LAST EDITED ON 12-04-03 AT 01:33 PM (EST)B-M has been doing "scripted" reality for almost a decade now... check out the last 8-9 years of "The Real World" -- there's nothing real or uncontrived about those situations, starting with the "jobs," the increasingly outlandish houses, etc.
The fact that TSL contains a lot of pre-planned outrageous situations that are designed to generate reactions from the "contestants" isn't new, what's new is that the "reality sitcom" appears to be a hot new emerging sub-genre of the reality genre (see "The Joe schmo Show," etc.), where the humor is the sole focus of the whole show.
AK did a story on it a few months ago:
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=1471