Can someone explain the appeal of shows like Strictly Come Dancing and XFactor?

[wonderboy]

Watching them makes me feel like I am losing brain cells.

I spoke to a professional musical friend and even the orchestral accompaniment is "mimed".

They can only be called competitions in the loosest possible sense and the level of skill is Butlins-level at best.

The shows are so heavily edited that they seem to consist of segments of no more than 25 seconds and the general impression I am left with is of a nauseous blur of very bright colours and loud voices.

How is this enjoyable?

[Dallas]

You have never seen loose women then? Telly is crap tonight but iPad Virgin here is playing with app stuff , is my excuse

[CheeseSlice]

Those shows are for the proles silly. It's what keeps them occupied and sedated along with football and booze instead of marching, protesting and publicly hanging the likes of blair, brown, gideon and cameron. Instead of watching that, contractors should be plotting their move into power 'come the revolution.

[mudskipper]

Those shows are for the proles silly. It's what keeps them occupied and sedated along with football and booze instead of marching, protesting and publicly hanging the likes of blair, brown, gideon and cameron. Instead of watching that, contractors should be plotting their move into power 'come the revolution.

I'll drink wine and watch Strictly till Old Greg gives me the nod - I absolutely trust him to plot on my behalf.

[Zippy]

I'm not a fan but each to hisown.
One annoying thing - BBC News site has just flashed up the winners name under 'Breaking news'. Hardly.

[AtW]

[TykeMerc]

I'll drink wine and watch Strictly till Old Greg gives me the nod - I absolutely trust him to plot on my behalf.

Outsourcing your plotting? Next thing you will be getting Bobs in to conduct the revolution!

[Doggy Styles]

Dancing - fair enough though I rarely watch it.
X factor, voice, jungle, big brother are all horrible.

[wonderboy]

Those shows are for the proles silly. It's what keeps them occupied and sedated along with football and booze instead of marching, protesting and publicly hanging the likes of blair, brown, gideon and cameron. Instead of watching that, contractors should be plotting their move into power 'come the revolution.

Quite, but my mother subjects herself (and anyone else in the living room) to it and she is not stupid. It must satisfy some psychological need and I'd dearly love to know what it is. It's not even something you can relax/turn-off and watch because the incessant noise and flashing is actually tiresome to view.

These shows are not put together by accident - I'd actually like to know the psychology behind the shows.

[CheeseSlice]

Thanks I just caught a glimpse of that picture before it was replaced by a banner.

The film is They Live (1988) and I'm just going to have to find a copy now

Storyline
Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like "Stay Asleep", "No Imagination", "Submit to Authority". Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.