My New Disappointments in Reality TV

       I, like many teenage girls, watch The Bachelorette. I have watched intermittently throughout the last couple years, but is the first season that I will watch fully. In the premiere, something struck me: the creation of the villain. This season's villain is named Kalon McMahon and he arrived to the show in a helicopter, while everyone else came in limos. Even more, he arrives last, adding to the drama and causing all the men to hate him. He is then portrayed as a complete jerk, and this is all in the first episode. 

       Now I realize he could very possibly be a jerk, but I also know that while it's supposed to "reality" television, the producers created McMahon's character. The way that the producers cut scenes influences how the viewers see different characters. As we talked about in first semester, everything is a construction. Most people know that reality shows are not really reality but these producers and many other producers have a specific storyline to fulfill and it has to be full of drama. McMahon even said this in the premiere: “I’m not here to make friends." If that isn't fed to him by the producers then I would be very surprised.


     While I am a huge fan of the show, I know to approach it with some skepticism. It is purely for entertainment and really isn't reflective of anybody's reality. I wonder if the show could survive without infusing story lines and drama. To compare it to an earlier show, Lauren Conrad of The Hills said that during that when they were filming they were always checking there phones from producers to see if they needed to discuss a certain topic or do something. (For the full interview click here). 
      
     These shows are my guilty pleasure. I know it isn't art or anything like that but it is entertaining. But finding out that so many of the aspects of the show are staged is a little disappointing. Do you think the above things take away from the value (which is already pretty low I will admit) of the show? Why is this television called "reality tv?"