Keeping it Real

 Reality, if rightly interpreted, is grander than fiction.    Carlyle, Thomas 

You can tell a lot about someone by their choice of what they watch on TV.  Whenever I'm on Facebook and see a status with a comment on a TV show, I feel a small bond with that person.  My reasoning - if he/she is entertained by the same thing, we must be alike in some way.

If you were to stop by our house at any point in time,  there would most likely be a  "reality" type of show playing on our TV.

 Swamp People is about alligator hunting season in the bayou.  I've seen hundreds of alligators killed and lifted onto boats over the past few seasons.  Of course there is always the suspense when the boat is stuck and someone has to stick his hand into the dark, murky water to free it up - where just seconds before a gator was seen lurking.

I'll never understand how these characters on Moonshiners can be making illegal moonshine, show their faces on TV, and never get caught!

Deadliest Catch is about fishing for crabs in the rough seas off the coast of Alaska.  Big waves and boats do not agree with me, but I am impressed by the tenacity of these men.

Alaska, the Last Frontier has been new to our TV this year.  It is about the hardships of living in the wilds of Alaska.  Most of the time, they are preparing for winter and worried they are not going to have enough firewood!

Yukon Men is similar  - ditto!

I actually like Combat Rescue - it is a documentary series following U.S. Air Force pararescue men as they work to save lives of wounded soldiers in Afghanistan.



 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.    Dick, Philip K. 

The Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives host travels the country in search of good food.  The thing that bothers me is how greasy, fatty and disgusting much of the food is - and how much people enjoy eating it!
For example...

  

Undercover Boss truly is heartwarming and I love watching it!  The heads of companies don disguises and work in the trenches for a week doing the lowest of the low jobs in the company.  Their eyes are opened to the real lives of the people that work for them, and the troubles and burdens they bear.

We've watched Survivor since it began so many seasons ago and it never fails to entertain and provide insight into the personalities of the people around us.

I have discovered so many places I want to visit by watching the Amazing Race!  As teams race around the world, you also get to witness how two people work together under many situations - fatigue, pain, stress  - and much more.  It's another show (like Survivor) that brings out their true personalities!

New to the line-up in this household is Wicked Tuna.  It's basically about tuna fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts - they catch tuna, bring them in to get weighed and find out how much per pound each tuna will bring in.  

Now we're getting to a reality show that's not like reality at all - the Bachelor and the Bachelorette.

Reality TV.  Hmmm. 
Sure, it's not fiction, but is it real? 
Producers only show us what they want us to see - so they are in their way trying to shape our thoughts and opinions.  And being in front of a camera changes who people are also.  They are probably not their "true" selves.

Sometimes it is thought that Reality is the truth - that there is only one Reality. 

But isn't it true that given the exact same "real"  situation, each of us sees it in our own unique way.
We each have our own filter through which we see the world.


 People see the world not as it is, but as they are.    Lee, Al