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A novel three years in the making, a painting slowly achieved after years of study, even a long-running television series—these may possibly possess the power to take us more deeply into the mysteries of the condition in which we find ourselves, and may, most crucially, cast a vision of what we might yet become. But "reality TV"? Its tacky melodrama, deus ex machina plots, unending musical manipulations, and pseudo-heroic corporate saviors only undercut what it pretends to be about. Instead of showing us our truest selves, it plays to our worst impulses and misperceptions, making, in the end, a spectacle of our inner lives. Like other forms of voyeurism, it actually diminishes our taste for reality.

There is a reality out there: grand, awful, mysterious, and threatening. The truth, though, is that we postmoderns usually want reality packaged for us. Keep it titillating. Keep it shallow. Keep it safe. But the God of life is neither titillating, nor shallow, nor safe. Nor is he captured well by the screen, big or small. The more we evade him and a lively participation in his world, the less real we become. That's a fate only a network could love.

Eric Miller is associate professor of history at Geneva College.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Other CT articles on reality TV from our television page include:

Priest Idol | A Wheaton grad ends up on British reality TV. His mission: Save a dying church. (Nov. 14, 2005)

Amish in the City: Has Reality TV Gone too Far? | The author of The Amish: Why They Enchant Us discusses why a television show about Amish teens is inherently flawed, and why we're drawn to their 18th-century ways. (Jan. 21, 2004)

Christian Survivors Playing a Non-Christian Game | A former winner of the CBS reality show talks about the faith that led her to the game and how Christian ethics intersects with outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying the competition.

Books & Culture Corner: Whose Reality TV? | Tune in this week to Frederick Wiseman's PBS documentary, Domestic Violence, to see some real survivors. (March 17, 2003)

Would a Christian Bachelorette Be Different? | A panel of Christian singles discusses the proliferation of reality dating shows and the turn from seeking one-night stands to seeking spouses. (Feb. 19, 2003)

'Pastor John' Sees Himself As a Survivor on the Mount | The show's first clergyman discusses reality TV, playing the game with faith, and why he was the first voted out. (Oct. 02, 2002)

Reality Check | Television shows feature Christians in a race, on a trip, and in a prison. (April 23, 2002)

Is Reality TV Beyond Redemption? | CBS hooks viewers with new lowbrow programming. (Aug. 2, 2000)

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February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2