In the early seasons of American Idol, winning or even making the finals meant something, winners went on to a recording contract leading to actual hit songs and some past AI contestants are household names today. Now, it’s “who?” even for the winners. The novelty has worn off, the show and all it’s imitators seem contrived. It probably always was contrived.
As far as the reality shows, they always did annoy me and I never understood the fascination. That sentiment spread as the genre proliferated. Now it’s ho-hum, just another collection of edited outtakes, of photogenic dimwits doing stuff that producers calculate to be interesting to the public.
I long for the good ole days when we had wholesome sitcoms or dramas to watch. There has been an overkill of reality TV, and I say good riddance.