Reality TV

Today I discussed the phenomenon of so called "reality TV" with some of my colleagues. I pointed out that there is an evolution in these series. The whole stuff started with "Big Brother" and derivates like "The Models Flat Share", "Taxi Orange", "I'm prominent, get me out of here", and a whole bunch of shows, where one could watch a whole bunch of people solving some problem, such as living together. Then there are the judges-shows, like "Barbara Salesch", and "Alexander Hold", and some head-hunter and lawyer shows, as well as bailiff and sheriff programs. But it is somewhat awkward to call them "reality" shows, since they had only real material for one season at most. And now very popular are shows, where advisors help people, like social workers, "The Super-Nanny", "Out of Debts" ("Raus aus den Schulden"), and so on.

Why do I talk of this? Well, first there was a show proposed on an Austrian private television channel, ATV, with the title "The Sexperts" ("Die Sexperten"). A first show was produced, but never published. The idea is, that a couple with problems in bed are filmed with infrared, and then advised by sexual therapists how to improve their sex-life.

Upon telling this a colleague said to me: "We call all of these shows social-porn (Sozialporno), since they are like porn: You watch it, while saying to most things 'I wouldn't do IT'. "

(Well, this statement may be not true for everyone, the cast is, e.g., out of the game. 'sides, the word itself is partly a pleonasm, since isn't every sex somewhat social, except masturbation?)