There has been a system in place now, pretty much worldwide, that if someone actually manages to create a new and more importantly popular television show, everyone else must immediately copy or only slightly alter the format. This will carry on until the viewing figures fall far enough to cause the rating junky execs to cancel it.
The case in point is 'Big Brother' originally created by the Dutch it has multiplied and has infested far more countries then it should have. It has created more 'Z-list' celebrities (and I use the term celebrity in a completely incorrect way) and brought far too may aging or has-been actors back into the spotlight then anything else.
There are now however far more programs of this nature popping up all over the place in the UK; dancing, ice skating, singing and god-only-knows-what-else type of this reality rubbish. Now this isn’t anything new but while it became noticeable after all the make-over programs kicked off in the 90’s and early 00’s things are reaching saturation point far quicker.
There are themes out there that while numerous have a life span because of the subject matter, plenty of different plot lines that can be explored. Why can’t the writers have either original ideas or stick to shows that have that plot diversity.
There are also those great ideas that are running thin, for example ‘24’, now I know I’m going to get people riled with that one but please, how many times can one man have that bad a day? Not and remain outside of the safety of the ‘Insane Asylum for the Extremely Unlucky’ for any length of time anyway. Pretty much the same thing for any long running Soap Opera too, any small region of the country that had that constant a number of fatalities, accidents and people dying and returning looking nothing like they did before would end up the guests of that country’s government and being prodded, x-rayed and dissected by lots of folk in white coats.
What is possibly worse then the programs themselves though are the people without a solid grip on real life that actually shout obscenities at or even accost the ‘bad guy’ actors of these shows because they think it’s real! Please, if you are that type of person, step away from the computer and run, don’t walk, to your nearest psychotherapist.
Please, please writers, come up with something worth turning the TV on for, otherwise apart from sport and the odd program there’s no point in turning the damned thing on and we here in the UK have to pay for the privilege of receiving TV signals, let alone the actual channels themselves and it’s an expensive paperweight to have if it doesn’t get used.
