Everything on television was fine before the introduction of the concept of "reality".
The introduction of that from which we desperately want to escape was a big mistake.
Television and reality are a little like oil and water, or other pairs of things that don't go together.
Faintly ridiculous adventurer and television presenter Bear Grylls has already run into the problem of swinging too close to the nexus between the actual and the fanciful with his show Man vs Wild.
In the survival adventure series, Mr Grylls had to extricate himself from all sorts of unfortunate spots of bother.
The show was criticised for the alleged fabrication of some of those extrications, and some of those spots of bother.
The heart of the problem was Man vs Wild was supposedly about a fellow on his own somewhere wild, dealing manfully with the various issues that transpire.
But clearly he was not alone, as somebody else was obviously there with a camera, filming.
And if somebody else was there with a camera, that meant somebody else was doing lighting, somebody else doing sound, somebody else again was behind them with a plate of sandwiches, and so on and so on.
So it should have come as no surprise when media reports surfaced that instead of sleeping in the wild and eating raw snakes for breakfast, Mr Grylls was spending nights in luxury hotels eating blueberry pancakes.
That criticism may be behind the rather extensive caveat at the start of his latest show, Worst Case Scenario (Documentary Channel, Thursdays, 7.30pm).
Worst Case Scenario is intended to provide you with information on ways to survive hypothetical situations, it says.
The producers created dangerous situations for Bear and his team of stunt professionals, and, when necessary, provided support from off-camera experts.
The only hypothetical situation one may struggle with after watching Worst Case Scenario is an overdose of the bleeding obvious.
When saving the victims of a boating accident, it evidently helps to be wearing a wetsuit, and be passing by with a pair of flippers in hand, as Bear does.
It is a good idea, we are told, to wear a life jacket, and, if somebody has some sort of drowning-related quandary, give them mouth-to-mouth.
Who would have known?
Clearly, the producers have spent too much time worrying about staying within the bounds of reality, and not enough time entertaining us.
Unfortunately, apart from being mostly dull, reality does not translate well on to the television screen.
It is best forgotten, and replaced with something more interesting.
A little like Worst Case Scenario.
