Arent reality shows better than serials/soaps?

I know a lot has been said on Indian serials/soaps but this thought been badgering me for sometime now. Arent reality shows better than teleserials/soaps?

are we making a comparison of only serials with shaadi as theme with reality shows here?

I think reality is the worst thing that happened to television. I always lament 'and when did reality become TV, whatever happened to sitcoms, game shows and on the radio was Springsteen, Madonna and way before Nirvana there was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV' . But the desi daily soap also falls in the same mind numbing category.

So what do I define as good television, the list is long.

Xena, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Friends, Bewitched, Who's the Boss, I dream of Jeannie, Golden Girls, Iron Chef, 30 minute meals, Diners Drive ins and Dives, Chopped, Next Food Network Star, Mythbusters, Man vs Wild, VH1 I love the 60's 70's 80's and 90's, 30 Rock, The Cosby Show, Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire, Full House, The Colbert Report, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, What not to Wear, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, True Blood, Sex & The City, Weeds, How I met your Mother, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Bones, CSI, The X-Files, Psych, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Lizzy McGuire, Even Stevens, The Suite Life, Remington Steele, Murder She Wrote, Mind Your Language, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Flight of the Conchords, The Mighty Boosh, Goodness Gracious Me, The Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers, Charlie's Angels, The Nanny, Paula's Party, Tosh 2.0, Everyday Italian, 40 dollars a day, Raechel Ray's Tasty Travels, Diff'rent Strokes, Star Trek, Knight Rider, Hercules, Burn Notice, National Geographic, History & Discovery Specials and so on and so forth.

Originally posted by: return_to_hades

I think reality is the worst thing that happened to television. I always lament 'and when did reality become TV, whatever happened to sitcoms, game shows and on the radio was Springsteen, Madonna and way before Nirvana there was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV' . But the desi daily soap also falls in the same mind numbing category.

So what do I define as good television, the list is long.

Xena, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Friends, Bewitched, Who's the Boss, I dream of Jeannie, Golden Girls, Iron Chef, 30 minute meals, Diners Drive ins and Dives, Chopped, Next Food Network Star, Mythbusters, Man vs Wild, VH1 I love the 60's 70's 80's and 90's, 30 Rock, The Cosby Show, Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire, Full House, The Colbert Report, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, What not to Wear, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, True Blood, Sex & The City, Weeds, How I met your Mother, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Bones, CSI, The X-Files, Psych, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Lizzy McGuire, Even Stevens, The Suite Life, Remington Steele, Murder She Wrote, Mind Your Language, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Flight of the Conchords, The Mighty Boosh, Goodness Gracious Me, The Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers, Charlie's Angels, The Nanny, Paula's Party, Tosh 2.0, Everyday Italian, 40 dollars a day, Raechel Ray's Tasty Travels, Diff'rent Strokes, Star Trek, Knight Rider, Hercules, Burn Notice, National Geographic, History & Discovery Specials and so on and so forth.

Originally posted by: clodpolish

are we making a comparison of only serials with shaadi as theme with reality shows here?

Originally posted by: Summer3

I think both can be equally entertaining and enjoyable. That is why both are popular. But I do not watch a single serial on Zee as I am too lazy to follow the stories. so my opinion does not count.

But regular comedies series can be fun and I used to watch Sienfeld .

Originally posted by: return_to_hades

I think reality is the worst thing that happened to television. I always lament 'and when did reality become TV, whatever happened to sitcoms, game shows and on the radio was Springsteen, Madonna and way before Nirvana there was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV' . But the desi daily soap also falls in the same mind numbing category.

So what do I define as good television, the list is long.

Xena, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Friends, Bewitched, Who's the Boss, I dream of Jeannie, Golden Girls, Iron Chef, 30 minute meals, Diners Drive ins and Dives, Chopped, Next Food Network Star, Mythbusters, Man vs Wild, VH1 I love the 60's 70's 80's and 90's, 30 Rock, The Cosby Show, Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire, Full House, The Colbert Report, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, What not to Wear, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, True Blood, Sex & The City, Weeds, How I met your Mother, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, Bones, CSI, The X-Files, Psych, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, Lizzy McGuire, Even Stevens, The Suite Life, Remington Steele, Murder She Wrote, Mind Your Language, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Flight of the Conchords, The Mighty Boosh, Goodness Gracious Me, The Vicar of Dibley, Fawlty Towers, Charlie's Angels, The Nanny, Paula's Party, Tosh 2.0, Everyday Italian, 40 dollars a day, Raechel Ray's Tasty Travels, Diff'rent Strokes, Star Trek, Knight Rider, Hercules, Burn Notice, National Geographic, History & Discovery Specials and so on and so forth.

Originally posted by: Summer3

Ah that is an impressive list. most of them are out of circulation. Recently I used to watch Heroes, earlier series were better.

😆😆 Another point, there were days when Indian soaps too had a storyline and script but these days its nothing but project shaadi as if there is nothing else that Indian women want to do?😡 In this sense arent the reality shows better at least there is variety-singing, dancing, jungle, swayamvar, big boss, comedy, game shows etc

Originally posted by: realitybites

I know a lot has been said on Indian serials/soaps but this thought been badgering me for sometime now. Arent reality shows better than teleserials/soaps?

The serials have single minded focus on "shaadi" and all festivals that can be found on the hindi calendar. In real life how many people really spent their time on shaadi and pooja-vrat etc? The rising prices, crime, weather, electricity, water do these not figure in their priorities? Do Indian homemakers only bother or think of these things only? How else do we justify serials whose main theme is shaadi? Is that all to a married woman's life? or are women making a mockery of themselves by watching such stuff?

There isnt lack of creativity or else how do we get the awesome advs?

Reality shows whether inspired or our very own have a far superior concept and of course both genders can watch it. Besides they dont make u an addict for long time as they are time bound.

Good topic realitybites 👍🏼

simply my view is that reality shows are not better than soaps and vice versa coz both reality shows and soaps are a form of entertainment and the reason why both exist is coz they cater for different tastes. i myself watch both soaps/serials and reality shows so for me neither is better than the other i like both equally

ps another point i wud like to raise is that soaps are a form of escapism coz most of the time whats protrayed in asian serials doesn't happen in real life where as reality shows are different coz there we encounter real people trying to fufill there dreams in whatever manner they can whether it be singing, dancing etc. although some of the stuff they show is scripted reality for trps