Today’s installment of 101 Ways To Make TV Better definitely hits home with me as it’s a subject I feel VERY passionately about.

Yep, I’m talking about the virus like spread of docu-series on our TV screens, a modern day pestilence that has become the easy cop out for network executives wary of untested formats and ideas.

Docu-series encompass everything from celebrity reality (the darn Kardashians) to adventure series (Deadliest Catch) to local businesses (Cupcake Sisters) – but all ask us to invest in the lives of a group of strangers, soap opera style. In fact you could even argue that the modern day decline of the soap opera genre is a result of the spread of the docu-series. After all who needs One Life To Live with the Real Housewives airing virtually around the clock?

Now don’t get me wrong – not ALL docu-series are bad. I’m actually working on one at the moment that is going to be terrific (I swear!) and I certainly don’t mind some of the more realistic series on our screens. I think the docu-series History airs – like Ice Road Truckers – are well-produced and high stakes. I also like the shows where the main contributors actually have a real skill i.e. Cake Boss. And pretty much most networks have one or two shows that represent the best of the breed…

But it’s the sheer amount of docu-series reality on our screens that I find most depressing of all. I mean seriously how many family run businesses and restaurants do we need to see? How many rich, glamorous friends can really hold our attention week after week? And how many C-list celebrities or girlfriends of sporting stars actually deserve their own shows?

 Real Housewives

What annoys me most about these shows is how fake they invariably become. The fact is most people lead fairly mundane lives but for a docu-series to succeed the stakes have to be ever higher. The result is all manner of contrived situations – the last minute food order that overwhelms the kitchen, the oven / printer / car that breaks down causing untold chaos, the ‘surprise’ engagement or public argument. It’s all so depressingly scripted, acted out by people who aren’t really actors, complete with scripted ‘bytes’ for anyone dim enough not to realize what’s going on!

Often networks will fall in love with a key talent and then build an entire business around them. So the star themselves may be real but their so-called work ‘colleagues’ have all been specifically cast for maximum dramatic potential. A friend of mine recently worked on a show where the main talent was so hopeless it was actually her ‘new’ colleagues who were doing all the work while she claimed the credit. To me that’s just so depressing and fake. You know how much I like to keep it real.

To be fair it does feel as though that even the TV industry itself has reached its own docu-series saturation point. Networks seem less desperate for these concepts and are finally open for some different ideas instead of yet more Gene Simmons / Real Housewives / Cake Boss rip offs. It feels as though they’ve heard every pitch under the sun and are now seeking something a little different.

Personally I hope so. It’s hard to defend an industry that trades in such lazy ideas and scripted storytelling.

But what do you think? Do you agree that there are just too many docu-series on our screens. Are you annoyed by ‘fake’ reality shows? And do you think the average viewer can tell the fake from the real deal?