"It's A Real, Real, Real, Real, Real World" by Anthony Jaffe
Method Prompt

In his essay, Anthony Jaffe pokes fun at the reality television craze. He does so by coming up with completely ridiculous ideas to propose for new reality shows. He is hinting that reality television has become too silly and ludicrous over the past years. “Survivor” was the first show to really start the phenomenon, and it was followed by “American Idol”. Soon, however, reality shows kept popping up. There were shows on people racing across the country to be the first to find a large amount of money. There were shows centering on people finding “true love”. There were shows on young adults going on five different dates and choosing a winner (or in some cases, naming them all losers). Now there are even reality shows in which the parents choose people for their children to date in hopes that their kid will stop seeing their current boyfriend/girlfriend. In Jaffe’s opinion, reality television has ran out of ideas, so now they are just pulling anything out of a hat that will hopefully do well with the audiences. They are using any idea, no matter how ridiculous, in the hopes of being successful.

The titles of his show hint at his satirical tone. Take “Lord of the Fries” for instance, or “Bums Away!”. The first show refers to a novel, and the second refers to a phrase. The titles are silly, just like what Jaffe considers reality television to be. It has become just a joke. It is not simply the title that is mocking. His overall tone throughout his entire essay is making fun of the reality show trend. “Bum Bucks” is a silly invention he added to his faux show, and for “Lord of the Fries”, he throws in plenty of silly references to fast food restaurants. He also, at the end of each show description, adds yet another little joke in parentheses. In “Bums Away!”, he also says that if the contestants do not spend their “Bum Bucks” wisely, they may get frost bite or die from the cold. He is suggesting that the craze has gotten so ridiculous that producers are now throwing their contestants into extremely dangerous situations just so their company can make a profit.

Another idea for a show that Jaffe could use in his essay would be “Meet the Flintstones”. In this show, contestants would be abandoned in a cave without any modern conveniences. They would have to make fire for light and food, and use carts as means of transportation. Yet another idea Jaffe could use in his essay would be “I Used To Be A Star.” In this show, average participants would switch lives with a celebrity. For example, one could switch lives with Jennifer Aniston and spend the day living in her mansion, while she spent the day attending a regular job. The premises of the two aforementioned shows are obviously ridiculous, and therefore they are mocking reality television. The ideas would prove that reality shows are becoming a bit too silly and outlandish.