Reality television now dominates primetime programming on the broadcast networks and is increasingly taking over cable as well.

The high ratings and low cost of these shows insures that this type of entertainment, and I use the term loosely, is here to stay.

The reality show genre has not remained static. New boundary-pushing shows have emerged as networks try to outdo each other.

In an unsettling sign of the times, it seems that we have rapidly mushroomed into a reality show culture, with all of the attendant celebrities such as Kate Gosselin, Kim Kardashian and the cast of “Jersey Shore,” who for no justification are outrageously overpaid and for no reason are ridiculously famous.

In many instances, young people now respond to the question of what career they would most like to pursue with the mind-numbing aspiration of “reality star.”

Of course, reality shows are anything but real. If audiences actually got to witness the makeup, lighting, staged setting, coaching, editing, etc., they would quickly realize to what terrible lengths they were being duped.

Interestingly, the last presidential election had many of the same elements that we see in reality show programming.

As a matter of fact, President Obama was swept into office thanks, in large part, to reality style wardrobe, makeup, lighting, scripting of lines, staging of events and mainstream media editing.

For over a year and a half, to the dismay of many who are still waiting for him to govern, the president has acted as if he is starring in his own reality show.

Perhaps he harbors a secret desire to one day be a cast member of “Jersey Shore,” the reality show of which he previously joked but later claimed he had no Snooki knowledge of.