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TV Bites With
Neena Louise |
The Dating Games
by Neena Louise
I am puzzled by the popularity of all the increasingly tasteless
"dating" reality shows. Such mindless drivel as The
Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Joe Millionaire and Meet
My Folks (and last season's horrifyingly bad Bachelorettes in
Alaska and Temptation Island) all pull repsectable ratings
and I can't help but wonder: WHY?
Sure, it can be fun to watch attractive, yet dateless losers as they
humiliate themselves on national television, while they shamelessly
pursue a rich/pretty/handsome/whatever single. But after the first two
or three episodes (and the last one), what is the appeal? Perhaps that's
just it: they are very attractive, but that's all they have going for
themselves. Perhaps, other than providing eye candy, shows like this
make people feel better about themselves: "I'm not so attractive,
but I'm not a loser like they are! I'd never stoop so low
- I don't have to." Or perhaps it's like a train wreck: you
don't want to look, but you just can't help yourself.
My theory, however, is that people simply have "television
fatigue". They have tired of the same old sitcoms putting new spins
on the same old jokes; the same old dramas telling the same old story in
the same old settings; the same old news magazines spewing the same old
half-truths; the same old "reality games" with the same old
contestants going through the same old competitions. Watching the
biggest, most shallow nitwits in America stooping to incredibly low
depths just to get a date/spouse is popular simply because it is
different. For now, anyway. In time, the new Dating Games will be as
stultifyingly dull as Survivor has become. The first Survivor
was also a ratings hit (and very entertaining) while Survivor
Thailand was so boring it wasn't even worth watching.
That's precisely the trouble with the reality television boom: the first
few episodes of any given reality series/game are so new and different,
that we actually think they are refreshing and clever. A few episodes
in, however, their true colors become apparent, and we discover (much to
our shame) that they're actually very stupid, manipulative and
exploitative. That's especially true of the dating/marriage reality fare
found on the airwaves these days. Just how many half-naked
desperate-to-be-married singles sucking face with virtual strangers can
one watch? You can see that anywhere on television today (and done
better than on dating reality shows), so I just don't understand the
continued appeal of watching the same old stuff over and over again.
And what gives with expanding The Bachelorette to 90 minutes? I
suspect that was done simply to compete with American Idol
(considering American Idol soundly trounced The Bachelorette,
that bit of strategy was a colossal failure), but dating/marriage shows
don't even need an hour, let alone 90 minutes. They really only need be
a half hour: who kissed who, who backstabbed who, show at least one
hissy fit, kick someone off, the end. The genre would last longer - and
I suspect even more people would watch - if the episodes last just 30
minutes each.
But never mind. With American Idol back (with - much to my
surprise - GIGANTIC ratings) and Survivor Amazon on the horizon
(let's hope it's better than Survivor Thailand), the Dateless
Wonders (er, Losers) will become history in short order. They simply
aren't interesting enough for a long shelf life. Let's hope their
newly-forged relationships last longer.
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