Maybe a more challenging essay topic could have been chosen, but I think a smart kid should be able to say something insightful with broader implications than saying: "I really hate Billy on survivor" (I know there's no Billy. I've never watched Survivor or more than 5 or 10 episodes of reality TV, unless you count Mythbusters)
My own take on reality shows is that they reflect a movement in entertainment, especially TV away from what I think of as aspiration oriented to reality oriented, and that's been at least in part unfortunate.
Forty years ago TV reflected the kind of people we wanted to be. Hardly any dad is as wise as Robert Young on father knows best. But we all wanted to be, and what we aspired to reflected itself on TV. Since the 70's shows seem much focused on being real or believable. Characters became much more flawed. Maybe we see more what we don't want to be now. I suppose that has value as well, but I miss aspirational TV.
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