Steven Reiss and James Wiltz

About the author: Steven Reiss is a professor and James Wiltz is a doctoral candidate at Ohio State University.

Reality TV viewers do not watch the shows so they can talk about them with their friends. Nor is it true that those who watch reality TV are less intelligent than those who do not or that viewers watch hoping to see illicit sex. Devoted reality TV watchers enjoy the competitive aspect of the shows—the concept that there are winners and losers. But the most significant reason that reality TV is popular with such a wide variety of viewers is that Americans identify with the desire to be famous. Even if the fame is touched with infamy—contestants are not always shown in a favorable light&mdash...