I've had it with TV cop shows and "reality" TV shows

[bluestateguy]

Why the American fascination with cop shows? I think I know why. People like seeing the bad guys get what they deserve, and they like to see justice done. Most of the time the bad guys get caught in these shows, I suspect because those are the kinds of shows that rate positively with viewers. Cop shows have their place. I like the original "Law and Order", but every network seems to insist on having one or more cop shows. It's really too much.

Then there's the so-called reality shows. One of the worst legacies of the 1990's. Again these shows have their place, but I'd rather see a few quality shows, rather than many sloppy shows with people looking for their 15 minutes of fame who will do anything to get the attention of the impulsive American people: eating worms, courtship for fake marriages, dingbat rich girls living the "simple life"; it just gets worse. These shows used to be well done: I remember the old days of MTV's "Real World" and the first season of "Survivor" was a good show. But the bar keeps getting lowered, and many Americans apparently like seeing ordinary Americans who are "just like they are" put into bizarre situations for 15 minutes of fame.

Why should I care? Why not just not watch these shows? Well, I don't, but it is my business when idiotic shows like these crowd out quality programming. It is a problem when good show pilots either never have the chance to air or existing quality shows get canceled because they are getting clobbered in the ratings by some formulaic cop show or reality show.

My favorite show "American Dreams" has a less than 50/50 chance of getting renewed for next year. That is shame, not only because I think it has many good years of potential ahead of it, but also because Americans seem to like cheap, tawdry and repetitive programming at the expense of one of the best shows I have ever seen on television.

[Jack_Dawson]

1. Cuz Cops Dun Get the Bad Guys!

Duh? :freak:

[GOPisEvil]

2. Reality TV is relatively cheap and easy to produce.

I'm afraid we're stuck with it for a while. The last writer's strike in the 1990s led the networks to scramble for programming. They hit on reality, and found that the public eats it up.

[xmas74]

3. I used to watch

Survivor. I even enjoyed it the first few seasons. Now it seems like it is mostly swimsuit models.
There was a woman from my hometown on there last season and I rooted for her. I still think that she was robbed.

[Us vs Them]

4. This is the same America that cheered Scott Peterson's sentencing

And the same America that would watch live executions, if given the chance.

[bluestateguy]

5. True

Although some death penalty opponents have argued for televising them, as they seem to think it would make people rethink the death penalty if they had to watch someone actually being killed.