14 DAY TRIAL // I first thought of writing about this topic when I saw that more and more celebrities embark on this wonderful journey that is called starring in a reality show. Because we're not going to dwell here on the trendsetters in the field, like 'Big Brother' or any other of its kind, but on shows that feature stars in their own homes and supposedly living their lives like always.
My biggest question is: are they following some script or do they simply act naturally, as if the cameras weren't even there? It's a rhetorical one, in fact, because I (like everybody else on this planet) know that it's all just another method of making some more money, while selling people an illusion labeled as truth.
And now we come to my predicament: if they are not real, why are they classified as such? I mean, think of 'The Simple Life' with Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton: on one hand, the producers say that it shows the girls in unexpected and out of the common situations, with no script at hand and nothing of the things they are used to. The socialites have to clean pig stiles and feed the chicken, milk the cows and do many other chores that nobody would ever dream they would do.
On the other hand, both Paris and Nicole claim that they are not as they are depicted in the show, that the girls we get to see (unfortunately) every time we turn on the TV set are just 'characters'. Doesn't the magic of a 'reality show' with celebrities reside in the very fact that we're supposed to believe that things are just as we see them?
Then, my questions became even more pressing as I saw a footage of 'House of Carters', with the faded Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and his younger brother, Aaron. With the fact that it is nothing but play pretend in mind, one can see Nick getting into a fit of rage with his brother because he found out that he (the brother) asked Paris Hilton out after he broke up with her. And, the amazing thing is, he literally begins to cry while shouting at an open-eyed Aaron... over Paris!
The bit I'm talking about is actually way too good to be a fake. I mean, personally, I don't see Nick capable of that much concentration, not to mention talent, to say that he was just following a script. Those tears are for real, man, and you can see for yourselves, by clicking HERE. And I ask again: is the show real?
The question of celebrities starring in reality shows is very complex and I have no intention of going fully into it, not out of laziness or anything else like it, but simply because I don't believe they're worthy of that much attention. The point is that they are certainly meant to boost the image of a faded star (like with Nick) or that of a rising one ('Newlyweds', ''Till Death Do Us Part') and that their sole purpose is money.
These types of shows are getting more and more popular and people seem to watch them with their mouths wide open. A proof for that is the very fact that MTV - the network that makes them on a roll - is ordering more and more series by the day. If they're made, that must mean that the audience niche is wide enough to make them profitable. That is, until the 'curse' has its final word. Just have a look at how many of the couple ended after doing the reality show thing: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra, Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler.
To conclude, I'll pose yet another question: are we to be the witnesses to the birth of a brand new television genre? And, if so, do we need it, with all the falseness and hypocrisy that it implies? I guess 'the people' will get the final word in this matter and we cannot but submit to it (that, or refuse to watch it). Cop series, talk shows, thrillers and sitcoms beware: the celebrity reality show is on the loose and it takes no prisoners!
