Reality TV Is No Longer a Form of Escapism
Reality TV now feels like a constant reminder of life pre- and post-pandemic
In the first few months of 2020, Netflix launched three reality shows: The Circle, Love Is Blind, and Too Hot to Handle. All three hinge, to varying degrees, on the novelty of physical separation.
In The Circle, contestants were isolated individually in apartments and capable of communicating with one another only via instant message. Love Is Blind required its contestants to sit alone in a small room and chat with potential love interests through an opaque dividing wall — to choose a mate sight unseen. Too Hot to Handle brought a group of attractive twentysomethings together at a beach resort but required them to keep their hands off one another or risk depleting the ultimate prize money.
As the shows launched — in January, February, and April, respectively — the world gradually went into pandemic-imposed lockdown, isolating us all from our family and friends, co-workers, and communities. Forced to stay away from others, we now engage in endless conversations almost entirely via text or video chat. When we do go to the stores, we speak to cashiers through masks and plexiglass walls. There is no touching.
