Kim K's Divorce Drama Prompts the Question: Does Reality TV Really Need to Be Real?

True love.

This morning, news broke that Keeping Up With the Kardashians producer Russel Jay's deposition could ruin Kim Kardashian's case in her never-ending divorce proceedings with Kris Humphries. In his depo, Jay reveals that Kim knew about Kris' "surprise" proposal beforehand and reshot her reaction. (No duh. You'd have to be a fucking moron to think her apathetic, not-at-all-shocked reaction was genuine.) Jay also alleges that Kim uses "tear sticks" to cry on camera and that some scenes were created from scratch.

Though Jay's deposition prove that Kris partook in a false representation of his relationship with Kim, Kris' lawyers will inevitably use it as an attack on Kim's character to further their argument that the marriage was fraudulent and that she "tricked" him into it. (He is pretty dumb, so...)

This sucks for Kim, but what I'm more interested in is the PUBLIC'S reaction to this. Whether or not Kim's marriage was for realz, I don't understand why people get so pissy when reality television proves to be fake. Yes, the name is a bit deceiving; reality programming implies that it's real. And it is. It's real people in real situations. The catch is that those real people are performing as parodies of themselves and those situations may or may not be created by producers.

Each week, we see the the 30 to 60 best minutes of every 50-plus hours of filming. That's what makes it interesting. Nobody would actually tune into a show that followed somebody in their natural everyday life, no matter who that person is -- it would be totally boring! Reality stars ham it up for the audience, and reality programming is not a whole lot different than scripted shows in that regard.

So instead of bitching about how "fake" the Kardashians/bachelors/teen moms/Jersey Shore degenerates are, just appreciate them for the entertainment value. Follow Kim and Kris' rocky divorce as you would a soap opera. Watch Khloé's cray antics as if they were a sitcom. Indulge in Kourtney's monotony like you would a documentary on the formation of the Rocky Mountains. In short: get over it! Am I right?