The Reality of Reality TV

"Watch a horror movie right there on my TV
Horror movie right there on my TV
Horror movie right there on my TV
Shockin' me right out of my brain
Shockin' me right out of my brain" - from Skyhooks, "Horror Movie", 1975

Horror Reality: Halloween House, 96th Street, October 2011

I didn't even know I was watching "reality TV" till I came across a listing of my channel offerings, and found "Judge Judy" categorized as such.

Oops. Well too bad. "Judge Judy" is reality TV and I watch her. It seems I am if I am not already, I am on my way to becoming a reality TV junkie.

Mea culpa. If my greatest sin is that I watch "Judge Judy", then I am prepared to be cast by the first stone.

But it got me thinking ... if "Judge Judy" is reality TV, then what about the other shows that I watch? "New York One Weather" - ye gads! Piers Whoever on CNN? I started going through my regular TV shows. It didn't take long. "Judge Judy" and "New York Weather" and the occasional CNN candy - and that was it. I don't watch anything else "live", and "live" isn't even "live" anymore. It is removed, by several degrees of separation.

Remember "Repeats". "Presequels" "Sequels"? By definition they don't even exist anymore. Not in "real time", that is. If I turn on the telly and start looking at something, how do I know it is "live".

Even if it isn't a repeat, it doesn't mean it is happening in the here and now - in the present.

And if it ain't live, and if it isn't drama, it's reality???

"Reality TV" ... it almost has a Jean Paul Sartre ring to it. I am reality therefore I exist. Or was that Descartes? Whatever.

I daren't turn on the Food Channel. If cooking isn't reality, what is?

"The News" would be the ultimate in "Reality", if it could be believed. But that's taking it a bit too far. I want to be fair.

And so, I won't turn on the telly. I will just watch what I have recorded.

In the past.

Where I belong.