Social experiment television has a background historians will politely refer to as "chequered". Shows like Beauty and the Geek, Baby Borrowers and Supersize vs Superskinny all have moments of brilliance and stupidity.
The news that CBS has ordered an arranged marriage show where four adults will wed somebody chosen by their friends and family once again throws a spotlight on the murkier corners of reality television. The interest is heightened in the UK with last night's screening of the first instalment of Boys and Girls Alone, Channel 4's look at what happens when you allow children to live together without the supervision of adults. A real life Skins for tweeners (reviewed by Lucy Mangan here).
Last night's show managed to be entertaining while still leaving you feeling queasy. Split into two camps of boys and girls, the children surprised you with their wit and perceptiveness then depressed you with their selfishness and bullying. Priceless moments such as the girls attempting to open a tin of paint with a can opener and the boys drafting a written constitution like the founding fathers (mostly revolving around gentlemanly conduct in water fights) made it a worthwhile watch, but lingering on the distress of children as cliques formed and harassment took place, felt ugly and exploitative.
The programme makers will argue that parents watched the action on CCTV at all times and were able to remove their child whenever they chose. But should they have been given the choice to leave their child there in the first place? Lorna, bullied at school for her hair colour, instinctively resumed her victim role and was picked on by two of the older girls. Her mother thought that appearing on telly would do her daughter good. Some parenting might also, but who'll commission a documentary on that?
The boys, for their part, showed that they were perfectly ready for modern bachelorhood - living in squalor, eating atrociously and crying for mummy when things got rough. Lord of the Flies reimagined by Martin Clunes.
That's small children for you. But Arranged Marriage will have what passes for intelligent adult human life forms making grown-up decisions about who they want to share their futures with. It's a brave man who will argue with the inalienable right to make the wrong choice and be filmed doing it.
Like Native Americans having their picture taken, participants know that reality television steals a part of their soul. Every stupidity they act out, every humiliation they are subject to, is fair game to be edited, taken out of context and replayed on any number of TVs Most Embarrassing Bastards shows. Yet still they come. And still we watch.
Lab rat telly has its place but there's an increasing culture of cruelty and malevolence towards the participants from viewers that is not healthy. So we can't just blame TV's dubious programming. The booing mob outside the Big Brother house each summer bring home an unpalatable truth about lab rat TV. You think you're the observer when you're really the rat. That goes for all of us who watch - polluted, infected, deranged fools pecking away at the interactive red button like Skinner's pigeons, bewitched by intermittent rewards. They really should put us on the telly.
