In December, The New York Times ran an article about Oprah Winfrey and her upcoming attempt at creating feel-good reality shows for television. “Participants will compete to come up with the most creative ways to take a given amount of money and other resources and multiply them before giving them away to help others,” Edward Wyatt writes about one of Winfrey’s ideas for a show, “Oprah Winfrey’s ‘The Big Give.'” The second show would feature one family each episode facing a serious financial crisis. They would be given help and advice by a team of financial experts and would tentatively be called, “Your Money or Your Life.” Recently, I’ve been watching more television than I have in the past. Over the break, I caught Bravo playing an entire season of “The Biggest Loser.” I had never watched it before, but it was the middle of the day and watching that was much better than watching soap operas. I was obsessed. I couldn’t change the channel; I couldn’t leave the house for lunch and I certainly was not going out with friends that night because the finale started at 10 p.m. When they advertised the upcoming season of “The Biggest Loser: Couples,” I knew I had to watch it. I began to ask myself why I enjoyed watching this show so much. Did it make me feel good about myself? Did it make me feel like I was better than them because I don’t have a problem with my weight? No. “The Biggest Loser” was a feel-good show. I felt what they were going through with their weight problems. Winfrey is hoping people like me will get hooked into her shows after watching just one time. I used to think reality TV was pointless. I didn’t understand why people seemed to be bewitched by it. “Oprah Winfrey’s ‘The Big Give'” has the most potential. To see what people can do to increase their cash and then give it all away in the end, showing selflessness, would be incredible to watch. It would even encourage others, even me, to do something selfless for those less fortunate. There have been studies done on the effects of reality TV and whether it makes its audience perceive reality differently. If someone honestly thinks no part of reality TV is staged, they probably have a false sense of reality to begin with. Shows like “The Biggest Loser” and possibly “Oprah Winfrey’s ‘The Big Give,'” if given a chance to air, don’t allow people to perceive reality differently. If anything, it should give them hope and encouragement that they can also do what the casts are doing. Winfrey has a good idea, and at least one of these shows can work for her. Humans like to feel good; they like things that make them smile and encourage them. The reality TV shows that can achieve that goal have succeeded.