Big Brother 15 Power Rankings - Are You an Actor???

Though I'm obviously a major Big Brother guy now, I didn't start watching the show until it had been on for several seasons.  But I was always a big fan of Reality TV; from the genre's puckish roots, to its revealing push into the mainstream; from controversial experiments to the hyper-aggressive ubiquity it now enjoys - I am and always have been fully on board with "unscripted" entertainment.

Sometimes it's tough to know what's real...

The problem of course is that anyone with half a brain who watches this stuff will quickly realize that there's nothing unscripted about it. With clever editing and a well-timed off-camera hint or two (do you really think Russell Hantz magically found all those Immunity Idols on his own?), producers can twist the words and actions they capture on video into whatever narrative suits their purposes. That disconnect even became the basis for one intentionally fake "reality" show that inadvertently gave us one of the most authentic moments in the format's history.

Though I take all this for granted when I'm watching most reality shows, I expect a little more from Big Brother.