Tonight on NBC, the first episode of their new “reality” show, Age of Love, will air. The concept? Get a few girls in their ’20s and a few girls in their ’40s and pit them against one another to win the favor of a 30-something tennis star.
It’s the same “reality” show formula we’ve seen before: impose surreal emotional constraints on a group of people and air seemingly candid footage of them all clashing with one another. I guess this holds a great deal of interest for the regular viewers of the Jerry Springer show, who comprise fully 99% of the American population (I fear). Why would anyone want to watch this? How is this realistic or dramatic?
What sucks the entertainment value out of these shows for me is exactly how premeditated the clashes between people seem. You know they’re coached into having disagreements and then filmed “candidly” while they fight it out. For some reason, the mainstream television-watching population derives a great deal of pleasure from watching other people who are angry.
What is it about anger, strife, disagreement, and fighting that is so attractive? Why do people tune in the Jerry Springer show to watch a whole new group of people fight over who their child’s real father is every day? Don’t we have enough anger and strife in the real world? Must we vent our irritations vicariously through these staged clashes?
The truth is, more people will probably watch Age of Love than vote in the presidential elections. It’s no wonder people are so angry.
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