to think that watching excessive reality tv / popularity contests is vulgar.

[ABroomOfOnesOwn]

All that judging, the 'emotional journey', the pointless recaps, the amounts of time - hours and hours of it, the cruelty and manipulation of the editing process.

AIBU to think that people who watch reality tv/ popularity contests waste a lot of time and desensitize themselves to humanity in real life.

In my 20s I used to be very sneery and snobby about people's tastes, especially if they were not exactly high brow. But I matured, and got over my prejudices. I think it's good to be a polymath and be able to talk about popular culture as much as high brow arts.

It depends on the show. I like the recent cooking, sewing, baking shows. Although they always over egg the 'drama' side of things. I find it best to watch on Sky+ (or whatever) then I fast forward the tears and the '.....and, tell us, just HOW disappointed are you?' conversations.

I once broke my leg and ended up watching a lot more TV than normal. I became totally engrossed in a couple of trashy reality shows. I enjoyed them and would think about them until the next show. It was quite a few years back when the concept of Big Brother / Americas Got Talent etc was newer.

I used to live in the States and loved Survivor (US) and The Amazing Race. I would watch them if you could get them in the UK

It's the sheer scale of the reality infestation on our screens that make me see red. There isn't a single aspect of our lives that is free from being judged or examined by some self-appointed TV bloody demigod.

We have: singing, dancing, cooking, hosting a dinner party, cleaning, child-rearing, shagging, dressing, dog training.. Gah! The list goes on. Enough!

I think that people who enjoy reality tv, especially Britains Got Talent which seems to encourage a bullying and nasty attitude to contestants, are either too immature to realise how demeaning these kind of programmes are, or are just not very nice people. DD made me watch BGT the other day as she is desperate to watch, I guess as her friends all watch it. I have to say I was really shocked and repulsed by the nasty, bullying undercurrent, by the desperation of some of the contestants, the faux niceness of the women judges, the complete lack of anything constructive or positive. It was utterly awful and I think it speaks volumes about our culture and collective mindset that these sort of programmes are so popular.

I certainly don't see it as suitable tv for children.

Interesting that The Voice has come up a couple of times, same producer as Strictly and Bang Goes the Theory.

So if you fast forward through bits, is this a solitary guilty pleasure?

BadBride - We're getting our fix of sex & violence via Game of Thrones. Remember 'Stick em with the pointy end'

Callisto part of the reason I've posted about this is because although we chose not to watch them here, my DDs friends obviously are.

In amongst a lot of laughing, playing schools, etc the 'judgy' bits of these shows are creeping into their imaginative play. Five years olds telling each other that unless they work more on their presentation they won't be going through to the final.

ABroom - I know, the constant judging and not being good enough. Particularly damaging for girls who are judged and found wanting enough as it is . I've tried to point out to DD how the judges on these programmes are not kind or on the side of the contestant, even if they sometimes pretend to be.

Riiiighht. So being judged is bad. Being judgy-pants however....?

Broom your assessment of Chekhov made me laugh, I'm not a fan either!
I think it was the use of the words 'vulgar' and 'timewasting' that made me think of snobbery.

Having said that; the 'freak show' aspects of the X Factor/BGT etc do sometimes make me a bit uncomfortable. Just think though, a hundred-odd years ago people used to go to ACTUAL freakshows for entertainment; and than take a trip to Bedlam on Sunday afternoons to poke the inmates. Oh, and as a really special treat they'd go and watch a public execution...

I always have this argument with my mum, she likes to assert that the modern world is a nasty cesspit of ritual humiliation for entertainment purposes and that the past was a glorious pure time....no chance!!

Oh and Fillyjonk75 my feelings exactly! Postmodernism in practice ha ha ha. That's my excuse for watching crap TV anyway...

It is the reason for the judging rather than judging in general, though Wilson.

We have: singing, dancing, cooking, hosting a dinner party, cleaning, child-rearing, shagging, dressing, dog training.. Gah! The list goes on. Enough!

It's just a thing at the moment though isn't it? In a few years it will be something else. Don't forget in the 90s and noughties we had acres of property and home improvement shows.

Thanks ephemeral!

"I just don't understand wanting the emotional feedback from this particular genre."

I don't - I watch the performances and fast forward through the manipulative bits. My cousin is a TV producer and works on several of these shows, I know how they work.

What about the "emotional feedback" of reading about people's lives on here? Rather vulgar, don't you think?

I actually enjoy the emotional charge of the family leaping up and down to make the judges push the button in The Voice. But it's not like it's a disaster if they don't get through, it's not their one chance in life if they can really sing. A lot of them just need to practice performing more, get over nerves or choose the right song. They are not the deluded mentally ill disadvantaged people put on the stage for people to laugh at as on other shows.

Meh. I don't watch them personally but can't say I give any thought as to why other people do. Can't say I give two shiny shites whatever anyone else watches tbh.

I don't watch soaps either but I can't honestly state that watching Glee and endless re-runs of ER makes me a cultural aficionado.

Calling them vulgar does sound twatty. Soz and all that, but it does.

(Awesome use of frightfully earlier, kudos. )

Trouble is, as with any other addiction, the shows have to keep gettng more extreme for the audience to get their fix, and therefore for the TV channel to keep its ratings and advertising revenue.

So, back in the day, the first Big Brother series was pretty tame. Fast forward a few years and we're watching "celebs" and MPs eating kangaroo bollocks in the jungle, FGS.

For the sake of our civilisation, I think the law should step in parent-style and compel the populace to adopt a healthy eating approach to TV viewing: ie: "No BGT for you until you've finished watching David Attenborough".

Filly Urgh, I remember those shows. Which is why part of me hopes the economy will remain in recession so I don't have to watch any more smug gits vacillating over which mansion to buy for the £600k they have myseriously got form somewhere

LOL Broom about the pointy end . Haven't got very far through the GOT box set though: the scene where Sean Bean's character is forced to stab that beautiful dog to death upset me so much I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the rest

I can't cope with the whole 'we're way over budget but here's a spare 100k we found down the back of the sofa for the granite footspa installation' either but I know that's because I'm jealous. - of the loose change rather than the gadgets.

Oh no, Broom, don't get me started. Argh too late...

I detest those smug property porn gits with a passion. Do you know why? I'll tell you why. Because they HAVEN'T got a spare £100k of their own, they've bloody borrowed it from the bank and are relying on the "houses always go up in value" trope to save their complacent backsides.

Of course, this hasn't happened, the banks have lost silly amounts of money they had no business lending in the first place. So the government is keeping interest rates low to keep house prices high, maintain the illusion of wealth and inflate the problem away.

So basically screwing over people like me who saved and spent only what we could afford, who now watch the value of those savings dwindling away and the prospect of a better future with them. RAGE!