[headsplice]

What's most wrong with TV is that money controls it too directly. Producers and directors aren't out there trying to make good shows, they're out trying to make money. That isn't inherently a bad thing, but it does make them extraordinarily cautious when coming up with new ideas. It takes all the life out of the creative process when you're funding is literally breathing down your neck for every decision you make.
Every once in a while they'll take a risk on the networks, but usually that risk gets cancelled (Family Guy, Firefly, almost the Simpsons back in the day). That's why the best shows end up on cable now a days, because the shows creators have some latitude with the way they spend money. Therefore they are able to try new and different (or, at a minimum, well done) shows.

And reality television is the bastard child of 'Days of Our Lives' and Bob Barker (I think we all knew the old man surrounded by hot women had to doing something with all that sexual tension)