Reality Television

In the article Reality Television: Oxymoron by George F. Will he describes the workings of television and the ways that television has morphed over the years. According to George F. Will television is all about imitation. In order to make "good" television people create television shows off of other television shows and each time they put a spin on it to make it more and more interesting and shocking. George F. Will also argues that we are becoming more and more desensitized. Television shows are increasing the amount of violence, sexuality, and degradation and at the same time people aren't as easily shocked as the once were. We have become so desensitized that it is becoming harder and harder to take viewers by surprise so television producers just continue adding more and more violence, sexuality, and degrading material.

One of George F. Will's main points is the fact that television is all about imitation. One of the examples in the article was the television show Fear Factor. Fear Factor was created based on the MTV show Jackass. Fear Factor takes the basic concept of Jackass and adds different twists, not to mention money, to gain viewers and participants. Another great example of television imitation is the NFL versus the XFL. NBC recently created the XFL. The XFL took the main concept of the NFL and promised that viewers would see more violence and more cheerleaders' breasts. Another one of George F. Will's main points is that the shock factor is harder to achieve. The idea of imitation is what brings about the added shock factor. Because shows are imitated producers have to add more twists to make them different and prove to the television viewers that it is worth watching. In order to provide the needed shock factor television shows are adding more sexuality, violence, and degrading material. Because we have seen so much imitation and even more shock factor we are becoming desensitized and it is getting harder and harder to shock us. As an added twist more and more television shows are providing a monetary reward if participants follow through with the television shows stunts or answer their embarrassing and brutally honest questions.

When television was permeating America, according to George Will in his essay “Reality Television: Oxymoron,” in the United States, some shows were imitations of Fear Factor. The NBC programs attract viewers by offering fee to some simpletons for confronting their fears. In order to targeting watchers, American TV producers, according to Will, use Jackasses to perform some unspeakable nonsense foolishness. Also, the author gave examples of foolishness such as, eating maggots splattered with frog excrements or promising more violent football with cheerleaders' breasts exposed. Nevertheless, Will marks that NBC used graphic violence and sexual puerilities in their prime time television shows which destroyed some optimistic viewers' notions of selective program taste. That taste which Will called, celebration of personal “choice” because many adults are decreasingly distinguishable from children nowadays. Moreover, the author of “Reality Television: Oxymoron” determined ...