Why Red-State Programming is Hot

Does a bad economy mean more blue-collar reality television like hunting and fishing shows?
 
From this story on Fox News:
With the economy in the doldrums, more Americans are turning to down-home television shows about hunting, fishing, building and the art of making an honest living. Rather than hitting Broadway or joining "Celebrity Apprentice," former "American Idol" finalist Kristy Lee Cook is starring in a new hunting reality program “Going Country” on Versus, which takes place in America's backwoods instead of Beverly Hills.

And instead of finding a place on the next "Surreal Life" or "Celebrity Rehab," nineties rapper Vanilla Ice will be starring in a home renovation series on the DIY network, a room by room makeover series called 'The Vanilla Ice Project'. It's prime time for it too. Advertisers are latching onto so-called "red state programming" on cable and satellite sports and Do-It-Yourself networks like the Outdoor Channel, GIY Network, Sportsman Channel (tagline: “All Hunting, All Fishing, All the Time), Versus and The Pursuit Network.

“The outdoor sports channels and the gardening and home maintenance channels, they are catering to what is going on in the rest of the country. That’s the true America that is watching those channels, which is why we are seeing advertisers start to move away from networks and towards cable,” says media planning consultant Desmond D’Silva. “Advertisers in the past have had lofty ambitions about who they wanted to reach, but now they are realizing that it is middle America driving consumerism, the households that make around $40,000 a year.”

Your thoughts? I'm not sure I buy the argument that reality shows - regardless of what activity they portray - reflect anything remotely resembling true reality, but I'm pretty sure Vanilla Ice is now doing a reality show because his music sucked...