You Say "Recession" Like It's a Bad Thing

Always looking for a silver lining, I was pleasantly surprised to read of one of the byproducts of the economic crisis: the downward spiral of reality TV ratings. Don't get me wrong, I happily watched Joe Millionaire with the rest of America, but do we really need Big Brother 26? And why is Jeff Foxworthy in prime time? And who can tell me they enjoyed Deal or No Deal after an episode and a half? I don't hate all reality, but most of it is really, really unwatchable.

Scott Collins from the LA Times discusses the fallout in this article. Truthfully, I don't think the writer makes a strong connection between reality's falling ratings and the recession; I'm just happy to see Dancing With the Stars is down 9%.

H/T TVTattle

Comments

[Dominic!]

"Do we really need a Big Brother 26?" Yes, yes a thousand times yes. If not for Big Brother and Top Chef marathons on Bravo I'd never make it through the summer.

Of course Jeff and Howie and the dancing shows can go.

P.S. Back in the day Joe Millionaire and Paradise Hotel packed a wallop of fantastically trashy reality TV on Fox. Although watching those shows in common rooms at college was pretty rough. We had to throw down with the kids who wanted to watch Seventh Heaven.