Flash back with me for a second to the year 2000. TV was starting to get stagnant with its lineup of shows, and unless you were a fan of “Friends,” “ER,” or “NYPD Blue,” you probably weren’t going to have much to watch in terms of creative programming. Then, along came “Survivor,” a show about sixteen strangers competing on an island for one million dollars. Putting on a revolutionary show like that on was a risky move for a network like CBS. Lucky for them, the show took off, and “Survivor” is beginning its (gasp!) seventeenth season on Sept. 25. (On an ironic note, one of the contestants-geek and professional video gamer Ken Hoang-is an acquaintance of mine. You know who I’ll be rooting for over the next few months.)
You see, what made a show like “Survivor” successful at the time was the promise that the contestants were all everyday Americans, not actors or people already in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, over the past eight years the definition of a “reality TV contestant” has changed significantly. While part of the problem may be the networks’ decisions to put aspiring actors, professional wrestlers or magazine models on their shows for extra ratings, the other issue is that some people just can’t seem to let their 15 minutes of fame die away.
One of the best examples that come to mind is Megan Hauserman, a model who actually won the third season of “Beauty of the Geek.” Hauserman was portrayed at that show as a fairly likeable (though slightly air-headed) girl who wanted to become something more than just another face in the crowd. Since then, however, she’s become more or less a cliché character in a mob of bad, semi-scripted “reality” programs. In the past year alone, Hauserman has participated in “Rock of Love 2,” “I Love Money,” and “Charm School 2,” all of which were presented by the trashy reality-machine known as VH1. Consequently, the girl’s likeability went down the tubes, now she’s known as nothing more than a cold-hearted, greedy person who wants to be seen. I wonder what Scooter, her partner on “Geek,” thinks about the girl he’s now seeing all over the place.
Hauserman, of course, isn’t the only one to participate in this sort of insanity. How can we forget the Johnny Fairplays, the Dr. Wills, or the Rob Marianos of the world? “Survivor” contestants Jenna Morasca and Heidi Strobel used their fame for magazines, and Richard Reuben, notoriously known for being “the white Erkel” of the first season of “Geek,” has since made a living appearing on game shows and playing up the character he managed to create for himself.
These people are destroying what makes unscripted television fun to watch in the first place. If you’re expecting to see the same characters year after year on the small screen, then go watch “The Office” or “Grey’s Anatomy.” What makes reality TV unique as a genre is that it gives people a chance to escape from their everyday life for a few months to experience something new and exciting. It’s just too bad some are choosing to make it into a career-it stains the credibility of the genre as a whole. Because of people like Hauserman, anytime I see a model or actor in one of these shows I automatically root for them to be booted off right away. Why? I don’t want to be watching them for the next four years.
For those of you looking to watch some fresh faces with interesting stories, some quality shows are in the process of starting back. “The Biggest Loser: Families” has already begun airing Tuesday nights on NBC, and it’s about as inspirational a show as you’re going to find. “The Amazing Race,” one of my personal favorites, will begin its thirteenth season on Sept. 26.
Matt Carter is a senior creative writing, Asian studies, and journalism triple major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
