Reality television
Encyclopedia
Reality television is a genre of television program
ming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actor
s, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. The genre, which has existed in some form or another since the early years of television program
ming, exploded as a phenomenon around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series such as Big Brother
and Survivor
. Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called reality shows and often are produced in a television series. Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as television news and sports television shows are usually not classified as reality shows.
The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show
or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, Japanese variety show
shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother.
Reality television frequently portrays a modified and highly influenced form of reality
, at times utilizing sensationalism
to attract audience
viewers and increase advertising
revenue
profits. Participants are often placed in exotic locations or abnormal situations, and are often persuaded to act in specific scripted
ways by off-screen "story editors" or "segment television producer
s", with the portrayal of events and speech
manipulated and contrived to create an illusion
of reality through direction and post-production
editing techniques.
's hidden camera
Candid Camera
show (based on his previous 1947 radio show, Candid Microphone) broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. ". In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour
and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
featured amateur competitors and audience voting. The Miss America
Pageant, first broadcast in 1954, was a competition where the winner achieved status as a national celebrity
.
In the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock
and Truth or Consequences
involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. The Groucho Marx
-hosted game show, You Bet Your Life
, was primarily composed of Marx' prescripted comebacks to what was most often candid interviews of the contestants, although some 'contestants' were actors.
The radio series Nightwatch (1951–1955), which tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California
police officers, also helped pave the way for reality television. The series You Asked For It
(1950–1959), in which viewer requests dictated content, was an antecedent of today's audience-participation reality TV elements, in which viewers cast votes to help determine the course of events.
series Seven Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year-olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, etc. The series was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities.
In the 1966 Direct Cinema
film Chelsea Girls
, Andy Warhol
filmed various acquaintances with no direction given; the Radio Times Guide to Film 2007 stated that the film was "to blame for reality television."
The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the 12-part 1973 PBS
series An American Family
, which showed a nuclear family
(filmed in 1971) going through a divorce; unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style. In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading
. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris
: The Dating Game
, The Newlywed Game
, and The Gong Show
, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition. One Man and His Dog
was a British Television series which began in 1976 featuring the participants of sheepdog trials. In 1978, Living in the Past
recreated life in an Iron Age
English village.
, which first aired in the spring of 1989 and came about partly due to the need for new programming during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike
, showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the camcorder
look and cinéma vérité
feel of much of later reality television. Canadian
TV ran Thrill of a Lifetime
a fantasies fulfilled reality show from 1982-88 which was revived in 2001-03.
The series Nummer 28
, which aired on Dutch
television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. Nummer 28 also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including a heavy use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, that serve as narration. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in their new series The Real World
and Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed that The Real World was directly inspired by his show. However, the producers of The Real World have stated that their direct inspiration was An American Family
.
According to television commentator Charlie Brooker
, this type of reality television was enabled by the advent of computer-based non-linear editing system
s for video (such as those produced by Avid Technology
) in 1989. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before. (Film, which was easy to edit, was too expensive to shoot enough hours of footage with on a regular basis).
The TV show Expedition Robinson
, created by TV producer Charlie Parsons, which first aired in 1997 in Sweden
(and was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor
), added to the Nummer 28/Real World template the idea of competition and elimination, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. (These shows are now sometimes called elimination shows).
Changing Rooms, a TV show that began in 1996, showed couples redecorating each others' houses, and was the first reality show with a self-improvement or makeover
theme.
The 1980s and 1990s were also a time when tabloid talk show
s came to rise, many of which featured the same types of unusual or dysfunctional guests that would later become popular as cast members of reality shows.
and Survivor
(in the US).
In particular, Survivor and American Idol
have both topped the US season-average television ratings since 2000. Survivor led the ratings in 2001–02
, and Idol topped the ratings six consecutive years, from 2004–05
to 2009–10
). The shows Survivor, the Idol series, the America's Next Top Model
series, the Dancing With The Stars
series, The Apprentice, Fear Factor
and Big Brother
have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in dozens of countries.
Reality television had a decline in viewership in 2001. Reality shows with low ratings included The Amazing Race
, Lost
(unrelated to the better-known serial drama of the same name
) and The Mole, leading some to speculate that reality television was a temporary fad that had run its course.
There have been at least three television channels devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in the United States, launched in 2005, Global Reality Channel
in Canada
in 2010, and Zone Reality
in the United Kingdom, launched in 2002. (The Canadian and British channels still exist; Fox Reality ended in mid-2010). In addition, several other cable channels, such as Bravo, A&E
, E!
, VH1
and MTV
, devote large portions of their programming to reality programs. Mike Darnell, head of reality TV for the US Fox network, was quoted as saying that the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox) "might as well plan three or four [reality shows] each season because we're going to have them, anyway."
During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndication
. Despite these concerns, DVDs for reality shows have sold briskly; Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
, The Amazing Race
, Project Runway
, and America's Next Top Model
have all ranked in the top DVDs sold on Amazon.com
, and in the mid-2000s, DVDs of The Simple Life
outranked scripted shows like The O.C.
and Desperate Housewives
. Syndication, however, has indeed proven problematic; shows such as Fear Factor
, COPS and Wife Swap
in which each episode is self-contained can indeed be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television and/or during the daytime (COPS and America's Funniest Home Videos
being exceptions). Season-long competitions such as The Amazing Race
, Survivor
, and America's Next Top Model
generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in marathons
to draw the necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. Another option is to create documentaries around series including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in the original airings; the syndicated series American Idol Rewind
is an example of this strategy.
COPS has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales and DVD. A FOX staple since 1989, COPS is, as of 2010, in its 23rd season, having outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that has seen wide success is "Cheaters
", which has been running for 10 seasons in the US and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2007, according to the Learning and Skills Council
, one in seven UK teenagers hopes to gain fame by appearing on reality television.
