People during the day of entertainment are susceptible to television shows that can complete and utter nonsense. There are shows that have a good plot, great actors, compelling drama or romance or comedy, but then there are shows that just ruin television, these are the reality shows. As most of us know, or I would hope know, reality TV is not real, there is no part that is unscripted and not supervised, otherwise the show would be boring and lifeless. That is what makes for good ratings, have the people fight each other or jump into whirlwind romances out of nowhere to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. There are also the reality shows where people compete for some sort of prize, or even marriage now such as the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Personally, I despise these shows, they're sexist, somewhat racist, and also degrading for all those who participate. Putting people on a stand to be placed against each other for the "love" of a stranger after 12 weeks is appalling, that's no way to treat people overall. Anyways, going on a tangent, but reality TV just gives these horrible representations of how a certain group of people act, and that is how others around the world would portray that group from America.
As one becomes known with reality TV, they can see how melodramatic the actors are and how ridiculous they can be, whether towards each other or in general. One show I can think of that I was addicted to, and hate myself for, is the Jersey Shore, and I am even from New Jersey so it hurts to admit. These people were thrown into a house down at the shore, where they drank, had sex, and just beat each other as 3-year-olds do. The show was on for years, a beat up house is now a tourist spot at the shore, which disgusts me, and a majority of those in the house weren't even from New Jersey! I have run into those from foreign countries, hear I am from New Jersey and ultimately assume we act like those animals, which is a bit offensive.
There is also the Real Housewives of some rich area where their lives are completely unrealistic to the rest of actual housewives who do real work. These shows only have women in a tax bracket matching the 1 percent which shows their lives are unbelievably privileged. A real housewife is cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, going shopping, packing lunches, taking care of kids, and I am not being sexist, but this is what I noticed my mom did for years while my dad did his best to provide. All the women of the Real Housewives have nannies, cooks, personal shoppers, stylists, and the list goes on, which is disgusting they get to be on a television for being rich snobs.
These shows represent people who don't exist in the real world, there is only a small percentage of people are act as ridiculously as these asses do. The rest of the world looks to this trash television and thinks Americans will act in these ways when they meet them or talk to them. I feel as though we can do with better programming and less filming people who don't deserve to have that extra bit of fame and fortune.