Celebrities doing shit...how far can this format be stretched?

After watching some of the first instalment of the 'Splash' programme I really despaired and any hope that remained for the resurrection of entertainment on terrestrially available channels on my tell-box was finally shattered. I was even more disappointed when Dom Joly, who I have always considered a writer and broadcaster of decent integrity has recently announced that he is to appear on the show, is there no depths that production companies will sink in an attempt to placate the lowest possible denominator? How prophetic that Steve Coogan's alter ego, Alan Partridge, highlights some outlandish formats and ideas as he desperately tries to save his career at the BBC.

It all seemed so comical and outlandish at the time, but now? Monkey tennis? The whole reality TV approach started off as a bit of a novelty but has been stretched to limits almost parodying the original format. Indeed the idea of normal, (well hardly) members of the general public locked up together in differing circumstances is vaguely entertaining, in as much as the Stanford prison experiment was entertaining for those involved. The 'contestants',  for want of a better description, are not in any way representative of genuine society, aspiring as they do to achieve the elusive status of celebrity without actually having any genuine talent. Indeed, this untalented factor is compounded when those 'kin idiots made famous in a reality show, Made in Chelsea, The only way is Essex and of course Big Brother, appear shortly after as a 'celebrity' in 'celebrity' Big Brother, I'm (not really a) celebrity get me out of here and now Splash.

I feel that I must say, that beyond a brief and critical view of these programmes I try my absolute hardest to avoid them, sometimes with little success as the media, both printed and broadcasted become obsessed.

It's all arse!