In 2001, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
added the reality genre to the Emmy Awards with the category of Outstanding Reality Program
. In 2003, to better differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a second category Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
was added. In 2008, a third category, Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
was added.
In 2010, the Tester
became the first reality television show ever aired over a videogame console. The show entered its second season in the same year.
or factual television
. Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap operas—hence the terms docusoap and docudrama
. In other shows, a cinéma vérité
style is adopted, where the filmmaker is more than a passive observer—their presence and influence is greatly manifest.
Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants:
Special living environment: Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments; The Real World
is the originator of this style. In almost every other such show, cast members are given a specific challenge or obstacle to overcome. Road Rules
, which started in 1995 as a spin-off of The Real World, started this pattern: the cast traveled across the country guided by clues and performing tasks.
Celebrities: Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include The Anna Nicole Show
, The Osbournes
, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and Hogan Knows Best
. In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks; these include Celebrity Big Brother, The Simple Life
, Tommy Lee Goes to College
, The Surreal Life
, and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. VH1
has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality, known as "Celebreality".
Professional activities: Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. No outside experts are brought in (at least, none appear on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) is COPS
which has been airing since 1989, preceding by many years the current reality show phenomenon.
contests
. Typically, participants are filmed competing to win a prize, often while living together in a confined environment. In many cases, participants are removed until only one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time, in balloon debate
style, through either disapproval voting
or by voting for the most popular choice to win. Voting is done by the viewing audience, the show's own participants, a panel of judges, or some combination of the three.
A well-known example of a reality-competition show is the globally syndicated Big Brother
, in which cast members live together in the same house, with participants removed at regular intervals by either the viewing audience or, in the case of the American version, by the participants themselves.
There remains some disagreement over whether talent-search shows such as the Idol series
, America's Got Talent
, Dancing with the Stars
, and Celebrity Duets
are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as Star Search
. Although the shows involve a traditional talent search, the shows follow the reality-competition conventions of removing one or more contestants per episode and allowing the public to vote on who is removed; the Idol series also require the contestants to live together during the run of the show (though their daily life is never shown onscreen). Additionally, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges. As a result, such shows are often considered reality television, and the American Primetime Emmy Awards have nominated both American Idol
and Dancing with the Stars for the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program Emmy.
Modern game shows like Weakest Link
, Greed
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
, American Gladiators
, Dog Eat Dog
and Deal or No Deal
also lie in a gray area: like traditional game shows (e.g., The Price Is Right
, Jeopardy!
), the action takes place in an enclosed TV studio over a short period of time; however, they have higher production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes than traditional shows (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or offering large cash prizes). In addition, there is more interaction between contestants and hosts, and in some cases they feature reality-style contestant competition and/or elimination as well. These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, lead many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella as well as the traditional game show one.
There are various hybrid reality-competition shows, like the worldwide-syndicated Star Academy
, which combines the Big Brother and Idol formats, The Biggest Loser
and The Pick-up Artist
which combine competition with the self-improvement format, and American Inventor
, which uses the Idol format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as Making the Band
and Project Greenlight
, devote the first part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing that person or group of people working on a project.
Popular variants of the competition-based format include the following:
Dating-based competition:Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing one out of a group of suitors. Over the course of either a single episode or an entire season, suitors are eliminated until only the contestant and the final suitor remains. For a time, in 2001–2003, this type of reality show dominated the other genres on the major US networks. Shows that aired included The Bachelor, its spin-off The Bachelorette
, as well as For Love or Money
, Paradise Hotel
, Temptation Island, Average Joe and Farmer Wants a Wife
, among others. More recent such shows include Flavor of Love
and its spin-offs I Love New York
, Rock of Love, and The Cougar
. This is one of the older variants of the format; shows such as The Dating Game
that date to the 1960s had similar premises (though each episode was self-contained, and not the serial format of more modern shows).
Job search:In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants were pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based on that skill, are judged, and are then kept or removed by a single expert or a panel of experts. The show is usually presented as a job search of some kind, in which the prize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. Popstars
, which debuted in 1999, may have been the first such show. The first job-search show which showed dramatic, unscripted situations may have been America's Next Top Model
, which premiered in May 2003. Other examples include The Apprentice (which judges business skills), Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef
(for chefs), Shear Genius
(for hair styling), Project Runway
(for clothing design), Top Design
(for interior design), Stylista
(for fashion editors), Last Comic Standing
(for comedians), The Starlet
and Scream Queens
(for actresses), I Know My Kid's a Star
(for child performers), On the Lot
(for filmmakers), The Shot
(for photographers), So You Think You Can Dance
(for dancers), MuchMusic VJ Search (for television hosts), Dream Job
(for sportscasters), Face Off
(for make-up artists), and The Tester
(for game testers). Some shows use the same format with celebrities: in this case, there is no expectation that the winner will continue this line of work, and prize winnings often go to charity. Examples of celebrity competition programs include Deadline
, Celebracadabra
, and The Celebrity Apprentice.
