Reality TV

There's an element of reality TV that I like - the sociological study of cultures it can provide.  As a kid I remember being fascinated with the show Cops. It was the first glimpse of a whole other world completely outside my little circle and likely not one I would have ever come across.  Over the years, with the popularity of reality shows, it's a big hit or miss with a lot of "scripted" reality shows.  I feel like the reality shows have gone downhill and just when I thought it was fizzling out, I come across a new flavor.  Watching people watch TV. It doesn't sound that good and at first I was dubious but now I'm hooked!  

I came across the BBC Gogglebox this week.  It looks like it's in it's second season but I could only find two episodes on youtube.  But I'm hooked.  Some of the audience I didn't like at first but after a short period, even the drunk posh people started to grow on me.  

As I was looking for more episodes I stumbled upon The People's Couch, the American spinoff. As is usually the case, it's not as good, but after a few clips I warmed up to the show and am hooked on this one too.  It looks like everyone is just from LA, so not such a big cross section, but even still, they're funny. It's on HBO for those of you who have cable.

Of course, I can't help notice that all the shows the people are watching run the gambit from X-Factor to the Long Island Medium, but the BBC version at least had the people watching some stuff that was educational, like the news or some science shows.  It does seem to show that although both british and Americans watch a lot of TV, at least the british watch some stuff that is a little bit better.

Be forewarned, I watched one clip with the british watching the first episode of Downtown Abby, which I don't think has aired over here yet.  Not too much given away.  And then watched the Americans watching the season premiere of the Walking Dead, which I hadn't seen yet - doh.