considerable amount of money. On the show there is Caroline Manzo, who is the matriarch of the group; Dina Manzo, the younger sister of Caroline; Teresa Giudice, a long time friend of Caroline and Dina; Jacqueline Laurita, the sister-in-law to Caroline and Dina; and Danielle Staub, the controversial one of the group. I guess that the character/ person that I respond most to would be Danielle Staub; but not in a good way. I think that Danielle is one of the most stupidest women on the show and I definitely question everything that Danielle does on the show. One reason that attracts me to the show is Danielle's craziness; you never know what she is going to do next.

I think that my role as the viewer is that I continue to support Danielle's craziness because that is the reason why I watch it. But as a result the eagerness of people to watch her craziness, it is only going to cause Danielle to become more crazier on the show.