Sports:Most of these programs create a sporting competition among athletes attempting to establish their name in that sport. The Club
, in 2002, was one of the first shows to immerse sport with reality TV, based on a fabricated club competing against real clubs in the sport of Australian rules football
; the audience helped select which players played each week by voting for their favorites. Golf Channel's The Big Break
is a reality show in which aspiring golfers compete against one another and are eliminated. The Contender
, a boxing
show, unfortunately became the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after being eliminated from the show; the show's winner was promised a shot at a boxing world championship. Sergio Mora
, who won, indeed got his title shot and became a world champion boxer. In The Ultimate Fighter
participants have voluntarily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competitive pressure.
and Celebrity Fit Club), but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode. Despite differences in the content, the format is usually the same: first the show introduces the subjects in their current, less-than-ideal environment. Then the subjects meet with a group of experts, who give the subjects instructions on how to improve things; they offer aid and encouragement along the way. Finally, the subjects are placed back in their environment and they, along with their friends and family and the experts, appraise the changes that have occurred. Other self-improvement or makeover shows include "How Do I Look?" (fashion makeover). The Biggest Loser
and Fat March
, (which covers weight loss), Extreme Makeover
(entire physical appearance), Queer Eye
and What Not to Wear (style and grooming), Supernanny
(child-rearing), Made
(attaining difficult goals), Trinny & Susannah Undress (fashion makeover and marriage), Tool Academy
(relationship building) and Charm School
and From G's to Gents
(self-improvement and manners).
was the first such show, debuting in 1979. The British show Changing Rooms, beginning in 1996 (later remade in the US as Trading Spaces
) was the first such renovation show that added a game show feel with different weekly contestants. Other shows in this category include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
, Debbie Travis' Facelift
, Designed to Sell
, While You Were Out
, and Holmes on Homes
. Pimp My Ride
and Overhaulin'
show vehicles being rebuilt. Some shows, such as Restaurant Makeover
and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
, show both the decor and the menu of a failing restaurant being remade. The issue of "making over" was taken to its social extreme with the British show Life Laundry
, in which people who had become hoarders, even living in squalor, were given professional assistance.
As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more conventional formats. Some argue the key difference is the emphasis of the human story and conflicts of reality shows, versus the emphasis on process and information in more traditional format shows. The show This Old House
, which began in 1979, the start to finish renovation of different houses through a season; media critic Jeff Jarvis
has speculated that it is "the original reality TV show."
which began in 2003 on Channel 4
and has aired for four seasons on ABC
is a notable example. People with different values agreed to live by each other's social rules for a brief period of time and sometimes learn from the experience. Other shows in this category include ITV's Holiday Showdown
, Oxygen's The Bad Girls Club
(lifestyles and actions), and Channel 4's Secret Millionaire
. Faking It
was a series where people had to learn a new skill and pass themselves off as experts in that skill. Shattered was a controversial 2004 UK series where contestants competed for how long they could go without sleep
.
. Modern examples include Blind Date, Matchmaker
, Room Raiders
, Elimidate
, Next
, and Parental Control.
, The Jerry Springer Show
, Dr. Phil
, The Jeremy Kyle Show
and many others have generally recruited guests by advertising a potential topic for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous and are chosen in the interest of creating on-screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, this sort of depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format, is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming.
s rolling when random passers-by encounter a staged situation. Candid Camera
, which first aired on television in 1948, pioneered the format. Modern variants of this type of production include Punk'd
, Trigger Happy TV
, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment
and Just For Laughs Gags
. The series Scare Tactics
and Room 401
are hidden-camera programs in which the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them.
Not all hidden camera shows use strictly staged situations. For example, the syndicated show Cheaters
, purports to use hidden cameras to record suspected cheating
partners, although the authenticity of the show has been questioned. Once the evidence has been gathered, the accuser confronts the cheating partner with the assistance of the host.
in 2000, supernatural and paranormal reality shows place participants into frightening situations which ostensibly involve the paranormal
. In series such as Celebrity Paranormal Project
, the stated aim is investigation, and some series like Scariest Places on Earth
challenge participants to survive the investigation; whereas others such as Paranormal State
and Ghost Hunters
use a recurring crew of paranormal researchers. Shows such as Fear Factor
and Scare Tactics
dispense with supernatural overtones and aim solely at inciting fear or aversion in the cast. In general, the shows follow similar stylized patterns of night vision
, surveillance, and hand held camera footage; odd angles; subtitles establishing place and time; desaturated imagery; rapid fire, MTV editing; and non-melodic soundtracks.
Noting the recent trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value, New York Times Culture editor Mike Hale characterized ghost hunting
shows as "pure theater" and compared the genre to professional wrestling
or soft core pornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.
is presented to some of the series participants. In truth, the premise of the series is completely different. The rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. These shows often served to parody the conventions of the reality TV genre.
The first such show was 2003's The Joe Schmo Show
. Other examples are My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
(modeled after The Apprentice), My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance
, Hell Date
(modeled after Blind Date), Superstar USA
(modeled after American Idol), Space Cadets (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into space), Punk'd
(involving celebrities in staged crises), Invasion Iowa
(in which a town was convinced that William Shatner
was filming a movie there), and Reality Hell (different target and premise every episode).
Other shows, though not hoax shows per se, have offered misleading information to some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples include Boy Meets Boy and Joe Millionaire
.
, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV." In China, after the finale of the 2005 season of Super Girl (the local version of Pop Idol
) drew an audience of around 400 million people, and 8 million text message votes, the state-run English-language newspaper Beijing Today ran the front-page headline "Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?" The Chinese government criticized the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness", and in 2006 banned it outright. Other attempts at introducing reality television have proved to be similarly controversial. A Pan-Arab version of Big Brother was cancelled in 2004 after less than two weeks on the air after a public outcry and street protests.
In 2007, Abu Dhabi TV
begain airing Million's Poet
, a show featuring Pop Idol-style voting and elimination, but for the writing and oration of Arabic poetry
. The show became popular in Arab countries, with around 18 million viewers, partly because, according to analysts such as University of Pennsylvania
professor Marwan Kraidy, it was able to combine the excitement of reality television with a traditional, culturally relevant topic. In April 2010, however, the show also become a subject of political controversy, when Hissa Hilal, a 43-year-old female Saudi competitor, read out a poem criticizing her country's Muslim clerics. http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100319/NATIONAL/703189836/1040 Hilal received the highest scores from the judges throughout the competition, and came in third place overall.
theater," while reality TV is "the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has engaged hot-button cultural issues—class, sex, race—that respectable television... rarely touches."
