Is it really the REAL OC?

Once again, I found myself sitting in front of my T.V. watching my guilty pleasure, Laguna Beach. It has become a weekly ritual: every Wednesday night, a few girls and I grab some snacks and gather around the T.V. as we tune into the newest drama and gossip that surrounds the town of Laguna. We watch the reruns of last week’s episode, absorb the latest hookups of this week, and anticipate the new drama of the weeks to come.
Yet, as I watch this show, I think back to my high school days, and do not recall as much drama and backstabbing as the characters exhibit on the show. So then I began to wonder: Is this really the “real” Orange County? How much of this “reality T.V.” show is fake? The people are real and the drama is normal, but how much of that drama is over exaggerated and the situations set up by the producers of the show? Obviously, Laguna Beach has attracted millions of viewers, but the drama shown and the messages that are being relayed to the public are not as real as they seem. After watching season 1 on DVD, the behind the scene footage revealed that there were many times when the produces set up scenarios for conflict, or gave the characters topics to discuss while being filmed. It’s funny how it can be portrayed as real drama, yet in reality, a lot of it is set up. Reality T.V. can be a tricky thing. It is hard to decipher the actual reality of the show from the fake. So in the end, while watching these “reality T.V.” shows, we must take it with a grain of salt and recognize that it isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.