Right Place, Wrong Time (a.k.a. Not-So Real TV)

It has been a bit of an adventure re-reading the entries from my 1999 tour journal. Memories that have since disappeared have come flooding back to my consciousness, and with them have returned the feelings of exhilaration, drunkenness, fatigue, anger, frustration, longing, and in some cases infatuation. At times I can hardly believe I am the same person. It's been five long years. Reading these entries is all it's taking me to realize how boring my life now seems.

I have been paying particular attention to my writing style. While I have been transcribing these journal entries, I have also been doing a great deal of editing. There are scores of extraneous information that many readers would not understand. This is the type of relative information that "you had to be there" to understand. This of course, just will not do in this context, so I am often paraphrasing passages in order to make them more relevant to everybody.

I am also revising the language. I am removing a great deal of the profanity, probably because I feel that it just isn't necessary. Some strong language will remain, if I feel the words are warranted.

Names and identities are also being censored. I may employ initials to represent people I have met, or create pseudonyms for all of them -- I have not yet decided. I fully expect that I will use Dave and Arleen's names throughout the journal, as many of you already know who they are.

By far the biggest change to the journal is the incorporation of CSS and html. When these journal entries were originally published, they were written in emails that could only support plain text. At the time, I had little knowledge of html programming, no knowledge of blogs, and I had no means of digitizing photos. This time around, I can hyperlink and add images. The experience should be more vivid this time around, and hopefully I can tell the story the way I wanted to in the first place.

It amazes me how quickly technology advances. I remember in 1999, how I thought it would benefit me if I could take a laptop with me on those long journeys. I could have written emails by the dozens, I could have checked my email on a regular basis, and I could have been a little more entertained than what I was (boredom was a serious problem while on tour). Back then I did not have the finances to afford an expensive laptop or a digital camera. In some cases, the technology wasn't even developed yet. Cellular phones with built-in digital cameras did not exist. Wireless internet technology was in its infancy, most people never had heard of a thing called a 'blog', and the only kind of internet connection most people were familiar with was known as "dial-up". To connect to the internet via a cellular phone was so expensive, I would have had to spend all my bread on airtime fees.

If I were to go on a similar tour today, I would be taking a digital camera-phone, as well as a laptop, and I would be documenting my tour in extreme detail. I would be taking photos of every club, every hotel room, every restaurant I ate in, and every person I met. People might think I was crazy pointing that cell phone at everyone and everything, but I know that on-line journal would become a hit.

People like to pry into the personal lives of strangers. This explains why blogging has become so popular, which is the same reason why Reality-TV has been dominating Network Ratings for the last five years.

Not-So "Real" TV

Those of you who know me personally also know that I have an utter dislike for reality-based television. It could be because I consider it the crack-cocaine of prime-time television programming, or because of the trials and tribulations that the producers put these 'civilians' through are so far-fetched and unbelievable that I just find this form of entertainment nauseating. I think the true reason why I hate Reality TV is because I think the viewers (i.e. the general public) are getting the wool pulled over their eyes.

I am sick of all the television commercials that state: "and don't forget to tune in this week to witness the shocking conclusion that will leave you in disbelief. All this and more on this week's episode of __________." There is something in these statements that really bother me. Do these television executives really think I have an IQ of 65, and I believe everything the television tells me? That's the first problem with America today is that they are conditioned to believe everything they see on television -- like they are actually winning the Iraq war.

Some of these shows are so unbelievable that I begin to think that Reality TV closely resembles Wrestling.

Reality television producers have a few tricks up their sleeve that they would not like the public to know about. First of all, it's not entirely "reality". The producers will often edit and delete entire passages, sequences of events, or subplots, and take them out of context to create drama. The point in case is if you watched last night's season finale of NBC's the Apprentice. Stacie J was eliminated in one of the first episodes of the season, ousted by her female competitors who coined her as "unstable". This revolved around some footage showing Stacie J at the Mattel headquarters, playing with a Magic 8-ball trying to divine her team's success. The footage of the show suggested that Stacie J was wasting precious development time, while the rest of her team was slaving away. This footage came back to bite her, as Stacie J was eliminated within a few episodes.

Last night's live finale episode featured Stacie J explaining the Magic 8-ball footage. She explained that the 8-ball didn't come into play until the team had finished their task. Not only that, but what was strangely absent was the footage showing most of the entire team playing with this Magic 8-ball. So I consider this definitive proof that the producers of the show deliberately used this footage out of context to create drama. The producers also knew that the other female candidates would conspire against her, citing her superstitious tendencies, and use that for dramatic impact.

The other part of the formula to Reality-TV success is cast selection. Before I get into too much detail in this, I should probably explain that the main premise of reality television is the Darwinist ideology of these shows. The weakest are systematically removed one by one every week until one ultimately remains. This is not necessarily the case given the "rules" of the show, as often the strongest contender is often voted out by the weaker majority.

What viewers might find surprising, is that contrary to popular belief, the producers of these reality TV-shows often do not pick the strongest applicants to be featured on the show. The applicants are first selected on basis of aesthetics. That's right. Where television is concerned, appearance and/or sex appeal takes precedent over everything. Once the uglies are cast out, the candidates are put through a number of aptitude tests as well as physical training. But
then a strange thing happens, the producers do not choose the strongest candidates to be featured on this arbitrary reality show; they often choose the weakest candidates!

No why would the producers do such a thing? The answer is simple. Drama is created not in the successes, but in the failures. Drama is also created in forcing people with abrasive personalities to work together. This of course, results in power struggles, fights, backstabbing, temporary alliances, and a whole lot of filthy language -- a recipe for Reality-TV success (hey, everybody loves dialogue with incessant beeps).

The context and theme of a Reality-based television show is rather arbitrary. The theme is only to catch the attention of target audiences. Think: The Apprentice - people in business or business school; The Biggest Loser - overweight audiences; Joe Millionaire - single greedy females [ed. note: The Smoking Gun has cited that much of this series was a farce -- including the lead male role]. If you removed the main theme from all these shows, they would all be the same. Darwinism without the carnage.

This week I have heard on the radio that the TV-ratings for Reality-based TV shows are plummeting. What surprises me the most that it has taken the average American about five years to figure it out. That being said, how many other Reality-Television series are complete farces?