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There’s a new sport in town—Reality Death Watch—where we are now as rabid about our viewing of these potential train wrecks as we are for car crashes in demolition derby or NASCAR. We watch for destruction of—in the case of vehicles—property. How many of us tuned into the network to watch one of the famous Flying Wallendas attempt his tightrope walk across the 1,800-foot span of Niagara Falls? Neilsen Ratings say that 10.3 million of us tuned in. Did we watch to see him actually make it or watch to see what would happen if he didn’t? In the case of reality TV, human wreckage, divorce, dysfunction, ridiculous and often staged fighting and screaming, and yes, now death.
Last TV season, the death of a Beverly Hills Housewife’s husband was not the first. Remember back to the drama in 1995 when a gay man, Scott Amedure, appeared on the Jenny Jones talk show professing his attraction to another guest. Post show, Scott’s love was reciprocated by being shot to death.
Also fair game has become the psychology pundits who blithely dish out some psychobabble about each situation based on nothing more than newspaper or blog reports. They are talking about impressionable people wooed by the idea of their 15 minutes of fame with absolutely no idea of how imposing this will be.
Take the Disney Channel stars for example. How many of them have derailed as they grew out of the cuteness stage into the more adult roles? Some of them made it in the industry, and many of them made it to rehab. Why doesn’t Disney have an on staff therapist to monitor these kids daily?
Reality TV has hit so many new lows, there’s nowhere else to go. There is no doubt that this genre draws that all illusive huge audience, but a man committed suicide. He was an “Accidental Celebrity” due to dragging his personal life through the electronic mud. It’s an abomination. And while this sent waves of remorse through the producing population, what’s better? Bad press or no press?
The fact that the offending network debated in the press to “consider”: whether or not to edit this program is pathetic. These are REAL people, as the programs keep telling us, with REAL stories. Are we really up to “snuff TV?”
The producers of these programs should be jumping on the professional bandwagon that should require continued psychotherapeutic attention throughout production. While some programs do background checks and personal interviews, very few have follow up interventions during the production or the very necessary aftercare needed once these shows have laid bare the problems of these individuals. I do not understand why the industry does not have mandatory insistence on having a professional on site at all times.
The long-running talk show, Sally Jessee Raphael, which exploded with audiences after exploiting the emotions and psychological bearings of their guests, did have an “aftercare” professional behind stage. Pat Ferrari was so good at her job that fairly soon they began airing what happened after the show as part of the show. At least that was more responsible than what is being done now.
TV producers are not the experts at dealing with both big and fragile egos and insecurities of pros or non-pros on their shows. I am a TV producer and am now a licensed MFT. Three years of a full-time masters program, and now thousands of hours of direct client work has perhaps given me the edge of both recognizing and solving these problems before they occur.
Performers in all realms from TV and stage to the athletic field are different from the rest of us. They need to sort out the accolades from the acolytes. Someone always wants his or her attention. They are always on stage. Game on! No wonder they crumble.
I’m not saying we can change the game—just how it’s played. There are always the demands of production—meaning time vs. money. As producers, we are forced to work at warp speed just to get it done, ignoring what gets dragged down in our wake. It is time for the industry to wake up and demand that companies provide the psychological assistance that may be needed through the production. We don’t need another Russell Armstrong for proof of the laxity here. We need to be able to respond before that happens. Much like networks demand Standards and Practices watch over programs—they just insure that no one cheats. Not that no one dies.
So where is Wallenda going next?
Susan B. Winston, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist and network executive producer of many non-fiction programs
