There are the talk shows where the guests and audiences are people who have genuine issues and struggles, and who can benefit from some guidance and help. When the show ends, there's a feeling of satisfaction that the guests may have left in a better position than when they entered the studio.
There is help available from those talk shows. Financial assistance. Makeovers. Homes. Vacations. Cars. Weddings. Short-term help like paying for DNA tests to determine paternity (or non-paternity). Counseling assistance or even rehabilitation/recovery programs.
And then, it drops down to the 'real' shows, whose backstories could be from some of the old Wild West barfights. What sticks in the gut is the staggering amounts of drama that take place before the results are revealed or the help is offered. The audience cheering and the sound effects as people scream, curse and even fight their way to that help. Yes, there are the boos and thumbs down for the ones perceived to be heartless or uncaring. Could the Roman Coliseum crowds have looked and sounded any different as they cheered for the lions?
It's hard to imagine that if any of these shows were filmed in the living rooms of the guests that the profanity and fists (and feet) would fly as quickly as they do on stage where you look at security/referees standing by to prevent real physical injuries.
Which all leads to the question: when does the "reality" set in for the show guests? Is there ever a change of heart after the taping and before the airdate about the behavior on the show? Does anyone ever contact the show and ask that their segment be edited or (gasp) deleted altogether? How about the guests' reactions to the reactions of their segments? If you have gone all out on national television with your worst foot forward, what happens in the market, in the neighborhood, or (another gasp) at work? How do the children respond (if there are children old enough to understand or watch the show)? What happens when they go to school? What happens when strangers comment on show appearances??
A 'show tracker' may provide a sentence or two as a followup on a guest, but the unease is still unanswered. Is the 'help' provided really worth the displays of dysfunction? This is not a home video being uploaded for a few friends to watch online. This is chaos that goes global.
The show hosts and staff appear to go out of their ways to treat the guests with respect and civility, but they also seem to quickly step out of the way when mayhem begins. Security staff and camera operators must be the strongest of the crew (and hopefully the best insured).
To be fair, the guests must take the biggest measure of responsibility for their decisions and actions. To be honest, the guests almost uniformly appear to be persons that live marginal existences. When the hurdles seem impossibly high to overcome to get to a better standard of living, without sufficient education or employment or resources, the offers of help combined with a trip and a hotel stay may become more attractive than the possible outcome.
Maybe the truth comes to light after the unrelenting commercial teases, after multiple airings and reruns. Maybe reality sets in after seeing themselves on the small screen. Maybe the motivation to change comes from watching their lives portrayed as train wrecks for millions of viewers (and advertisers). Maybe.
The Window Seat by Karen Caffee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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