Television critic James Poniewozik
wrote that reality shows like Deadliest Catch
and Ice Road Truckers
showcase working-class people of the kind that "used to be routine" on scripted network television, but that became a rarity in the 2000s: "The better to woo upscale viewers, TV has evicted its mechanics and dockworkers to collect higher rents from yuppies in coffeehouses."
for their appearances.
, whereby companies and corporations pay to have their products included in television programming for marketing purposes is highly prevalent in reality television.
The following is a list of television shows with the most instances of product placement (11/07–11/08; Nielsen Media Research
). Eight out of the ten are reality television shows.
, a castmember on the 1998 The Real World: Seattle
, has done public speaking tours about the negative and misleading aspects of reality TV.
world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the participants and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Burnett
, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama."
aired a program called Reality TV Secrets Revealed, which detailed various misleading tricks of reality TV producers. According to the show, various reality shows (notably Joe Millionaire
) combined audio and video from different times, or from different sets of footage, to create an artificial illusion of time chronology that did not occur, and a misportrayal of participant behaviors and actions.
In docusoap programming, which follows people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, able to portray certain participants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronology and selective presentation of events. A Season 3 episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
included a segment on the ways in which selective editing can be used to this end.
had at times recreated incidents that had actually occurred, but were not properly recorded by cameras to the required technical standard, or had not been recorded at all. In order to get the footage, the event was restaged for the cameras.
Daniel Petrie Jr., former president of the Writers Guild of America, west
, an organization that represents 9,000 Hollywood film and television writers, stated: "We look at reality TV, which is billed as unscripted, and we know it is scripted. We understand that shows don't want to call the writers writers because they want to maintain the illusion that it is reality, that stuff just happens."
, don't allow the participants to wear clothing of their own choosing while on camera, to promote the participants' wearing of "camera-friendly colors" and to prevent the participants from wearing the same style and/or color of clothing. Additionally, on Survivor, some unallowed clothing items include those with corporate logos.
, in 2003, of America's Next Top Model
, Adrianne Curry, claimed that part of the grand prize she received, a modeling contract with Revlon
, was for a much smaller amount of work than what was promised throughout the show. During the airing of the first season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila
, in which a group of both men and women vied for the heart of Tila Tequila, there were rumors that its star was not only heterosexual, but also had a boyfriend already. The show's winner, Bobby Banhart, claimed that he never saw Ms. Tequila again after the show finished taping, and that he was never even given her telephone number.
, at least for a short period. This is most notable in talent-search programs such as the Idol series, which has spawned music stars in many of the countries in which it has aired. Many other shows, however, such as Survivor and Big Brother, have made at least temporary celebrities out of their participants; some participants have then been able to parlay this fame into media careers. For example, Elisabeth Hasselbeck
, a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback
, later became a host on morning talk show The View; and Kristin Cavallari
, who appeared on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
, has gone on to become a television host and actress. Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino
, who appeared on MTV's Jersey Shore
, was able to parlay his fame into lucrative endorsement deals. Jamie Chung
, a former contestant on The Real World
, went on to pursue an acting career, starring in films such as Sucker Punch
. Tiffany Pollard
, originally a contestant on Flavor of Love
, was eventually given four additional reality series of her own on VH1: I Love New York
, I Love New York 2
, New York Goes to Hollywood
and New York Goes to Work
. In Britain, Jade Goody
became famous after appearing on Big Brother 3
in 2002; she later appeared on other reality programs, wrote a bestselling autobiography and launched a top-selling perfume line. She later received extensive media coverage during her battle with cervical cancer
, from which she died in 2009. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who has appeared on The Real World and various spin-offs, later became a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.
Some reality-television alumni take on the role of professional greeters at nightclubs, appear at automobile shows, and the like.
Reality TV contestants are sometimes derided as "Z-list
celebrities" or "nonebrities" who have done nothing to warrant their newfound fame. The newspaper The Sun defined a "nonebrity" as "a pointless media figure who would love to rise up high enough to scrape on to the bottom end of the D-list."
, by satisfying the desire of viewers to see others humiliated. American magazine Entertainment Weekly
wrote, "Do we watch reality television for precious insight into the human condition? Please. We watch for those awkward scenes that make us feel a smidge better about our own little unfilmed lives." Media analyst Tom Alderman wrote, "There is a sub-set of Reality TV that can only be described as Shame TV because it uses humiliation as its core appeal."
Television critic James Poniewozik
has disagreed with this assessment, writing, "for all the talk about 'humiliation TV,' what's striking about most reality shows is how good humored and resilient most of the participants are: the American Idol rejectees stubbornly convinced of their own talent, the Fear Factor players walking away from vats of insects like Olympic champions. What finally bothers their detractors is, perhaps, not that these people are humiliated but that they are not."
:
In the case of the show, the children's workplace is their home. Currently there are no clear laws in Pennsylvania
(where the Gosselins reside) regarding a child's appearance on a reality show. However, Pennsylvania law permits kids who are at least seven years old to work in the entertainment industry, as long as certain guidelines are followed and a permit is obtained. For example, children may not work after 11:30 pm under most circumstances, or perform in any location that serves alcohol.
Kate defended her position that the children are happy and healthy, and not in any danger. In addition, Jon has stated that they are "in talks" regarding ensuring the children's happiness, and that there is no truth to any reports that the children have been hurt by the series. TLC released a statement saying that the network "fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations" to produce the show. The statement also said that "for an extended period of time, we have been engaged in cooperative discussions and supplied all requested information to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry".
. In an interview with the Denver Post, child psychologist Alan Zimmerman said:
The same article quoted psychologist Jamie Huysman as saying, "It is exploitation [...] Nobody wants to watch normal behavior. Kids have to be co-conspirators to get the camera to stay on."
n future, with subjects being recorded against their will, and often involved violence.
