Urgh. Few things I dislike more than these shows. "Britain's Got Talent" is back on the ITV screens tonight.
Let's not kid ourselves with the pretending that reality TV is anything new. Right back to quiz shows in the 70s, probably even beyond that, right back to the kids shouting "hi mum" on the news, people have been trying to get their 5 minutes of fame. The recent wave of reality TV though has the ability to shock, entertain, disgust and put off probably simultaneously.
I won't pretend I don't watch some - I do. How can you avoid it? After hating the way Big Brother used to mean I could watch evening telly during the summers, I tried to make a concious effort to avoid all reality tv, and it worked for a while. Maybe I just mellowed or maybe the schadenfreude just gets the better of me, but I do watch some these days and find myself laughing. Coach Trip (or as I've renamed it, the Big Gay Coach Trip given it's ridiculously high proportion of gay contestants) on Channel 4 has become a favourite just to see how long it takes your conservative types to snap under the overbearing power of the camp brigade and how bitchy they can all get when voting each other off.
Pop Idol or X Factor as it's now known used to be funny and can be entertaining in the audition stages, until you get to grips with the knowledge that exposing deluded.. well.. idiots (sorry, couldn't think of a better term) to this kind of environment is probably not the right step for their emotional development. You may feel sorry for the chubby girl who isn't much to look at and can't sing; the way she's put across by the producers is in such a way that they want you to laugh at her and her completely unrealistic dream. You'll be in uproar when the girls parents race in having a go at the judges who shoot her down.
Who's really to blame here? The judges are there to give their opinion. The general complaint against them is "what do they know?". Who cares what they know, you do - that's what you signed up for, remember. Their opinion. The producers are in it to make money. They do make money, otherwise the programs wouldn't keep coming. The parents shouldn't expose their children to this. I don't think it's particularly great to see adults go through it either, but if they're old enough and stupid enough to put themselves through it, that's a different kettle of fish.
But if the youngsters are not good enough or considered pretty enough then that's one thing. The judges generally consider these individuals as blights. "Why are they here?" is the general expression, on their faces if not from their mouths. The sympathy only comes when it's a cute kid.
Britain's got Talent, for me, took this to a new low, but the public still lap it up. No matter how you put a kid through it, it's a lose lose scenario. I had to do some research for this next bit, so apologies if anything is inaccurate (blame Wikipedia). There are two major reasons I hate the show. (Apologies in advance, I'm not going to find all the links, but you can hop on to Youtube and just type in the basics and you'll get there)
A few years ago, in it's first run, a little girl called Connie sung "Over the Rainbow" and melted the UK's hearts. She'd obviously been pushed into this by her parents so now her dream was to sing in front of Simon Cowell. What an adorable little girl - eventually she was put through to the final where she was "up against" rotund operatic singer Paul Potts. The nature of these finals is such that announcing the winner means standing both contestants side by side - Potts celebrated his victory like he had scored the winner in the World Cup Final. He may as well have got her favourite toy and crapped on it in front of her face. He was clearly thoroughly proud of the fact he beat an infant child, an infant little girl in a televised talent contest.
How can you build up a childs dreams like that? And then have a grown man rub it in her face that he won. A child is unable to comprehend this kind of scenario. An adult would struggle! On one of the other series there was a child called Hollie who cried and stopped when in the middle of singing in a live televised performance. The hosts carted her off, initially not allowing her to sing again because of advertising constraints. How do you explain that concept to a child? They allowed her back later, I'm not sure even that was the right move. She didn't win the competition, so basically she went through all that for nothing. Brilliant.
What's the best case scenario for these child reality stars? The precedent is a dangerous one. James Harries was a boy who appeared on the Terry Wogan show with an incredible knowledge of antiques. His exposure lead to incredible bullying, subsequent depression and an eventual sex change. After becoming Lauren; she has made a number of bizarre television appearances where, to be kind, you would reasonably have concerns for her mental wellbeing. Television is the worst because people are making money from it; I'm not the greatest fan of child pageants in any format either because even though they appear great fun, someone still has to lose. They say everyone's a winner; the losing kids don't see it that way no matter how much you might try and cheer them up.
It's not just children who suffer. I am able to draw a very relevant example from my own experience. There is a guy who was on X Factor a few years ago and made an absolute fool of himself, thinking he was a rapper - I didn't know him personally but he lived locally and we quickly knew of him. He appeared on the auditions, was laughed at and voted out, but by God did he milk that 5 minutes of fame. And, some would say, fair play to him. My brother had two encounters with him - once, in a pub, where he was telling two girls (wearing sunglasses, indoors, in winter) that he was going places, and to stick with him, baby. Not completely silly given the delusions his TV appearance may have given him cause to believe in but when you think of him, it is. The second time my brother saw him was at a barbers - he tried to cut in front of my brother in the waiting queue, because he had an important business meeting. My brother told him where to go, and everyone he has told since has laughed about it, but think if you will of this guy - little intelligence, no talent in the industry he wants to make it in and now probably of the opinion that his TV appearance MUST mean he has SOME talent. My own experience of being in his company was when, about a year ago, he door knocked and very unconvincingly tried to charm me into donating to the RSPCA.
That's my opinion on talent shows. But as I said, I hate reality shows in general. Writing this has re-inforced all of my earlier opinions; I'm more convinced than ever I only watch Coach Trip on the odd occasions I do just to see the what happens when a dozen people in incredibly close proximity blow up. The very best reason for why it's bad can be traced to a programme I watched in the US two years ago; it was run over here for a while I seem to remember but never to such devestating effect as what "Moment of Truth" contestant Lauren Cleri ruined her marraige in the quest for fame and fortune.
The show (if my loose knowledge is to be believed) essentially is based around asking a contestant questions through a lie detector polygraph and then asking them again on air to marry the results. If the contestant is shown to be lying to the polygraph then they don't win, simple. Of course, the questions asked are intended to embarrass the contestant, but never had I seen the likes of this show before. Cleri brazenly confessed that she preferred her ex, would have preferred to marry him and felt that she married the wrong man. All of this with the ex and her husband right there. Beyond the unreliability of such machines in the first place, the fact that she admitted to all of the above and then "failed" to win any money when she answered "do you think you're a good person" with "yes" and the polygraph said "no" basically shows more than anything the risks someone will personally go to in their quest to enrich their lives and how selfish they really are. It was jaw dropping at the time to watch it but can you really take any satisfaction from someone elses heartbreaking? The husband did to his great credit take it with immense dignity and as the victim in the show will no doubt have come out the other end far better off - a dishonest partner kicked into touch and a bevvy of beauties after him, considering he was a handsome bloke.
Regardless of this; I still disagree with the concept of reality TV. There are very few good luck stories, and those that are generally have to endure a great hardship to get there. It's here to stay in whatever format it appears next; and people will continue to watch it as long as it is force fed to them.
But, don't people have a responsibility and duty to realise that theirs and their childrens lives is precious, that a talent that should be shared will almost always be recognised, and that the only winners from reality shows, ultimately, are "fat cats in Leicester Square lining their already bulging wallets"?
Topics as always to yolkietalkie@yahoo.com
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