"To Be Real" - Cheryl Lynn

Good Morning Peeps!! Folks, so called "Reality Television" has run amok! Yeah, I know...the cynical among you are probably saying: "who gives a flying fig...I don't watch Reality TV!" Well I confess to watching some of this escapist drivel, so I can smugly think, "these people need help and I don't...nah-na-nah-nah-na!" But seriously, some of you might think thank that MTV ushered in the genre with the premiere of "The Real World" over eleven or more years ago, right? Not so...One advantage to being an O.G. like myself, is that I have a wealth of trivial memories stored in my cranial area! I contend that the reality genre started many years ago, with a TV show called, "This Is Your Life" hosted by Ralph Edwards. The premise of the show was that the producers would have some well known person on stage receiving accolades about their careers or accomplishments, as the host showed highlights of said person's life. The subject would then be further embarrassed by someone from their past revealing something personal, like their first grade teacher or some girlfriend or boyfriend from their ordinary days. As a young viewer, I was always amazed that so-called celebrities had real lives like me!

However, I've digressed from my premise...reality gone amok! I think it started in the early 1970's, when a filmmaker thought it would be a good idea to produce a documentary about an upper middle class family from Santa Barbara California; purpose being...? Perhaps, to show the world that "Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet" type families are the American Ideal? Well, a family called the Louds were chosen for this project and agreed to having cameras chronical their lives, to be broadcast on television. The family consisted of the parents and five children; one of whom was a gay male. The show aired over a period of weeks, and cameras were allowed to film their every move. Unbeknownst to the producers, was that the marriage wasn't quite ideal afterall! Turns out the father was having an affair and the wife was filing for a divorce! During the filming of the show, the wife actually threw the husband out! The other drama that was unfolding was the "coming out of the closet" of the son! Although the family knew, the world at that time, was not as accepting of that "lifestyle" then, as it supposedly is now. This family literally "imploded" right before the public's eyes via national television.

By the end of the series, the so called "All American Family" was making headlines on all the news magazines and newspapers, for personifying everything that is wrong with American families! How ironic considering the original premise! Fast forward to today...Reality shows running amok! Fighting, fornicating (yeah, I said it), women jockying for position for some rock star, r and b star, rap star, bachelor, millionaire, etc. etc., and being willing to show their asses for all the world to see! Black women; White women, Asian women...acting a fool! The Omarosa's; The New Yorks, The Snooks...all looking for their fifteen minutes! The Bad Girls, who drink and fight, fight and drink...all for what? Why to parlay it into some momentary affair with fame of course! Men punching women out a la "guido" style, on The Jersey Shore no less! Women spitting on each other to get at...Flava Flave??? It goes on and on and on. I fear that the next reality craze might involve someone taking someone else's life before live cameras. Oh, that already happened? What was it called again...?