" style. The first such show was the BBC
series Operation Good Guys
, which premiered in 1997. Other examples include People Like Us
, Trailer Park Boys
, The Office
, Modern Family
, Drawn Together
, Summer Heights High
, Total Drama Island, Parks and Recreation
, Reno 911!
and Come Fly With Me
.
Some feature films have been produced that use some of the conventions of reality television; such films are sometimes referred to as reality film
s, and sometimes simply as documentaries. Allen Funt
's 1970 hidden camera movie What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?
was based on his reality-television show Candid Camera. The TV show Jackass
spawned four films: Jackass: The Movie
in 2001, Jackass: Number Two
in 2006, Jackass 2.5 in late 2007, and Jackass 3D
in 2010. A similar show, Extreme Duudsonit
, was adapted for the film The Dudesons Movie in 2006. The producers of The Real World created The Real Cancun
in 2003. Games People Play: New York was released in 2004.
The mumblecore
film genre, which began in the mid-2000s, and uses video cameras and relies heavily on improvisation and non-professional actors, has been described as influenced in part by what one critic called "the spring-break psychodrama of MTV's The Real World". Mumblecore director Joe Swanberg
has said, "As annoying as reality TV is, it's been really good for filmmakers because it got mainstream audiences used to watching shaky camerawork and different kinds of situations."
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. The genre, which has existed in some form or another since the early years of television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming, exploded as a phenomenon around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series such as Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
and Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
. Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called reality shows and often are produced in a television series. Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as television news and sports television shows are usually not classified as reality shows.
The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, Japanese variety show
Japanese variety show
Japanese variety show is a entertainment television program made up of a variety of original stunts, musical performances, comedy skits, quiz contests, and other acts.-Current situation:...
shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother.
Reality television frequently portrays a modified and highly influenced form of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
, at times utilizing sensationalism
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
to attract audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
viewers and increase advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
profits. Participants are often placed in exotic locations or abnormal situations, and are often persuaded to act in specific scripted
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
ways by off-screen "story editors" or "segment television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
s", with the portrayal of events and speech
Speech
Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
manipulated and contrived to create an illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....
of reality through direction and post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
editing techniques.
1940s–1960s
Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the 1940s. Debuting in 1948, Allen FuntAllen Funt
Allen Funt was an American television producer, director and writer, television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials...
's hidden camera
Hidden camera
A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...
Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
show (based on his previous 1947 radio show, Candid Microphone) broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. ". In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour
Original Amateur Hour
The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its master of ceremonies, left the show in 1945 and died the...
and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958...
featured amateur competitors and audience voting. The Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Pageant, first broadcast in 1954, was a competition where the winner achieved status as a national celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
.
In the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show which has aired on American television in several versions since 1950.The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950–1958 and ABC from 1958–1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969–1974, with Jack Narz...
and Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. The Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
-hosted game show, You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
, was primarily composed of Marx' prescripted comebacks to what was most often candid interviews of the contestants, although some 'contestants' were actors.
The radio series Nightwatch (1951–1955), which tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
police officers, also helped pave the way for reality television. The series You Asked For It
You Asked For It
You Asked for It is a popular human-interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959...
(1950–1959), in which viewer requests dictated content, was an antecedent of today's audience-participation reality TV elements, in which viewers cast votes to help determine the course of events.
1960s–1970s
First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada TelevisionGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
series Seven Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year-olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, etc. The series was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities.
In the 1966 Direct Cinema
Direct Cinema
Direct Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...
film Chelsea Girls
Chelsea Girls
Chelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
filmed various acquaintances with no direction given; the Radio Times Guide to Film 2007 stated that the film was "to blame for reality television."
The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the 12-part 1973 PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series An American Family
An American Family
An American Family is an American television documentary filmed from May 30 through December 31, 1971 and first aired in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service in early 1973. After being edited down from about 300 hours of raw footage, the series ran 12 episodes and one season...
, which showed a nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
(filmed in 1971) going through a divorce; unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style. In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris
Chuck Barris
Charles Hirsch "Chuck" Barris is an American game show producer, film director and presenter best known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game. Barris, a survivor of lung cancer, is also an author and claims to have worked for the CIA.-Early career:Barris was born in Oakland, New...
: The Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
, The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game is an American television game show that pits newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know each other. The program, originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir The Newlywed Game is an American...
, and The Gong Show
The Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition. One Man and His Dog
One Man and His Dog
One Man and His Dog is a television series in the United Kingdom featuring sheepdog trials, presented by Phil Drabble with commentary by Eric Halsall, and later by Ray Ollerenshaw, Robin Page, and Gus Dermody. At its peak, in the early 1980s, it attracted audiences in excess of eight million...
was a British Television series which began in 1976 featuring the participants of sheepdog trials. In 1978, Living in the Past
Living in the Past (TV series)
Living in the Past was a fly on the wall documentary programme aired by the BBC in 1978 which followed a group of 15 young volunteers recreating an Iron Age settlement, where they sustained themselves for a year, equipped only with the tools, crops and livestock that would have been available in...
recreated life in an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
English village.
1980s–1990s
Reality television as it is currently understood can be directly linked to several television shows that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. COPSCOPS (TV series)
Cops is an American documentary/reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities...
, which first aired in the spring of 1989 and came about partly due to the need for new programming during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike
1988 Writers Guild of America strike
The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West against major United States television and film studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers...
, showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the camcorder
Camcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
look and cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
feel of much of later reality television. Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
TV ran Thrill of a Lifetime
Thrill of a Lifetime
Thrill of a Lifetime was a television reality series created by Sidney M. Cohen and Willie Stein. It was telecast from 1981 to 1988 in Canada on the CTV network. Thrill of a Lifetime gave viewers the chance to live their dreams, with thrills ranging from daredevil adventures to the romantic...
a fantasies fulfilled reality show from 1982-88 which was revived in 2001-03.
