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I'm an entertainment junkie who is always wasting time on websites such as TMZ, Perezhilton, People, US Weekly and the list goes on. I want to know what attracts people to entertainment news and why the world has such a fascination with celebrity culture. Are we living vicariously through celebrities and is entertainment news really considered "news"?
I'm sitting on my couch watching, of course, the STAR channel, meaning back to back celebrity news, everything from TMZ to America's Next Top Model. However, my light bulb moment, came from watching TMZ and then an episode of Access Hollywood right after. I began to think about the different styles, approaches, and angles that each show presents.
Let's start with TMZ. TMZ is only a couple of years old and started out as a website first, before it branched off as a TV show too. But already TMZ is making a BIG splash into the entertainment world, breaking some of the biggest stories in history, such as Michael Jackson's death, releasing Rihanna's infamous beat-down photo, and leaking the horrific rant tapes of Mel Gibson. So, the question of credibility is not a problem on TMZ's part but what sets TMZ apart from other news sources is there incredible ubiquitous, interactive, and in-your-face element that TMZ brings to the entertainment world. TMZ brings a voyeuristic and a paparazzi element to their style, following celebrities around with cameras in Hollywood, while catching them off-guard, not in a studio, not photo shopped or prepped but raw footage of them participating in everyday life, from going to the grocery store to walking their children to school. TMZ claims they present a raw, realistic quality to their news, and that their TV show is not scripted and the fun banter between their staff on the show is real. TMZ has a mock-factor to their show, where they are in power and mock celebrities and, in a sense, mock the celebrity culture which is ironic in itself. The laid back, humorous, almost goofy "news" which, at times, can't even be considered as news, draws in a large audience. Also, it doesn't hurt that the show's creator, Harvey Levin, is a former lawyer who definitely uses his expertise to every story involving the law which is 90% of celebrity stories. *Cough* Lindsey Lohan *Cough*. 
Now onto Access Hollywood, which conveniently happens to play right after TMZ. Access Hollywood is your typical entertainment news show, and the opposite of TMZ. Although, TMZ is structured, they try to give off the perception to their audience that they are not structured, while Access Hollywood is proud of their organization of their celebrity news. Access Hollywood begins the show, like many other entertainment news shows, with their top stories, junkets, and categorizing each segment from fashion to music etc. Also, the show is very scripted, professional, hardly mocking celebrities but promoting and supporting celebrities. Access Hollywood presents interviews and segments with celebrities that have been pre-taped, therefore the audience will see a pre-packaged, scripted, camera-ready interview, which is completely different TMZ who show celebrities caught-off guard. So the question is, what attracts an audience more? if we look at reality shows, which is a phenomenon among TV, we see that people are attrated to reality, seeing as Jersey Shore is the highest rated reality show in the world right now. So I think it is safe to say that "reality" interests people, seeing the downfalls, personal lives of celebrities intrigues audiences. The public forget that celebrities are people so when they see a dressed down Madonna with no make-up, walking her children to school, people see another side of her which they would rarely see on other shows such as Access Hollywood. I also noticed that Access Hollywood dramatizes many of their stories that are meant to be serious, adding dramatic music and close-up camera shots, to the point where it feels like I'm watching CSI. However, entertainment shows need to dramatize their stories in order to give their stories some substance or relevance. For example, Access Hollywood ran a story about Lisa Rinna reducing the collagen in her lips and did an interview with her to discuss her lips, but everything was so dramatized where they brought in an expert to discuss her lips, which ultimately led to the promotion of her new reality show. If all the glitz was removed from the story, it would ultimately fall flat.
The celebrity fad will never die, thus we will forever be surrounded by entertainment news. Whether your a TMZ kind of person that wants the paparazzi type of following on celebrities news or the Access Hollywood viewer who wants a traditional entertainment format, it is interesting to see the accessibility of celebrity culture and their large following of viewers that the world invests in today, including me. Maybe people turn to entertainment news to get away from the tragedies that international and local news brings, filling their heads with a Hollywood illusion, remaining ignorant about the world around them.
Anyways, that was overly dramatic. Here is a clip contrasting two of the styles of TMZ and Access Hollywood:)
http://www.tmz.com/videos/?mediaKey=bd4cb280-65fa-4abb-b500-c8f03fe65b4b&isShareURL=true - TMZ LINK
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