Fall television offers break from reality with reality TV
by Samantha Prestigiacomo

Fall television is always packed with new dramas, new characters, and new hits. Viewers anticipate the return of established shows as well as the premieres of new contenders. When summer ends and life seems to pick up all over again, people use television to temporarily escape into new environments outside of their hectic lives.

One popular source of escape is the cable network A&E, the host of such programs as “Criss Angel: Mindfreak” and “Dog The Bounty Hunter.” A&E offers a wide variety of shows ranging from intense crime dramas such as “Criminal Minds” to light-hearted reality programs like “Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels.” Most shows focus on special interests or alternative lifestyles, offering a peak into the lives of others. This broad range of tastes and ideas has created a consecutive increase in ratings for the past six years.

Seven new shows are in the works for the network, consisting mostly of crime dramas. A&E is known for airing mostly unscripted reality, but due to the success of scripted television programs such as “The Cleaner,” A&E is processing more scripted projects, turning in real people for traditional professional actors. Most of these shows will follow the lives of fictional law enforcement agents in New York and Los Angeles, dealing with various circumstances while the audience is made to comprehend the characters’ motivations for their actions. The mystery and intense pace of crime dramas are attractive because they manage to pull the viewer in entirely. As the story is unraveled onscreen, it unravels for the viewers, forcing them to take in every detail so they can try to piece it all together themselves.

Nine other popular A&E programs will be returning this year. The most anticipated being “Criss Angel: Mindfreak,” “Dog The Bounty Hunter,” and “Intervention.” All three represent the scope of A&E’s reality television lineup and showcase why the network is so popular.

Criss Angel’s thrilling magic tricks and stunts fascinate and confuse fans of all ages all over the country. His ability to perform such stunts with perfect showmanship is the reason behind his wide appeal. The theme of the show’s fifth season is Criss’s risky stunts and tricks, some of which are life-threatening. ”Criss Angel: Mindfreak” is a reality show that offers an extreme thrill. You have just as much of an idea of what’s going to happen as the people you’re watching, creating a much more intensely mesmerizing experience.

“Dog The Bounty Hunter,” which follows the lives of patriach Dog and his family hunting down criminals in the state of Hawaii, is an extremely popular reality crime program. The show is often intense and emotional, but shows the lighter side of such a lifestyle as well. It is returning after some media controversy over racist comments made by the show’s star last year, The effect this will have on fans is still up in the air although he apologized to the public later on.

Though magic and police chases make for a fantasy experience for many viewers, A&E offers serious reality television too. “Intervention” is popular among a wide range of television viewers. The show focuses on the stories of drug addicts and their families, observing their emotional struggles as they deal with addiction in their separate but connected ways. Crying and emotional breakdowns and breakthroughs relate the viewer to the hardships of the families observed. Fascination with these stories of failure and overcoming failure enthrall viewers into the alien worlds, but they also elicit powerful sympathetic responses, connecting the viewer with the subjects.

A&E is known for its strangely diverse and original lineup and will continue to be enriched by these alternative realities when its fall season premieres. When viewers want an entirely new experience at any given time, they can tune into A&E this fall.