What can be said about reality TV that hasn’t already been said about cheap, crappy junk food? It’s empty, easy to produce and while it might be immediately satisfying, it is ultimately unhealthy for you.

What began as part social commentary, part social experiment with 1992′s “The Real World,” has now been cloned ad nauseam; almost every channel has its own lineup of reality television.

Like any cloning experiment gone terribly wrong, each iteration creates a more horrific monster, as every season’s most vile traits are saved and replicated for the next generation of cheap and easy television.

It seems that reality TV is on a mission to make a caricature out of everything about the human race. With shows about overweight children, catty housewives, has-been celebrities and worst of all, talentless celebutants who are famous simply for being famous, if “reality” TV is indeed real, it paints an ugly picture of the human race.

The “reality” of reality television is a dubious claim at best, an outright a lie at worst.

Even without the well-documented evidence of producers telling cast members to antagonize fellow castmates, common sense would dictate most people do not act like most reality TV “celebrities” in real life. There have been reunion specials for various reality TV shows where former cast members flat-out stated they were asked to act-out for the benefit of the cameras, in order to create drama where there would otherwise be none.

The ostensible appeal of reality TV, that it is “real,” is merely a facade. What is left is essentially badly scripted, puerile TV. Schadenfreude is the only reason anyone would want to indulge in it. Well, schadenfreude and sexy cat-fights.

Unfortunately, like junk food, no matter how terrible it is for you, not only is reality TV here to stay, it will probably only get worse.