If you’ve ever tried to watch television on a Friday night, you know your options are slim. It’s usually between “Say Yes to the Dress,” “Teen Mom 2,” or Lifetime Movies. Well, when one of your only options—the only option that is supposed to be scripted—involves cheap-budgeted movies about an angsty teenager’s psychological issues, it’s almost too easy to opt for the reality shows.

With that in mind, our culture is steering away from written dramas or comedies. It’s almost like we’re being forced to watch trashy shows.  More and more so-called reality shows are airing that they can be hard to avoid. Cate Dillon `13 says “My mom won’t even let me watch them because they’re just so fake.”

According to some Visi students, like Tara Rangat `13, even though these shows are bad quality, “they’re still funny and addicting to watch.” “Jersey Shore” broke their record number of viewers with 8.45 million when the new season premiered in January. That number was again topped 3 weeks later with 8.9 million viewers. Kaley Marie Smith `13 predicts these trends are probably a result of people thinking “either that’s how they want their life to be, or they look down upon those people and make fun of them.”

Still other shows focus on the monstrous competitions to achieve fame, fortune, or, in the case of “Bridalplasty,” receive the most plastic surgery in preparation for upcoming nuptials, won by completing bridal-themed challenges organized by the show. Each bride-to-be creates a “surgical wish list” of all of the procedures they would like to have done before their wedding. To be frank, it’s not just trashy, fake, or poor quality. It’s disgusting. These women, who really wind up humiliating themselves in order to achieve procedures that are a tell-tale mark of poor self-confidence.

Despite the fact that popular dramas and comedies, like “Glee,” still have 11 million faithful followers, or “Modern Family,” which has reached 12.7 million viewers, it is undeniable that reality shows are climbing the charts. While we can all agree that reality shows are a great time-filler, all we can do is hope that these unrealistic shows don’t take over major stations and cause our favorite sitcoms and dramas to get cancelled.