Segregation in Reality

Reality TV is all over the waves these days. I have had my share of, "Oh, it's Tuesday night . . . can't miss the next 'The Bachelor.' Will he pick Gwen? I think he should pick Gwen. She is so nice. They are PERFECT for each other," as if these two people were personal friends of mine. Let's see- I watched the first few seasons of the "Real World" (New York, LA, San Fran, Miami, Seattle -hmm that's more than a few, eh?), one season of "Road Rules," the first season of "Survivor" (overdue pregnancy in late August lends itself to lounging around on the couch), the second season of "The Bachelor" (our son's babysitter's friend's sister was one of the top 4 , so of course we HAD to watch it!), the first "Joe Millionaire," "the Bacholerette" (no excuses for those), the first season of "Dancing with the Stars" (my personal favorite), and an occasional episode of "Extreme Makover: Home Edition." One thing I have observed is that reality shows have had more of an endpoint than they used to, more of a take- home message. "The Real World" was just short of voyeurism. Their later seasons had projects on which the roommates worked, but the drama was still focused on the personal interactions of the participants. "Survivor" seemed to be a step up by resembling "Battle of the Network Stars," or "Laffolympics," but still, they weren't REALLY stranded on a dessert island, and again, the more interesting aspect was along the lines of, "Is Kelly really forming an alliance or will she screw over the truck driver?" Then there were the dating shows. Totally unrealistic mode of dating, but another fun way of exposing one's true self to all of America (and whatever other countries in which they broadcast). Some of the ones that I never watched like, "American Idol," and "The Great Race," actually had a purpose -they were more straightforward competitions; maybe a little drama, but mostly about who was the best entertainer or athlete. The only reason I avoided them was because I knew I would be hooked, and quite frankly, I was becoming more stingy with my time. But I succumbed to the temptation of "Dancing with the Stars," mostly because Kelly Monaco was in it, and I am a huge fan of ABC soaps. And I love to watch ballroom dancing. "Extreme Makover: Home Edition," doesn't require quite the same time commitment. Each episode is self-contained, and is such a feel-good kind of show. They find a family in need, who have had some real hardships, who are portrayed as pretty good, deserving people, and they build them an amzing, life-improving house. I cry every time I watch, but at the end I often wonder how the families are able to deal with their new heating and electric bills, landscape maintenance, and cleaning several months after the show airs.

More recently, fictional shows like, "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," and "Grey's Anatomy," seem to be surpassing reality shows by offering much of the drama that the reality shows offer without the pretense of reality or the slow plot development. I like, "Desperate Housewives," but haven't watched the other two. They both sound like great shows, but I missed the beginning of "Lost." And I don't find the idea of watching over-worked surgical residents performing non-surgical work to save ALL the patients in the hospital, whilst having sex with each other in between cases, the best way to spend my own free time. That's how I really feel.

Just when we thought that reality TV shows were becoming less interesting than fiction, "Survivor " is back with a new controversial twist. They have announced that the particpants will be divided by race: Whites versus Blacks versus Hispanics versus Asians. They're kidding, right? In this day and age of political correctness, the powers that be would never allow this to air, would they? Well, so far they have. But not without protests, which seem to be all over the news.

Personally, I plan on watching this season if it proceeds. I think it will be very intersting to watch. So they are divided by race. Do people really think that all the Whites are going to get along with each other, bake apple pies for each other, and shout racial slurs to the other groups? Are each of Blacks going to be angry and from the hood and play loud rap music? Are the Hispanics going to bring all their family members and cook food and be awesome lovers? What about the Asians? Books, calculators, espionage, and martial arts? Please. The reality is that within each race is a wide variety of personalities and values. For example, a person from the deep South may not neccesarily get along with the bleeding heart liberal from NYC, regardless of what his/her race is. Will a Filipino necessarily get along with a Japanese participant? There's a lot of history there. What about a Cuban and a Puerto Rican? I remember Oprah responding to accusations that she wasn't "truly black." What does that mean? Race is not the only dividing line between people. I think what we will see is that within each racial group, the same issues that have proven to be testing points for Survivors in the past will rear their ugly heads once again -self versus team preservation, lust, fear, pride. It may turn out that later in the season, re-shuffling of teams will result in mixed racial groups that have more in common than the original racial teams. The producers probably picked the participants to make this the take home lesson. Can't wait to watch.