The series Nummer 28
Nummer 28
Nummer 28 was a Dutch reality soap, directed by Joost Tholens and produced by Today TV, shown as part of the youth show "1-4-U" of public broadcaster KRO in 1991. The name of the show was directly derived from the number of the house in that street...
, which aired on Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. Nummer 28 also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including a heavy use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, that serve as narration. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in their new series The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
and Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed that The Real World was directly inspired by his show. However, the producers of The Real World have stated that their direct inspiration was An American Family
An American Family
An American Family is an American television documentary filmed from May 30 through December 31, 1971 and first aired in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service in early 1973. After being edited down from about 300 hours of raw footage, the series ran 12 episodes and one season...
.
According to television commentator Charlie Brooker
Charlie Brooker
Charlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...
, this type of reality television was enabled by the advent of computer-based non-linear editing system
Non-linear editing system
In video, a non-linear editing system is a video editing or audio editing digital audio workstation system which can perform random access non-destructive editing on the source material...
s for video (such as those produced by Avid Technology
Avid Technology
Avid Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear editing systems, management and distribution services. It was created in 1987 and became a publicly traded company in 1993...
) in 1989. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before. (Film, which was easy to edit, was too expensive to shoot enough hours of footage with on a regular basis).
The TV show Expedition Robinson
Expedition Robinson
Sources-External links:* *...
, created by TV producer Charlie Parsons, which first aired in 1997 in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(and was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
), added to the Nummer 28/Real World template the idea of competition and elimination, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. (These shows are now sometimes called elimination shows).
Changing Rooms, a TV show that began in 1996, showed couples redecorating each others' houses, and was the first reality show with a self-improvement or makeover
Makeover
A makeover is a term applied to changing one's appearance, sometimes through cosmetics. Makeovers can range from something as simple as a new haircut, to the use of cosmetic surgery, to the extreme of the implantation of dental veneers, eye-color-changing contact lenses, and the use of...
theme.
The 1980s and 1990s were also a time when tabloid talk show
Tabloid talk show
Tabloid talk shows are a genre of American television programming talk shows that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through broadcast syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show and was popularized by the...
s came to rise, many of which featured the same types of unusual or dysfunctional guests that would later become popular as cast members of reality shows.
2000s
Reality television saw an explosion of global popularity starting in the summer of 2000, with the successes of Big BrotherBig Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
and Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
(in the US).
In particular, Survivor and American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
have both topped the US season-average television ratings since 2000. Survivor led the ratings in 2001–02
2002 in television
The year 2002 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2002.For the American TV schedule, see: 2002–03 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
, and Idol topped the ratings six consecutive years, from 2004–05
2005 in television
The year 2005 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2005.For the American TV schedule, see: 2005–06 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
to 2009–10
2010 in American television
The following is a list of events that affected American television in 2010, a year marked by the usual debuts, cancellations, and continuations of shows; the launches, closures, or rebrandings of channels; but also significant cable/satellite carriage disputes, as well as...
). The shows Survivor, the Idol series, the America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
series, the Dancing With The Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
series, The Apprentice, Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
and Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in dozens of countries.
Reality television had a decline in viewership in 2001. Reality shows with low ratings included The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
, Lost
Lost (2001 TV series)
Lost was a reality television show screened in the U.S. and UK in late 2001. It was a game show in a race format where teams raced around the world with few or no resources...
(unrelated to the better-known serial drama of the same name
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
) and The Mole, leading some to speculate that reality television was a temporary fad that had run its course.
There have been at least three television channels devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in the United States, launched in 2005, Global Reality Channel
Global Reality Channel
Global Reality Channel is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Shaw Media. The channel broadcasts reality television series and related programming...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 2010, and Zone Reality
Zone Reality
Zone Reality is a European reality television channel.Zone Reality broadcasts in both analogue and digital to over 120 million viewers throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America....
in the United Kingdom, launched in 2002. (The Canadian and British channels still exist; Fox Reality ended in mid-2010). In addition, several other cable channels, such as Bravo, A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, devote large portions of their programming to reality programs. Mike Darnell, head of reality TV for the US Fox network, was quoted as saying that the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox) "might as well plan three or four [reality shows] each season because we're going to have them, anyway."
During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
. Despite these concerns, DVDs for reality shows have sold briskly; Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, often referred to simply as Laguna Beach, is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004 until November 16, 2006. It documents the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, an affluent seaside community located in...
, The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
, Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
, and America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
have all ranked in the top DVDs sold on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, and in the mid-2000s, DVDs of The Simple Life
The Simple Life
The Simple Life was a reality television series that was broadcast from December 2, 2003 to August 5, 2007. The first three seasons aired on Fox, and the final two on E!...
outranked scripted shows like The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
and Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
. Syndication, however, has indeed proven problematic; shows such as Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
, COPS and Wife Swap
Wife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...
in which each episode is self-contained can indeed be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television and/or during the daytime (COPS and America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
being exceptions). Season-long competitions such as The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
, Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
, and America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in marathons
Marathon (television)
In television, a marathon is typically the sequential broadcast of a single or a number of related television programs, most notably reflecting a theme....
to draw the necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. Another option is to create documentaries around series including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in the original airings; the syndicated series American Idol Rewind
American Idol Rewind
American Idol Rewind is a syndicated television series that ran from September 30, 2006 to May 15, 2010. The hour-long weekly series was a repurposed edition of the hit reality talent show American Idol, featuring present day interviews with the contestants, semi-finalists and rejected auditioners...
is an example of this strategy.
