I think reality TV is just a fad for now, but could stay popular for a while yet. I, personally, don't care for many of the reality shows. Right now, it seems to be the "cool" thing, but I consider what I like myself to be "cool." I grew up in the '70s and remember when variety shows were all over the networks' line-ups. "Donny & Marie," "Sonny & Cher," "Flip Wilson," "Tony Orlando & Dawn," "The Captain & Tenille," "Carol Burnett," etc. Now we don't see any variety shows anymore. (By the way, I liked many of these shows, and am hoping for "Donny & Marie" to make it out on DVD.) But I assume variety shows died out as westerns did (as Casey noted). Then Saturday mornings were full of cartoons and kids' shows on all the networks--no news programs. Game shows were seen on the networks during the daytime. However, network game shows, variety shows, westerns, and Saturday morning kids' shows, apparently, were just fads that didn't stick around, although we have several channels now that take us back to enjoy what used to be a big part of network TV.