The above is a loose play on an old hard rock
tune by UK band Saxon. In the original
tune, “Denim and Leather,” the lyric refers
to the beginning of a new hard rock/metal
style; break from old bands-Deep Purple, Black
Sabbath, etc.

In my version, 1999 is the marker year for
reality television, beginning with WHO WANTS TO
BE A MILLIONAIRE? While the show seemed to
be just a modern game show, it started
a trend.

In 2000, SURVIVOR was born, taking the game
show motif and putting an exotic costume
on it.

Soon, the networks found a near foolproof way
to raise profits and keep acting labor costs
down. Most actors are part of SAG (Screen
Actors Guild) while most reality stars are not.
Therefore, the networks only have to pay
the equivalent of miminum wage or
they pay a flat 1099 fee to such contestants.

Since 1999, networks have churned out Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Fear Factor,
The Great Race and now Momma’s Boys.

Because of this instant gratification syndrome,
networks became loathe to give actual shows
a fighting chance. That is why many of
the good shows were made on HBO or
Showtime; The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire
and now True Blood.

I am a fan of Dirty Sexy Money. I think in its
inception (just my opinion), the show was
aiming for dark comedy; Soap(the old parody show that had Billy Crystal) with an attitude:
It made fun of spoiled socialites and had a snarkiness to it: Juliet Darling and Natalie Kimpton were obviously spoofs of Paris Hilton
and Nicole Richie. Jeremy Darling was a take
on Spencer Pratt and Brodie Jenner. Natalie
Zea as Karen Darling was obviously taking shots
at her former show, Passions; spoofing the
rich bitch. And Sutherland as Tripp Darling
was a modern Chester Tate; a play on
JR Ewing and Blake Carrington. The name
Darling seemed to imply dark parody.

Nick and Lisa George seemed to be a modern
Burt and Mary Campbell; middle class folks
who somehow are linked to the Darlings.

Midway through Season 1, the show seemed to
become what it set out to satirize; a soap.
The rivalry with Simon; Karen dating Simon
and the slow erosion of the Georges’ marriage.
In season 2, while at times, they tried to
show a certain chess match mentality between
Simon and Tripp similar to the tensions
between Johnny Sack and Tony Soprano or
the Michael Douglas and Terrance Stamp
characters in WALL STREET, it delved deeper
into soap territory: the affair between Jeremy
and Nola and then Jeremy and Lisa; the
whole houseguest angle, etc.

But, it was entertaining. However, people want
“reality” tv; where there supposedly is a real
outcome as a result of competition and
voting, as opposed to scripted drama in which
you have to suspend disbelief and use some
imagination. Reality tv allows people to either
feel better about themselves or vest themselves
in the process i.e voting to retain or eliminate or
identification with a certain person (Carrie Underwood) or loathing a certain person (Richard Hatch, William Hung, Sanjay). It’s hard to hate
a fictional character but easy to hate or mock real people who willingly enlist for such publicity.

Anymore, if I want “reality tv,” I just watch AC 360 and CNN. For entertainment, I’ll throw on one of my movies. TV sucks and
I refuse to watch reality tv because I believe
it to be a farce anyway. Who cares what ex
NFL player can or can’t dance? If I want to
hear people sing, I will play one of my CDs.
And, if I want to watch people gut it out in
the wilds, I will watch Discovery or move to Alaska.

And Darcie, you’re kidding, right? If not, you might want to check ‘em out before they disappear. You’ll probably like at least one.