are complete garbage. Cheap, easy to produce, and degrading. The whole genre needs to be jettisoned from every outlet.

The vulgarity

The poor grammar

The ridiculous story-lines

The over-exaggerated gestures

The fighting


Its really sad that this kind of entertainment is so sadly marketable to us.

Black women are rarely NOT portrayed as either loud, aggressive, intimidating, violent, or whores.

Asian women are portrayed as either cold blooded, whores or ninjas.

And they all need saving by mighty... well, you get the picture.

voice.

The days of grace and charm are gone, at least from American popular culture.

standards....

Wait a few minutes, though, and the TV nazis will be here to chastise us for being snobs if we reject the inanity of these "shows."

I know people and work with people that watch Maury Povich and think it's real, and enjoy it. What more do you need to know? George Bernard Shaw said it well: "The world is populated, in the main, by people who should not exist"

i accidently hit the button and was stuck on watching all the way thru. i literally did not even think about shuttin it off. wow.

that is so fuckin bad. so sad. i agree with you. and i am so sorry. it is always, with women, and especially this show with black women, the very worst... of who we are. but reality. none of us could ever be that bad.

but divorcees, girlfriends and fiancees?

On edit: That's exactly what their web page says:

This season, "Basketball Wives" continues to explore the drama, intrigue, and delicate relationships found among a unique cross section of women bound by one fact: each has been married to, the fiancé of, or in love with, a professional ball player.

Over the top garbage that portrays women in general badly. I guess some people find a show that plays to stereotypes to be entertaining. I think it's all just garbage, and it gets no air time on my TV.

As are most of these sort of "reality" shows, that script their characters as being vapid, stupid, stereotypes, all the better to create drama "worth watching" (some 'reality' how, huh?)

While I hold that reality TV is in general demeaning to people of all varieties (Everyone is turned into a worthless chunk of annoying in these shows) there really does seem to be a special element of shaming women - you're shamed for enjoying sex, shamed for not having as much sex as you "should," shamed for being big, shamed for being skinny, shamed for this and that and everything, really.

all of which feature spoiled rich women acting badly.

I wish the "reality" genre would go away. I haven't watched network TV for years because of it. It's cheap, degrading and horrible.

I am not saying it is not harmful, but I don't think it is racially motivated.

I have not seen it, but I think Jersey Shore has the worst reputation for immature behavior.

I have seen part of an episode of Real Housewives of ???, and it was very similar to the video in your OP.

I would like to see a study on how the fans view the shows. Do they mostly relate with the characters, or do they mostly have fun looking down on them, or what?

and I am so fed up with all these demeaning stereotypes!

All the bad language, all the ridiculous outfits- what a nightmare.

You have made excellent points.

And that they don't give a fuck about anything but their paycheck?

Why do they do it? For money, of course. Lots of money. Shame goes out the window when cash is on the line.

Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, even that stupid Survivor show, with all of the halfassed "intrigue"--it's the genre of the generation. Much cheaper to produce, at the end of the day, than variety programming, because all you need are cameras and mics, and then you just let people make idiots of themselves. There's no real "talent" involved--these shows have all the fascination of a serious automobile accident that slows traffic on the highway in both directions for hours. People rubberneck at the drama of it all.

That kind of crap gives me a headache. I can't watch more than a minute or two before I get very irritated! I must be the exception, though, because the producers of these putrid programs aren't running a charity--they're paying well because they, too, are making money hand over fist.

And if they are watching, it is because they are already married. Too late for them!

I don't believe this is the racial issue you're making it out to be, though I agree with what seems to be your general premise that the behavior of women on these shows hurts women everywhere.

No better no worse. They are ALL garbage, they are ALL demeaning to the people who appear in them, but people get some kind of voyeuristic thrill from watching them, and there is a segment of the population that is so desperate to be famous that they will gladly go on one of these things just so they can be on TV (and- God willing- in the tabloids) The only difference I see here is that the people are in a higher tax bracket than most reality stars.

And of course I use the word "reality" with a great sense of irony, since anyone who's ever been on one of these shows will tell you there is very little "real" about them.

over issues like "who's the baby's daddy", and making complete fools of themselves.

maybe not, but the mostly white cast members of shows like "the real housewives of beverly Hills" have no honors either. This is the show that supposedly inspired a husband to kill himself.

Most reality tv is pre-scripted, with people just playing it out on screen. See the Kardashians for reference.

that all of them are under contracts that compensate and define that which is on camera and that which is off camera. They are paid, lots of money, and they do it willingly. So yeah, they know, so do their lawyers, agents, accountants and p.r. people.