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What's Real in "Reality"?
While trying to define and categorize what reality tv is, we established that many different shows all have some element that could label them as "reality". Are all of these true reality shows? In my opinion, none of the shows are portraying a universal, accepted reality; there's always and angle. I think we also put out there that a common theme of reality shows is taking people out of their element, transplanting them in a "plausible" (an extremely relative term when it comes to tv nowadays...) situation, and observing the result. Well, where's the reality in that? The only "reality" I see in reality tv is that the situations and confrontations are all for the purpose of attracting attention. Shouldn't real reality tv be something more like those documentaries you see on the Discovery Channel? What's more real than a school of piranha devouring their prey in the Amazon river?