It’s hard to say goodbye to reality television. No matter how unbelievable, ridiculous or just plain dumb a plotline is, we’re going to stick with it as viewers. If we’ve gone this far with the cast of ‘Jersey Shore,’ we can’t miss Sunday dinner now.
It’s often just as difficult for reality stars to quit the shows that made them household names.
‘Jersey Shore’ favorite Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi may be leaving the official shore house this summer, but that doesn’t mean she’s giving up Seaside for good. Earlier this week, it was announced that the pregnant Snooki would move into a nearby house during the filming of season six.
Camille Grammer, whose claim to fame is being the ex-wife of Kelsey, or Frasier, as most of us know him, decided to leave ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.’ Until she realized she could still film guest spots. The single mom isn’t going to truly sever ties when she can still be in front of the camera and make a few bucks.
There was once a TV landscape only peppered with the reality shows. A little ‘Real World’ on MTV here. Some ‘Survivor’ and ‘Big Brother’ on CBS there. Reality stars literally had 15 minutes of fame before we all forgot their names and faces.Now, the easiest way to fame, fortune and the cover of People is to sell your soul to the reality TV gods. Letting producers film you boozing it up and crying can now make you millions. And if you’re lucky, you can even get your own drink line like Paul DelVecchio or Ron Ortiz Magro. Or as we know them – the super-haired Pauly D and emotional hulk Ronnie from ‘Jersey Shore.
TV executives and stars alike know reality TV is a cash cow. We’re hooked like fish on an especially trashy line. When it’s good, we’re happy. When it’s bad, we’re thrilled.
No one watches reality TV for its brain expanding capabilities. Viewers knows they’re not going to learn anything, except for maybe the best dance moves to display their cookas. And that’s the point.
When you’ve dealt with your 16-credit schedule and two jobs, it might not be time for ‘Boardwalk Empire.’ Sometimes, life is way too stressful to actually think about television. You really just want to sit in front of the screen and watch. When everything else is about a failing economy, an oddly boring election or dark anti-heroes, candy-coated TV sounds pretty appealing.
The lives we get to see in ‘reality’ TV are pretty removed from our personal norms. We’re not dance moms fighting for our overly made-up daughters. We haven’t decided to compete for the love of an over-the-hill music icon. Despite our packed dorm rooms, we’re not really hoarders – it just looks like it. But by just turning our TVs on or going to Hulu, we can see what it’s like. And we can feel a little bit better about ourselves.
You may have some dramatic friends. But your best friend still hasn’t flipped a table over during dinner like Danielle Staub of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey.’ Just when you thought you had a controlling mom, you saw ‘Toddlers In Tiaras’ and promptly thanked your lucky stars.
We might not realize it, but everyone gets what he wants. We marvel at the bizarre antics of reality TV and get to say, ‘Hey, I might be having a bad day, but at least I’m not that guy.’ All the while, the stars we think are so abnormal laugh all the way to the bank as paparazzi inflate their egos.
Ariana Romero is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears every week. She can be reached at akromero@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @ArianaRomero17.