Aspirational Television

There are certain programmes that manage to capture the attention of the public so well that people talk about it incessantly. In the weeks since I last posted, a show which can only be described as spectacular has been airing twice a week. Every time an episode is shown, social network feeds get smeared with updates all related to the show.

I am, of course, talking about The Only Way is Essex (or TOWIE if you're into initialising things). Like the common cold, McDonald's and Crocs, it's everywhere. For weeks I went by, blissfully unaware of what the programme was, who was in it or the sort of things that go on in Essex, and I was happy.

At least I was until a few days ago, when at a family wedding I witnessed two near middle-aged women talking about the show. I made a mental note to myself to watch an episode, just in case it turned out I was missing out on some of the most classic television since the days of Del Boy and Rodney.

I wasn't. After an hour long episode, I wasn't left feeling content, entertained or even slightly warm inside. In fact, my insides were as cold as the time I realised the Playstation Network was down. Not unlike the first time I watched Inception, I have questions. Feel free to answer them if you want, but I've made up my own mind on the right answer in quite a few instances.

1) Is it actually real?
I was reminded both at the beginning and end of the show that 'the people are all real although some of what they do has been set up for your entertainment'. I'm still not entirely sure what this means. After watching an episode, I can only assume that it's just a group of people who can't really act like some of the people on our television sets can. They get told where to go and what to talk about, but not specific lines. As a result, we get pool parties and girls trying on bikinis, because a group of clever producers decided that people will still watch it without having to pay too much attention to what is being said.

2) Why?
Why make a programme about these people in particular? Why does their culture deserve to be celebrated? They do exactly the same things as we all do, the only difference is that they do it in a more ridiculous way, saying things that we probably wouldn't with a camera in front of us because we didn't want to look like an utter cock. This may be entertaining, but surely the point of any show like this is to empathise or feel something for at least a few of the characters.

3) Again, why?
Why do these people have a show? I watch someone like 'Joey Essex' and I imagine that watching a wheelbarrow is more entertaining. At least the wheelbarrow wouldn't say things like 'Reem', which without going on urban dicitionary, I can only assume is slang for 'remedial'. After all, when he said his hair was 'looking reem', the sentence made perfect sense.

I can understand why the show entertains people. After all, these people manage to look like they have quite a lot of money and live glamorous lives, but at the same time the audience can comfort themselves with the fact that they are nowhere near as idiotic. It's aspirational television. It can also be funny on a laugh out loud scale. I chortled my little heart out when I saw a girl start crying because a man she 'obviously has feelings for' walked straight past her at a party and started talking to another woman. That and the toothy one hurting her hand on a park bench and being confused by it. Other than that, to me it was nothing more than dull, uninteresting trash television that requires no thought whatsoever, which is probably why everyone enjoys it.