COPS has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales and DVD. A FOX staple since 1989, COPS is, as of 2010, in its 23rd season, having outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that has seen wide success is "Cheaters
Cheaters
Cheaters is a weekly syndicated hidden camera reality television series that documents people who are suspected of committing adultery, or cheating, on their partners. Investigations are headed by the "Cheaters Detective Agency". The show is hosted by Joey Greco, the show airs on Saturday nights...
", which has been running for 10 seasons in the US and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2007, according to the Learning and Skills Council
Learning and Skills Council
The Learning and Skills Council was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families in England...
, one in seven UK teenagers hopes to gain fame by appearing on reality television.
In 2001, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was founded in 1946, just one month after network television was born. It is a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of telecommunications arts and sciences and to fostering creative leadership in the telecommunications industry...
added the reality genre to the Emmy Awards with the category of Outstanding Reality Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program
Outstanding Reality Program is a Primetime Emmy Award handed out annually at the Primetime Emmy telecast.-2000s:-2010s:...
. In 2003, to better differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a second category Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program is a Primetime Emmy Award given out during the primetime telecast since 2003.The Amazing Race won consecutively every year since the category's inception until Top Chef ended its streak in 2010...
was added. In 2008, a third category, Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program was an award created in 2008. On July 27, 2008, it was announced that this category's 5 nominees would all co-host the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards telecast.-2000s:2008: Survivor - Jeff Probst...
was added.
In 2010, the Tester
The Tester
The Tester is a serialized reality program created by Sony Computer Entertainment and produced by 51 Minds. Notable as the first original live-action series distributed on a video game console, The Tester features eleven or twelve contestants, selected from thousands of applicants, competing in a...
became the first reality television show ever aired over a videogame console. The show entered its second season in the same year.
Documentary-style
In many reality TV programs, camera shooting and footage editing give the viewer the impression that they are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as fly on the wallFly on the wall
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in filmmaking and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them...
or factual television
Factual television
Factual television is a genre of non-fiction television programming that documents actual events and people. These type of programs are also described as documentary, observational documentary, fly on the wall, docudrama, and reality television...
. Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap operas—hence the terms docusoap and docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
. In other shows, a cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
style is adopted, where the filmmaker is more than a passive observer—their presence and influence is greatly manifest.
Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants:
Special living environment: Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments; The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
is the originator of this style. In almost every other such show, cast members are given a specific challenge or obstacle to overcome. Road Rules
Road Rules
Road Rules was an MTV reality show that debuted on July 19, 1995. The series, which was MTV's second reality show after The Real World followed six strangers between the ages of 18 and 24 after stripping them of their money and putting them on an RV traveling from location to location only guided...
, which started in 1995 as a spin-off of The Real World, started this pattern: the cast traveled across the country guided by clues and performing tasks.
- Big BrotherBig Brother (TV series)Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
is probably the best known program of this type in the world with different versions produced in many countries around the globe. Another example of a show in this category The 1900 HouseThe 1900 HouseThe 1900 House is a historical reality television programme made by Wall to Wall/Channel 4 in 1999. The show is about a modern family that tries to the live in the way of the late Victorians in 1900 for three months in a modified house...
, involves historical re-enactment with cast members hired to live and work as people of a specific time and place. 2001's Temptation Island achieved some notoriety by placing several couples on an island surrounded by single people in order to test the couples' commitment to each other. U8TV: The LoftersU8TV: The LoftersU8TV: The Lofters was a Canadian reality television series, which aired on the Life Network and online through its website U8TV.com, in 2001 and 2002.-Format:...
combined the "special living environment" format with the "professional activity" format noted below; in addition to living together in a loftLoftA loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
, each member of the show's cast was hired to host a television program for a Canadian cable channel.
Celebrities: Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include The Anna Nicole Show
The Anna Nicole Show
The Anna Nicole Show is an American reality sitcom starring former model and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. The series debuted on August 4, 2002 on the E! entertainment television network and ran for two seasons.-Synopsis:...
, The Osbournes
The Osbournes
The Osbournes is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV...
, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and Hogan Knows Best
Hogan Knows Best
Hogan Knows Best is an American television show produced by Pink Sneakers Productions and centered on the family life of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan . Often focusing on the Hogans' raising of their children, and on Hulk Hogan's attempts to manage and assist in his children's burgeoning careers...
. In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks; these include Celebrity Big Brother, The Simple Life
The Simple Life
The Simple Life was a reality television series that was broadcast from December 2, 2003 to August 5, 2007. The first three seasons aired on Fox, and the final two on E!...
, Tommy Lee Goes to College
Tommy Lee Goes to College
Tommy Lee Goes to College is an NBC reality television show that began broadcasting on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 and on VH1 on Friday, August 19, 2005. It features Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee attending the University of Nebraska and attempting to fit in...
, The Surreal Life
The Surreal Life
The Surreal Life is a reality television series that sets a select group of past-their-prime celebrities and records them as they live together in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks...
, and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality, known as "Celebreality".
Professional activities: Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. No outside experts are brought in (at least, none appear on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) is COPS
COPS (TV series)
Cops is an American documentary/reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities...
which has been airing since 1989, preceding by many years the current reality show phenomenon.
- Other examples of this type of reality show include the American shows Miami InkMiami InkMiami Ink is an American reality show on TLC that follows the events that took place at a tattoo shop in Miami Beach, Florida. The show premiered in July 2005 and has finished broadcasting its fourth season...
, The First 48The First 48The First 48 is an American documentary television series that airs on A&E. Filmed in various cities in the United States, the series offers an insider's look at the real-life world of homicide investigators...
, Dog the Bounty HunterDog the Bounty HunterDog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
, Dog WhispererDog WhispererDog Whisperer with Cesar Millan is a reality television series that features Cesar Millan's work with problem dogs. In the United States, the program airs exclusively on the Nat Geo WILD channel with season 8 expected to premiere in 2012....
