Ten Most Depressing Reality TV Shows. Besides all the weight-loss shows, the dance shows, the cake shows, the multiple-births shows, and the washed-up-celebrities-date-floozies shows, there is another reality genre that surpasses them all: the depressing genre. Here are the top 10 reality shows that make us cry into our Haagen-Dazs on a regular basis.
1. "Intervention"
Quite possibly the most depressing show in the history of television, this lets us watch as families of rock-bottom addicts give their loved one an ultimatum: either enter rehab or get cut off from the family. It's best not to watch when in an emotionally vulnerable state. Or ever, really.
Quite possibly the most depressing show in the history of television, this lets us watch as families of rock-bottom addicts give their loved one an ultimatum: either enter rehab or get cut off from the family. It's best not to watch when in an emotionally vulnerable state. Or ever, really.
2. "Celebrity Rehab"/"Sober House"
It isn't just seeing these people you once saw as seemingly healthy and successful individuals at their absolute lowest, grappling with unforgivable addiction -- which is bad enough -- it's also their therapy sessions, in which they discuss in depth their childhood abuse, suicide attempts, breaking points, etc.
It isn't just seeing these people you once saw as seemingly healthy and successful individuals at their absolute lowest, grappling with unforgivable addiction -- which is bad enough -- it's also their therapy sessions, in which they discuss in depth their childhood abuse, suicide attempts, breaking points, etc.
3. "Obsessed"
This is a new A&E show that follows people with anxiety disorders as they are subjected to some tough love and forced to face their issues. It's depressing because it's totally "Shoot the freak!" in carnival appeal, and because these people are so isolated by their weird problems that they just live in lonely cocoons of correcting their mothers' "K's" and never looking in the mirror.
This is a new A&E show that follows people with anxiety disorders as they are subjected to some tough love and forced to face their issues. It's depressing because it's totally "Shoot the freak!" in carnival appeal, and because these people are so isolated by their weird problems that they just live in lonely cocoons of correcting their mothers' "K's" and never looking in the mirror.
4. "16 and Pregnant"
This one just makes my heart cry. Sixteen-year-old girls who are struggling with figuring out how they're going to take care of a baby -- both emotionally and financially -- often losing all their friends and dealing with judgmental people's dirty looks in their small towns.
This one just makes my heart cry. Sixteen-year-old girls who are struggling with figuring out how they're going to take care of a baby -- both emotionally and financially -- often losing all their friends and dealing with judgmental people's dirty looks in their small towns.
5. "Bridezillas"
This show follows couples who are usually pretty terrible for each other but are unwisely getting married anyway, as they try to claw and scream together an event that is usually way out of their price range. The bride always ends up just verbally destroying her fiance, family and friends.
This show follows couples who are usually pretty terrible for each other but are unwisely getting married anyway, as they try to claw and scream together an event that is usually way out of their price range. The bride always ends up just verbally destroying her fiance, family and friends.
6. "Real World/Road Rules Challenge"
There's nothing sadder than never rising above being a drunken, combative fool on an MTV reality show at some point in your youth, so you just keep returning to the franchise to degrade yourself for cash, because you're broke, because you can't do any better, year after year after year.
There's nothing sadder than never rising above being a drunken, combative fool on an MTV reality show at some point in your youth, so you just keep returning to the franchise to degrade yourself for cash, because you're broke, because you can't do any better, year after year after year.
7. "The Bachelor"/"The Bachelorette"
Usually pretty early on in each season it becomes clear that some people are on the show for real, and some people are on the show to exploit and manipulate other people's emotions in order to continue being on television. What Wes did to Jillian is just another milestone in this show's tradition of documenting someone using a lonely person to gain fame.
Usually pretty early on in each season it becomes clear that some people are on the show for real, and some people are on the show to exploit and manipulate other people's emotions in order to continue being on television. What Wes did to Jillian is just another milestone in this show's tradition of documenting someone using a lonely person to gain fame.
8. "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grade?"
As it turns out, hardly anyone who goes on this show is smarter than a fifth grader. This thing is a constant reminder of how, intellectually speaking, it's all been downhill since age 11, which is pretty depressing.
As it turns out, hardly anyone who goes on this show is smarter than a fifth grader. This thing is a constant reminder of how, intellectually speaking, it's all been downhill since age 11, which is pretty depressing.
9. "18 Kids and Counting"
There's having a different lifestyle and trying to protect your kids from the evils of the world, and then there's sheltering them to the point where they're exposed so little to the outside world they don't stand a chance at forming their own opinions about anything or gasp! choosing a different lifestyle as an adult.
There's having a different lifestyle and trying to protect your kids from the evils of the world, and then there's sheltering them to the point where they're exposed so little to the outside world they don't stand a chance at forming their own opinions about anything or gasp! choosing a different lifestyle as an adult.
10. "Toddlers & Tiaras"
The most depressing thing about watching the egomaniacal parents on this show is that they've convinced themselves that dressing their 5-year-old daughters up and living vicariously through the attention they receive from it is what the child really wants.
