Bad behavior reality TV’s biggest draw

PHOENIX – Arizona restaurateur Amy Bouzaglo became an instant Internet celebrity last month after demonstrating an impressively short temper on a reality TV show that helps reform struggling businesses.

The episode of “Kitchen Nightmares” drew more than a million viewers on YouTube, and Bouzaglo’s vitriolic rants became popular fodder on Twitter and Facebook.

So it should surprise no one that her next step was to announce she was shopping around her own reality TV show.

These days, head butting, table flipping, belly slapping, hair pulling, smack talking and other behavior generally considered impolite have become a tested strategy for reality TV fame, as seen in the proliferation of such shows as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” “Basketball Wives” and the “Real Housewives” franchise.

Some reality “stars” have become brands of their own after churning out self-help books, hair products, cocktail lines and flavored water. And the next generation of more shocking, immoral and declassee reality celebrities always seems just one face-slap away.

“That’s the easiest kind of reality show to make and to sell,” said Jason Carbone, a veteran reality TV producer behind shows such as “Road Rules,” “The Bachelor” and “Run’s House.”

“It’s something where there are loud characters doing stupid, obnoxious things, and you are either laughing with them or at them,” he said.

TV networks are drawn to the shows because they are relatively inexpensive to produce.

“If it doesn’t work, you cancel it after three shows. You haven’t lost that much money,” said James Wiltz, a licensed psychologist in Indiana who has studied reality TV viewership. “But if you get 10 million viewers, you are making a lot of money and you don’t have to pay anybody for it.”

But what do viewers get out of it? Why do they love to watch these people misbehave?

For one thing, anything taboo always has a certain seductive quality, said Jim Taylor, a University of San Francisco professor who has studied reality television.

“Our inner baby wants to have a tantrum or go off on somebody else because they hurt our feelings, but typically in our society that type of behavior is not rewarded,” he said.

For others, the shows are aspirational.

“People fantasize about fame and fortune,” Wiltz said. “It’s interesting to see someone else who is just sort of a regular person become famous.”

That doesn’t mean reality TV is a positive distraction. A growing body of research suggests watching people act like jerks on TV inspires others to be less kind or sympathetic. Call it the Kardashian effect. If TV consistently portrays people as selfish and uncouth, it basically sends the message that such behavior is acceptable and lucrative.

“Reality TV normalizes narcissism,” said Audrey Longson, a New Jersey psychiatrist who recently presented research at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting linking bad behavior and reality TV viewership. “It’s alarming.”