Source: tvguide.com
I was in my apartment the other day, typing away on my computer, when I looked out of my window. I live in New York so unfortunately my view was limited to other buildings, but this time I saw something that caught my eye. I spied a neighbor, through his window moving about in his kitchen. As mundane as it was I found that I literally had to pull myself away from watching him. That’s when I realized it’s just human nature to want to know what other people are doing. Maybe people don’t peer through windows like I do but in one way or another, we want to know.
And this is why we have reality television.
When it comes to reality shows there are few examples of quality. (Shout out to Mary Mary and Tia and Tamera as some of the exceptions.) But at this point, with the type of money they bring in, you can bet that the less than stellar but still successful ones won’t be going anywhere any time soon. We enjoy watching them and the “channels that be” enjoy making money off of them. It’s no point in fighting it. So you might as well find the ones you can stand and enjoy the ride. After all, the whole point of watching a reality show is to be nosey see how other people choose to live their lives, get a laugh or two and on a good day connect to people who you’d probably never meet in real life.
The problem many people are starting to increasingly express about reality shows is not that we don’t want to watch people anymore, it’s that we want to watch people who are still entertaining but less dramatic, ratchet, stereotypical, angry and downright stupid in their daily interactions. All of that is cool for a little while but as the networks are starting to realize, that gets old really quickly. Why else do you think Evelyn is writing apology letters for her childishly, violent behavior? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s more about dollar signs than it is about any remorse she may actually feel. We stil want to watch reality shows but we want to watch programs that show people who are more like us or people who can teach us something or inspire us in some way.
Luckily, I think we may just have something like that on our hands with the new show premiering on the Sundance Channel called “Push Girls.” The series follows four, female friends who just happen to be in wheelchairs. I don’t know about you but as an able-bodied person with able bodied friends and family members, I don’t know much at all about people with disabilities and some of the obstacles they may face in their day to day lives. As a minority who’s been misunderstood and misrepresented, I know the importance of learning about other cultures. So after watching the trailer for the show, I have to admit I’m a bit excited about it. Even though there are no black women featured, I’m happy to see minorities, women of color and women with disabilities share their story. (I mean, I fell in love with “Jersey Shore” and there was not a black…or relateable person in sight.)
But the show is so much more than the lives of women in wheelchairs. They’re different in that regard but we can relate to women who are deciding whether or not to have children, women who don’t want to be defined by their sexuality, women who are in broken romantic and familial relationships and women who are constantly trying to challenge themselves. That’s a show, I can actually feel good about watching.
Feel free to check out the trailer below.
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