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Boneheads watching it is a self-contradiction? Hmmm.

As a big fan of reality TV (especially the mean spirited stuff on Fox) let me tell you the genre is no where near exploding. We know it's not 100% unscripted that's why rules get explained periodically and the whole thing always revolves around a very contrived situation (that gets further contrived as the show goes along). But it's FUN. For one thing these "plots" have only been rehashed a few dozen times rather than the hundreds and hundreds of times the standard TV plots have been rehashed. Real people are innately more interesting than fictional characters, even if they're adopting a semi-false identity for the show. And real human conflict (even in highly synthetic contrived situations) is innately more exciting than fictional conflict (as a friend of mine who writes for Hollywood put it: everybody knows you're not going to blow up the Enterprise; people, like Darva Conger, might really have their lives disassembled on reality TV).

So far reality TV fairly consistently draws better rating than fictional TV and is cheaper for the network to make. It's even spread past the networks, look at Junkyard Wars (my absolute favorite show), Monster Garage, The Ship (a couple people almost died on that one), Trading Spaces (one of the most popular shows on cable today). It's bigger than you think, and here to stay.

So you believe that the reson that the genre will last is that the events are barely scrpited or rehearsed and that no one will ever catch on to the con?

Here's how the Democrats can get exposure, evade campaign finance laws and whittle down the field of candidates all at the same time.

They can get their bosom buddies at ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/PBS to invent a reality series called "Who Wants To Be President?" Take some schlockey washed-up has-been (Gary Hart?) to host the show and each week the candidates must live in a big mansion with a bunch of hidden cameras while they make policy statements to each other.

They'll also have contests where certain advantages can be won, such as "Special Interest Group For The Week". One week, they'll have to shovel horsesh*t as the contestants did on "Joe Millionaire". The next week, they might have to eat rats like they did on "Survivor".

Candidates, er contestants, will be able to sneak interns in and out of the mansion in order to spice up the ratings.

Viewers can go on-line to vote one candidate out of the mansion each week. Given the field of candidates, I'm sure it could last an entire 13-week season.

And by the time it's over, we'll find out more about these candidates than we ever really wanted to know...

Disagree.....two things will happen, either one or both.....more likely, they'll get stale..due to overexposure....look what ABS did to "who wants to be a millionaire" they killed it....also, something really bad will happen, like someone will do a Richard Speck/Charles Manson bit while one of these shows is being filmed..

Boneheads watching it is a self-contradiction? Hmmm.

That was supposed to be a cute play on words, I do know the meaning of oxymoron... no really... seriously... I promise...

IMHO all TV is fictional, and as viewers we buy into a premise.

The people in the "reality" shows are still acting out a part either directly prescribed or covertly constructed by the producers/editors of the program. The fact that small time models, actors, and actresses are showing up on "reality" programs shouldn't surprise anyone. The "contestants" are picked by the program's producers for their ability to play a role, rather than act out a script. Public desire to see someone's presumed life laid bare on TV is all a matter personal preference, and a wish to buy into the presumed premise of the show.

I enjoy Junkyard Wars because I like the gut level engineering that goes on in the show. I also like Trading Spaces, but realize that the "designers" intentionally set out to do wild things to these peoples houses because of the reaction it draws from the "contestants", which is what makes the show. The "reality" is still carefully controlled.

How long it lasts is anybody's guess. Your probably right in that at some level reality TV is going to be a permanent fixture just like game shows, sit coms, and daytime dramas. As far as the "Survivor/Joe Millionaire/Who Wants to be Humiliated on National TV" genre, I'm not watching, because in truth it's no more "real" than NYPD Blue which I also don't watch.