Television's unreal world

Joe Rogan, host of NBC's over-the-top reality show Fear Factor, recently made an attempt to justify his existence: "Television has gotten more and more sick because human nature is coming out. People are pretty sick. We like to pretend we're not sick."

Speak for yourself, pal. Some of us aren't pretending.

But if what Rogan says is at all true, it's only because we're spending more time in front of the boob tube and less time interacting with our fellow humans. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Media Education, most people, by age 70, will have spent 10 years watching television.

It was hoped that the horrifying reality of 9-11 would spoil our appetite for so-called reality shows. That doesn't seem to be the case, though, with Survivor and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Come on, you get to walk away with $64,000 after hearing the question you can't answer? What kind of reality is that?) still hogging the airwaves six months later.

Take MTV's The Real World. Nothing about it is real -- a fact we all recognize but ignore. The Real World and its copycats are manufactured drama disguised as reality. The producers at MTV know what they're doing: "Hey! Let's put some black/gay kids and some racist/homophobic kids together and force them to live under the same roof for months on end!" That creates conflict (and good ratings).

They'll say they're teaching the white kids (maybe even the whole MTV audience) about cultural sensitivity -- a lucky side effect, at best. But at what cost to the black kids? Chances are they've already endured enough racism to last a lifetime and shouldn't suffer more in the name of entertainment. Then again, they know what they're getting into, so they deserve what they get (Celebrity status? Endorsement deals? Playboy pictorials?).

On the other hand, it's encouraging that MTV's new reality show, The Osbournes, has passed The Real World in ratings. The Osbournes is what a reality show should be -- non-exploitive and stranger than fiction. It features a true cult celebrity in real situations (not real kids in contrived ones). Seeing 53-year-old metal god Ozzy Osbourne at home, trying to figure out the remote control while being cursed at by his teenage son, is pure comedy.

If we're going to plant ourselves in front of the television for our daily dose of "reality," at least we can show good taste. But if you want to see the real world (not The Real World), get off the couch.

-- Samantha Puckett is the editorial assistant in the Times editorial department.

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