The "Real" Reality

"Reality" TV isn't all that real, is it? It's edited just so, scenes are provoked, and rumor has it that at times the shows are even scripted.
Happily, for a "real" dose of reality, I can turn to Sunday night radio shows on NPR. The quirky, non-fiction essays/field recordings featured on This American Life (90.1 fm, 6 pm) are authentic presentations of human nature, and can be sad, funny, crazy, but always interesting. Following TAL is The Moth, a broadcast of true storytelling live on stage. The stories reveal as much about being human as they do about the presenter. Both programs are about finding the universal in the personal, and are the highest form of entertainment with a soul.