Welcome To Unreality TV

I remember my shocked public school teacher telling our class that it appeared portions of the NBC hit quiz show 21 as well as CBS's The $64,000 Question were faked.
To me the fact she admitted watching such trash was more telling than her shock it was all made up.
The year was 1958 and even this callow Grade Eight student could tell a scam when he saw it.
The resulting public furor knocked  21 and The $64,000 Question right off TV.
But in today's cynical world of mass manipulation it just might stay around awhile.
Consider the bizarre world of so-called "Reality TV".
TMZ a few years back showed the reality stars of The Hills rehearsing and then re-doing a scene until they got it right.
And recently one of the co-stars, the last one to be featured in fact, Kristen Cavallieri admitted she was acting most of the time.
Other reality stars have publicly said they had to read "talking points" memos so they'd be sure and advance the plot.
You didn't think the cameras were on them all the time did you? Most of the juicy tidbits were brought up to satisfy the producers.
Now in a lawsuit Storage Wars star Dave Hester is alleging he was fired after complaining scenes were staged.
Of course Storage Wars is staged to a point. I was certain from the start that items had to be placed in these storage lockers or else the cast and crew would be at it day and night.
I mean in one episode Elvis Presley's old BMW was found buried under worthless trash. Who put it there? One guess only!
To quote a biography from The Wrap the plaintiff was working in a Goodwill Store when" he saw the potential in the operation and converted his own furniture store into a thrift store."
Strictly for professional reasons I forced myself to watch episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians last night.
It all seemed scripted to me including the scenes in the doctor's office where Kim exposed her psoriasis for the cameras. And later she mooned around with her upcoming basketball star fiance--the one she is subsequently trying to divorce.
The thing is we live in a different world. Any moron can spot that most reality shows are scripted to keep the plot lines percolating.
The fact we accept such diddling says a lot about our culture.
Ratings on the Kardashian nonsense only drooped a bit after Kim's hasty retreat to get a divorce.
We simply do not believe anything we see on TV these days and that includes most TV news.
I'll still watch Storage Wars just to spot the fab items miraculously appearing amid heaping loads of  dirty old clothing.
I don't care how that BMW got there. Just tell me what it is selling for these days.