Sunday, December 4, 2011

Television: Exaggeration at its Finest...


            It’s hard to believe that the finale of The Biggest Loser, one of my favorite shows, is almost here. Yes, I know it’s sort of weird that a weight loss show is what a teenage girl decides to watch on Tuesday nights, but it just stuck for me. I think it’s because of the competitive aspect of the show, being an athlete myself, but it has also given me a lot of insight and motivation to never get to the point that the people on the show had gotten to. However, as many positive things as the show gives me, sometimes I wonder how much it really does for its own contestants.
            I did a little bit of research on the pros and cons of the show and came across a lot of very interesting concepts. According to one article, the show helps people be more accountable to themselves in terms of their workouts and their diets, and sends the message to both the contestants and the viewers that hard work is necessary and fad diets will not work. However, the cons seem to heavily out weigh the pros. One that stood out to me was that the show does not reflect reality.
That’s when it hit me that a lot of shows are completely ignorant of reality. Take House for example. It’s an incredible show, but it’s hard to imagine that some insane man can continuously come up with last minute diagnoses as well as use so many unorthodox methods like he does. So now I wonder, why do so many shows stray so far away from reality? Is it just an effort to entertain us, or is extreme the only thing we respond to?

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