There are reality shows, there are “educational” reality shows, then there are what are essentially “game” shows. There might be another type or two, but most of them can be placed into one of these categories.
Those that follow people (“J&K+8,” “18 Kids and Counting,” “Real World”) are reality shows. Those that follow people and teach something about an industry (“Deadliest Catch,” “Dirty Jobs,” “Survivorman,” etc.) are “educational.” Those with eliminations (“Top Chef,” “Project Runway,” and so on) are game shows.
So the question is, what do you think about the genres? I tend to watch game shows more than educational ones and reality shows least of all. If I do end up watching reality shows, its generally late night when nothing else is on. I do not make a plan to watch reality shows, but I do plan to watch the others and keep up with what’s happening on them. Even then, some are better than others.