I blame MTV and "The Real World" for the current reality television wave. And the creators apparently drew inspiration from PBS, a 1973 reality show called
An American Family. According to TV Guide, it was considered #32 on it's list of the greatest shows of all time.
I think reality TV in it's current form was an economic inevitability, due to it's low cost and people's constant fascination in human interest stories. While there are shitty lowest common denominators throughout the genre, the genre itself is a much higher concept idea than TV sitcoms.
Isn't
This American Life considered in that same genre, does anyone think
that show is anything close to lowest common denominator? And if we shit on Joe Rogan for the worst, shouldn't we also laud him for the best?