Today's society welcomes relatively anyone to the world of reality tv. The most recent inductees are: Chilli, Lisa Raye, Jessica Simpson and Tiny and Toya, just to name a few. If that celebrity list wasn't bad enough the wives of pro basketball players have now been given a show called Basketball Wives. The show follows 7 woman who are either recently engaged, divorced or grasping the hems of their quickly dissipating marriages. Truth be told without the captioning which periodically appears on the screen these C list woman are basically unrecognizable to the general public. Produced by Shaunie O'Neal, the show depicts some of the common struggles of being involved with professional athletes. Combine cheating men, catty woman, high school drama, and snooty C lister's and you have Basketball Wives. The show has no depth, no learning take away points and quite frankly no purpose. Each week the show is centered around the woman finding new victims to go Gossip Girl on or a husband/ex/jump off to cry and babble about.
The majority of the woman on the show are housewives who do not work and if they do work, its not an aspect the show recognizes too often. The woman are pretty much dependant housewives banking on the luxuries accompanied by professional athletes.
When it comes to reality shows although they all serve the purpose of entertainment the ingredient that typically keeps a show going is the moral to the story. What is the take away point? Is it just watching snooty people indulge in cat fights every week? Shows based on this type of entertainment like Basketball Wives, Jersey Shore, and Real Housewives are in it for the short haul. While Real Housewives has done exceptionally well despite its lackluster message, ask yourself how many seasons will you really alternate your schedule or life for so you don't miss an episode. Reality shows such as Run's House, the Kardashians and sometimes even Real World, have a good message mixed into its 60 minutes of entertainment.
Basketball Wives which is quite similar to the reality show Video Vixens is yet another disappointing show in which Black woman are portrayed as gold diggers instead of professional well respected woman taking care of their business. If this was Shaunie O'Neal's ticket to stepping out on her own to make a name for herself unfortunately she failed. Ironically in trying to become independent her project is still tied back to her celebrity husband and the husbands of 7 other no name woman. A ticket to making her own name would not have included a project that connected Shaunie O'Neal as a wife or ex wife but Shaunie O'Neal as a entrepreneur finding her own niche. At some point one can only hope reality TV will start to follow the lives of real people doing real things worth watching.
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