Imagine the world of the future where reality doesn’t just cut it on television (it’s not all that hard to imagine — most news channels sensationalize facts, and reality TV is hardly real anymore), and in order to capture the audience you have to make sure you captivate. Ideally such programming still be labeled as reflecting reality.
This leads to some interesting conclusions. Imagine that football games are scripted but filmed in real time. Moreover, the actors (obviously all professional football players) are not told the script before the game so they have to improvise and use the clues given to them during the game. The “real time screenwriters” would have to concoct scenarios that absorb the audience every time, because it will be unacceptable to rely on chance to produce a good game.
In a way, it’s reality TV on steroids.
I like these “conspiracy theories” where cleverly controlled fiction is a substitution for reality. I used to imagine, for example, that top singles are picked for the billboards by the recording executives, who sit down with all the top artists and decide on their fate. “Madonna, your single is next,” they would announce, “and it’s gonna stay as #1 for three weeks”. The artists would all place bids to stay on top. Similarly, celebrities’ private lives would be controlled by executives in a similar way in order to keep the audience entertained. They decide who cheats on their spouse, who gets caught drunk driving, who becomes an alcoholic. They decide who disappears into oblivion never to be heard from again.
To take this further, it’s quite possible that all the news these days is scripted. There are no crazy dictators, no assassinations, no crises. It’s all decided upon by a few people who want to keep us interested.
In reality, nothing interesting ever happens.
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