Some observations on some folks' reality: Sound like anyone you know?

We have come to the conclusion the reason reality shows are such a great hit is because Americans no longer have personal lives. Instead, they have appointments, workshops, quality time (versus time that isn't so great like when "Mommy and Daddy are going to scream and fight over how they are going to pay off their credit cards. Go to your room and watch TV."), even playtime and travel time.
For many families, there is no sitting down at the table for the evening meal (with the TV off) and talking about the day's events in each one's lives.
It is (fill in the blank with child's extra curricula activity) practice until five. Mommy stops at the fast food joint and picks up supper while Daddy picks up baby from daycare. They all get home around 6 p.m.
Mom, Dad and child number one grab a burger or chicken leg and eat it while carrying out their designated chores.
Child number one goes to shower and changes clothes, followed by two hours of homework and caring for the pet, which is required by the family's social status. Dad heads for the home office so he can prepare for the meeting at his other office in the morning and only reappears to kiss the baby goodnight.
Mom takes baby and gives it a bath and then bottle and then spends some of that quality time rocking and reading until baby goes to bed at 7 p.m. Baby has to go to bed so early because the family has to get up at 5 a.m. in order to get ready (think diaper bag, book bag, brief case, lunches, keys and other assorted paraphernalia) and on the road to school and work.
At some point just before bedtime, Mom and Dad flop onto the sofa, exhausted and ill fed. They allow the boob tube to lull them into an oblivious state of semi-unconsciousness.
Reality TV makes them feel as though they really do have a life either by comparison ("And we thought we had it bad!") or vicariously ("I am much better looking than her. Why couldn't I have married a rich man!")
We lived through the sitcoms of the '50s and '60s that tried to make people believe everyone had a home like the Cleavers or that there really were towns like Mulberry. Crime was dealt with fairly and expediently. Life was good. A washer and dryer were to be expected in every new home and everyone had a good job.
Then in the 1970s, our notions of entertainment began to get tangled up with reality as movies like "Dirty Harry," (although highly dramaticized and flavored with mega stunts) and sitcoms with characters like Archie Bunker and George Jefferson showed us how the '60s had altered our thinking. We wanted it "real." We wanted it "gritty."
Now we have entertainment that teaches us good parenting, fine living (as opposed to good or quality living), good housekeeping, good law enforcement skills and how to be a two timing, back stabbing, cutthroat, take no prisoners roommate.
Where do we go from here?
We wonder with so many people being booted from the houses they can no longer afford and banks swaying in the wind, maybe we need a little nostalgia. Maybe a little bit "Three Stooges," a little bit "Mary Tyler Moore," a little bit "Hill Street Blues," and just a smidgeon of "Ben Casey."
In times like these, we don't need reality. We need a good laugh and something with just a little edge to it to keep it interesting.
Or better yet, maybe we could go back to reading the paper, sitting down to dinner and enjoying a good book afterwards.