The famous English writer and critic Clive Barnes once said : "Television is the first truly democratic culture, the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want." Analyzing today’s TV and its audience, it turns out that human nature has a lot of hidden and repressed aspects that are widely used by TV executives in order to boost program ratings. A lot of them have to do with sexual or social dissatisfaction. Obviously, people want to see things that manipulate and cater to such psychic needs. In this sense one might conclude that a lot of people like to watch shows, such as “Jerry Springer” and “Who wants to marry a millionaire?” because they represent their hidden desires and fixations. When analyzing programs like these, it appears that perversion and exhibitionism are penetrating today’s society more and more. This might be partially true, but do we really live in a world of perversion, incest and exhibitionism? I don’t think so. People are strange, but not to the extent TV ‘reality shows’ portray them. Yes, people sometimes marry for money but in much subtler ways. And they cheat on their partners, but not with animals  or live on TV .

Yet, why do people still want to see sick and degrading shows? Why are the things people wish to see so terrifying? The answer is short – manipulation. As an example, consider a teenager who smokes pot – it is quite possible that if there were no manipulation from the media/friends/etc., the teenager would have never heard about pot at all. The idea is that ‘sex/perversion’ is addictive and obsessive and people, after every ‘innovative’ show/idea, are inclined to demand more and sicker programs/ideas. [an example is the porn industry: it started with pictures of women in lingerie and now you can buy interactive computer packages] The danger here is that this hunger for perversion  could eventually reach certain unacceptable proportions and move from the screen into real life. This process is already on the way. It is enough to see some real life personals in the newspapers.

Conclusion:

1. Fixations are the best direct explanation for watching
2. Fixations are not reality, they are ‘sleeping’ in the unconscious – that’s why The real world is not what they show on TV – because shows exaggerate things in order to awaken fixations
3. Stimulating/manipulating fixations, awakes them, and/or creates new and sicker fixations
4. Therefore the problems do not come from the people/fixations, but from those who manipulate them
5. Thus, manipulation is the indirect explanation for watching

In view of that it is crucial that TV audience understands what motives drive TV executives and do everything possible to improve the quality of programs and stop the current trend. A new and educated viewer is the nightmare of every “Who wants to marry…” producer. TV audience should not allow to be manipulated in such cheap ways. People should understand that the TV money machine is using them in a very unfair and humiliating way.  It should be a question of personal dignity and self-respect to obstruct any manipulation. The extreme version of that might very well be Groucho Marx’s  idea of watching TV: "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." Stupidity, fakeness and exhibitionism on the screen should not be tolerated. Only this way the lack of feasibility would drive such shows out of the screen.