In the article “Reality TV Presents Rural Americans as
Skilled and Serious Workers,” written by Robert Lloyd, a television critic for
the Los Angeles Times, readers are shown that many reality TV shows are
starting to involve ordinary people who make a living off of their job. These
new reality television shows better represent the typical American rather than
showing the wealthy get handed money like they did in the past. Lloyd lists a
number of shows that are following the trend of casting ordinary people doing
extraordinary jobs. For example, some reality TV shows that have come out
recently are Gold Rush, Deadliest Catch, and Buck Wild just to name a few.
These new shows seems to take place away from major cities, typically down
south, where the average man has to work there way through life with a little
added drama of course. Although all of these shows have added drama and other
things, all these shows are about getting the job done.
Lloyd continues to speak about the new trend of reality TV
shows by stating that they include “real people” with “meaningful work.” He
goes on to show readers that in this new trend of shows, financial struggle is
good. He later goes on to write that work actually does matter, meaning that
there are consequences or rewards for either failing or completing a task at
work. Lloyd writes that these new shows want to expose that failing to do
something or if something goes wrong, then money and other things can be lost.
Lloyd uses examples of several shows that all have the similar structure that
rural Americans are in fact skilled and serious workers.
Throughout the article, Lloyd makes his appeal to logos when
he provides factual evidence showing that this trend of new reality TV shows
exploits the average man working hard to get by. Although I am not a huge fan
of these reality TV shows myself, I do appreciate them more than others. I
would rather watch people working with drama then wealthy celebrities getting
handouts. I think that this trend of new shows should continue, appealing to
the typical middle class citizen. These new shows are helping people see that
working hard is necessary, even for television stars.
Although reality television shows are extremely popular, I personally don’t like watching them. I feel that all reality television shows are basically the same and obviously scripted and fake. These new shows that are being put on tv showing working class Americans may be a new trend but for what reason? Most people don’t watch these shows and appreciate blue collar people, people watch these shows for the drama and for entertainment. Overall I think that these shows do show Americans all over the true working class people in this country and give them recognition but I don’t think that these shows make people have a better appreciation for blue collar workers. Shows that truly show a more in depth perspective on working class Americans can be found on channels like national geographic or the history channel where documentary’s are shown and are much more informative and helpful.
ReplyDeleteI like that reality television shows are displaying how true Americans are living their lives, and what they do on a day to day basis. It is convenient to see how one lives his or her life in comparison with others, and maybe people can learn to not be as materialistic when they see that others are working really hard for little to nothing. One show that displays this is Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. The man does several jobs that are tough and hardworking, and he lets you see first hand how everything is done. There is a downside to reality television, though. Most of reality television is either scripted or completely fake. Like Kevin stated, Documentaries are much more informative and reliable compared to reality television.
ReplyDeleteThat is cool that networks are trying to expand their horizons on reality tv, but do people really need a television series to teach them how to “get the job done”? It will be interesting to see if the shows listed last long. To be honest, I would much rather watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians than watch a show on some middle-class fisherman working hard in the south. I feel like producers are running out of ideas for reality show topics so this is what they have resorted to. I really do not care about seeing real people doing meaningful work on my television screen. I also do not need a reality to show to be my guide on what it means to fail or stuggle financially. At the end of the day, there are obviously some people that enjoy these shows, but I am definitely not interested in watching them.
ReplyDeleteShows like these provide a breath of fresh air for people who are tired of shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians. It's gives credit to people all around the country who are in the shadow of over-priviliged reality stars. I feel like it's beneficial to everybody that these shows are spreading around the meaning of hard work. Sharing the lives of everyday Americans is a big change from the norm, because most shows focus on the Hollywood lifestyle. Most of the conflicts these people encounter are not applicable to the average joe. However, there is another point that I'd like to include. I think that these reality shows have the potential to become counter intuitive. Do the people on these shows (as you mentioned, "television stars") get compensated at all? If so, then maybe this is where faking comes into play in order to keep up the image of "hard work" that the success of the show was built upon.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is good that the television networks show more stories about people that actually work for a living besides shows that are all about rich people and how they just throw their money around like nothing. I find these shows about working people more interesting and relatable because I personally have to work for everything I want. My parents are there to help as well but I've been working since I was 15 and I believe it is important for someone t understand the value of a dollar and the labor that comes with getting that money. It is not going to just fall in your lap, as cliché as it is, if you want something you have to go out and get it. More people should start watching these shows so they can see how hard people have to work just to support themselves and a family.
ReplyDeleteReality television shows are interesting at times but I don’t like the fact that they’ve taken the place of actual educational television on channels such as discovery and animal planet. There used to be more programs of the documentary type that had the sole purpose of delivering what some might consider interesting information. Another concern I have with “reality” television is the legitimacy of what they present to the public and how much of what is shown is dramatized for entertainment purposes. I find it great that they are trying to take reality television and give it a more positive spin by showing hard working, “average” people but that doesn’t seem to have much of an influence on the television watchers of the world because they are sitting on their couches watching these reality tv shows instead of working. How many of the people that watch these shows actually look past the drama and analyze the work habits and themes of these new reality tv shows?
ReplyDelete-Bri Lee
I think that the American people are starting to like relativity. Americans today want shows that they can relate to; from 60 hour weeks at the shop to working in the Louisiana swamps. Not that most of us Americans work in swamps but watching those feel-good family-in-the-mud shows sure have a soft spot in our hearts. Personally, I like the fact that I can watch Cake Boss on TLC and see him have real life struggles just like any other cake shop owner in America would (if that makes sense)? Another good aspect of this “true american” tv shows is that shows are becoming more meaningful and surely but slowly we’re seeing less of jersey shore or 16 and pregnant and more of pawn stars and duck dynasty.
ReplyDeleteI think that having reality shows that involve ordinary people and their problems is a good idea mostly because it is relatable and it is different than all the other reality shows that deal with celebrities. I know many people prefer this type of reality tv because it is something new and due to the fact that so many celebrities have a reality tv show, it is starting to get old and annoying to some people. However, personally, if I had to chose I would rather watch the reality shows that involve celebrities because it is something different than my everyday life. Especially if I know the celebrity beforehand, I would be more interested in their tv show. I think regardless of what type of reality tv show it is, both types have some exaggerated aspect added to it in order to get higher ratings and for people to be entertained.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of reality shows, but I must admit to having a greater respect for these blue-collar reality shows. They may still include large amounts of scripting; however they are not nearly as intolerable and ridiculous as shows such as "Keeping Up With the Kardashians". The values in shows like "Deadliest Catch" are still present and show hard working people trying to bring home a decent salary. Reality shows involving the social lives of celebrities not only have bad values and encourage poor behavior, but are also largely scripted and overdramatized. This leads to viewers believing that this is how their celebrity idols actually live, which can only have a negative impact on them. Personally I don't believe that people should be looking to television at all as a moral compass, especially not reality shows. I do not watch much television in general, and I only see television as having an entertainment value.
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