Meta-Reality TV

As if one layer of "reality" wasn't enough...

I just saw a commercial for Design Star which is a reality show about picking out a host for another reality show about home design. This is what I've feared. Up until now, all reality shows were non-recursive, thus limiting the total possible number of shows to the total number of "reasonable" (read: sellable) topics, which is some finite (albeit large) number. At some point, we would simply run out of "reasonable" topics for reality TV and it would slowly burn out. Now, someone (HGTV) has demonstrated the plausibility of meta-reality TV (reality TV about reality TV) and in doing so has created an infinite number of possible realty shows for every given "reasonable" topic. Now we're going to see a reality show for picking the new judge on American Idol, and then after that, a show about picking the host for the show about picking the judge for American Idol. Then possibly a show about picking a producer for the show about the host for the show about the judge of American Idol.

I just died a little on the inside and I think I can hear Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch giving each other high-fives.