Enough of parents using their kids as foils for their reality-TV moneymaking schemes.
Enough of parents who treat their kids, and their home life, as revenue streams.
It's bad enough that most TV networks are so willing to serve us up the "drama" of reality TV when others are still spending money on good writing and acting. It's craven enough in these Depression-esque times, becoming famous for nothing more than how much humiliation you're willing to take, or how tacky you can be, or who you're knocked up by, is a career aspiration. But enough with the kids.
And we watch these shows why? Is it really entertaining to watch people fuck up their lives, to gasp in horror at secrets laid bare? I wonder, sometimes even as I'm watching. It's fine, I guess, among consenting adults.
But enough of the Falcon Heenes, the Kylie Kardashians, the Plus Eight, those innumerable Duggars, all those children skittering around in front of the cameras as their childhoods erode before our eyes. Reality TV is obviously the most significant recent alteration of the TV landscape, and the best shows are entertaining and enlightening. Some even manage to be silly and educational. The lesser ones are nothing more than televised freak shows. Worst of all are the ones in which kids are the freaks.
I mentioned this on Twitter and Facebook, but I'm saying it again here: I will boycott any producer who works with the Heenes on a reality TV show and any network that would air it.
Stop turning me into Helen Lovejoy, dammit.
