We know the television ratings race is reaching new lows when desperate producers start pawning off reality TV shows featuring children as quality programming.
Though there has been a slew of “reality” shows in the wake of the success of “Survivor,” the stars of these melodramatic television programs should be restricted to consenting adults, not impressionable children who may be manipulated or forced into participating by their parents.
Two new shows will feature youngsters in “real” predicaments, such as reintroducing rescued orangutans to the rainforest and building survival rafts on a deserted island. The BBC is working on a documentary-style soap opera called “Serious Jungle,” which has children as young as 12 roaming around the Borneo tropical rainforest. The children will have intensive survival training for a week and will then live in the forest for two weeks alongside untamed bears, rhinos, crocodiles and millions of poisonous insects. You know, just your typical pre-teen experiences.
UPN has already premiered “Under One Roof,” a show featuring five dysfunctional families — including mom, dad and kids — who leave their domestic lives to move to Fiji and compete, a la “Survivor,” for a vacation house on the island. The kin are mostly teenagers who provide a lot of angst and are embarrassed by the antics of their often-quarreling parents. Luckily, “Roof” was placed on hiatus by UPN last week, sparing viewers from the melodrama until further notice.
So what’s wrong with putting children and teenagers into a reality television setting? Nothing, if their parents are willing to pay enormous psychotherapy bills in the future. Children shouldn’t be forced or manipulated by their competitive parents to compete in “Under One Roof,” and pre-teens don’t need to fight off wild animals in Borneo on the whim of a producer who wants to capture the drama of cries for mommy. Reality television probably has never been truly real, and we are getting sick of the networks’ repeated attempts to exploit otherwise sane people.
Kids are bound to be traumatized by these experiences, and these kinds of shows distort what young viewers see as reality. We should let adults over 18 embarrass themselves on television and leave the children alone.