In reality ...

I hate reality shows.

They have almost nothing to do with reality but everything with theatricality, artificiality and have basically been reduced to the status of farces sometimes even degenerating to the level of a perennially putrid Ektaa Kapoor Saas-Bahu drama.

I must confess though immediately that when these shows first started even I was hooked onto them as much as the next idiot-box addict. I had slavishly followed the first Indian Idol Season, watched all episodes of the second season of Nach Baliye (more to do because I wanted to watch a particular female contestant) and partially followed Indian Idol 3. But as time has progressed I have come to realize that what a colossal waste of time it has been for me. There are many reasons why my outlook on these shows has changed -

Un - The fact that the fate of the contestants is placed on audience voting means that talented contestants get kicked out at crucial stages, ugly regionalism, factionalism, gender biases all come into the fore as people tend to vote for a participant just because he is from their region, regardless of how talented he really is. Thus a Vada Pavwala will never vote for an Idli Dosa Sambhar wala who in turn will never vote for a Bloody Communist Rassogula.
Also women hardly ever seem to reach the final rounds of these competitions no matter how well they perform, so what incentive do they really have of even participating! Finally the people who really win are the channel and the telecom companies who make crores of rupees on the millions of smses that are made. (scope out how many times i use the word really)

Dos - The new fad of upcoming movies being introduced on these shows, with the makers, stars of these films descending on the music show and pretending to be a big fan of the singers and many promise the wide-eyed participants that they will be singing in their next film, promises which they never keep.
Also these shows seem to function on only 2 levels, sentimentality or controversy.
Needless and over exaggerated and nauseously irritating in both cases.

Tres - Ever since loudmouths like Himmesh (Oo! I hate him with all my heart and all my soul!) have become judges on shows which my mother unfortunately is a huge fan of, all I can hear in the house at nights is their obnoxious voices booming from the telly. To see pompous buffoons like Himmesh and Ismael Durbaar and Abhijeet prancing around as if they are all-knowing all-wise kiss-my-ass-if you-know-what's best-for you-types gurus, spouting their equally inane fundas makes me ... grr ... it makes shiver me timbers.

Thus after having put forth my reasons (I'm sure there are many more, I just can't think of them right now) I again strongly reiterate - I hate reality shows...

...But not as much as I hate the current garbage that passes of as news on the hundreds and thousands of national 24 hour news channels out there.
It's funny in a way but sometimes these reality shows seems more real than what news channels peddle as news.

Buts thats a grouse for another time. Enough negativity for one post.
Lets all fold our hands, close our eyes, exhale out noisily and get rid of all the bad vibes and negative energy. Aum Shaanti Shaanti Aum!