, American ChopperAmerican ChopperAmerican Chopper is a reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul, Sr. and his son Paul Teutul, Jr. , who manufacture custom motorcycles. Orange County Choppers is in Newburgh, New York...
and Deadliest CatchDeadliest CatchDeadliest Catch is a documentary/reality television series produced by Original Productions for the Discovery Channel. It portrays the real life events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and C. opilio crab fishing seasons.The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor,...
; the British shows AirportAirport (TV series)Airport is a British documentary television series based at London Heathrow Airport, the world's busiest international airport, broadcast by the BBC and syndicated to Dave, part of the UKTV network....
, Police Stop!Police Stop!Police Stop! was a series of real-life police video programmes, which were made originally for video from 1993 onwards and were later originally broadcast on Sky1. The series has recently been repeated on Men and Motors in 2007, and more recently in 2008 on ITV4...
and Traffic CopsTraffic CopsTraffic Cops is a documentary series on BBC One which follows traffic officers from various British police forces. The current series follows Bedfordshire Police. Previous series have followed Cheshire, Hampshire, Humberside, South Wales, South Yorkshire and Sussex police forces...
; the Australian shows Border SecurityBorder Security: Australia's Front LineBorder Security: Australia's Front Line is an Australian television programme that airs on the Seven Network. The show follows the work of officers of Australian Customs and Border Protection, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as...
and Bondi RescueBondi RescueBondi Rescue is an Australian factual television program which is broadcast on Channel Ten. The programme, which has aired for six seasons, follows the daily lives of the lifeguards who patrol Bondi Beach....
, and the New Zealand show Motorway PatrolMotorway PatrolMotorway Patrol is a New Zealand observational documentary show created by Greenstone Pictures. The show follows the daily lives of police officers patrolling the motorways in and around Auckland, New Zealand's largest urban area.- About the show :...
. The US cable networks TLCTLC (TV channel)TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...
and A&EA&E NetworkThe A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
in particular show a number of this type of reality show.
- VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 2001 show Bands on the RunBands on the RunBands on the Run is an American competitive reality tv show which first aired weekly on VH1 from April 2 to July 15, 2001. The show featured four unsigned bands competing for a prize package which included $50,000 in cash, $100,000 in musical equipment from Guitar Center, a showcase in front of...
was a notable early hybrid, in that the show featured four unsigned bandUnsigned bandAn unsigned band is a band that has not been signed to a record label. Bands that release their own material on self-published CDs can also be considered unsigned bands. Often unsigned bands primarily exist to perform at concerts....
s touring and making music as a professional activity, but also pitted the bands against one another in game show fashion to see which band could make the most money.
Competition/game shows
Another sub-genre of reality TV is "reality competition" or so-called "reality game shows," which follow the format of non-tournament eliminationSingle-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
contests
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
. Typically, participants are filmed competing to win a prize, often while living together in a confined environment. In many cases, participants are removed until only one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time, in balloon debate
Balloon debate
A balloon debate is a debate in which a number of speakers attempt to win the approval of an audience. The audience is invited to imagine that the speakers are flying in a hot-air balloon which is sinking and that someone must be thrown out if everyone is not to die.Each speaker has to make the...
style, through either disapproval voting
Disapproval voting
Disapproval voting is any voting system that allows many voters to express formal disapproval simultaneously, in a system where they all share some power. Unlike most voting systems, it requires that only negative measures or choices be presented to the voter or representative...
or by voting for the most popular choice to win. Voting is done by the viewing audience, the show's own participants, a panel of judges, or some combination of the three.
A well-known example of a reality-competition show is the globally syndicated Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
, in which cast members live together in the same house, with participants removed at regular intervals by either the viewing audience or, in the case of the American version, by the participants themselves.
There remains some disagreement over whether talent-search shows such as the Idol series
Idol series
The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in 42 territories, in what is now referred to as the "Idols" format, as described by FremantleMedia...
, America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
, Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
, and Celebrity Duets
Celebrity Duets
Celebrity Duets was an American reality television show of the progressive game-show type, which combined celebrities of different backgrounds with professional singers in a weekly elimination competition....
are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as Star Search
Star Search
Star Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
. Although the shows involve a traditional talent search, the shows follow the reality-competition conventions of removing one or more contestants per episode and allowing the public to vote on who is removed; the Idol series also require the contestants to live together during the run of the show (though their daily life is never shown onscreen). Additionally, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges. As a result, such shows are often considered reality television, and the American Primetime Emmy Awards have nominated both American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
and Dancing with the Stars for the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program Emmy.
Modern game shows like Weakest Link
Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show, currently broadcast on BBC Two. It was devised by Mr Wilton and Euan Green and Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. It has since been replicated around the world. The UK version is hosted by Anne...
, Greed
Greed (game show)
Greed is an American television game show that aired on Fox from November 4, 1999 until July 14, 2000. The game consisted of a team of contestants who answered a series of multiple-choice questions for a potential prize of up to $2 million...
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
, American Gladiators
American Gladiators
American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility.The concept was created by...
, Dog Eat Dog
Dog Eat Dog (game show)
Dog Eat Dog is a Saturday night British game show on BBC One hosted by Ulrika Jonsson, which ran from 14 April 2001 to 2 November 2002. It was devised by David Young, then a BBC producer...
and Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
also lie in a gray area: like traditional game shows (e.g., The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
, Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
), the action takes place in an enclosed TV studio over a short period of time; however, they have higher production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes than traditional shows (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or offering large cash prizes). In addition, there is more interaction between contestants and hosts, and in some cases they feature reality-style contestant competition and/or elimination as well. These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, lead many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella as well as the traditional game show one.
There are various hybrid reality-competition shows, like the worldwide-syndicated Star Academy
Star Academy
Star Academy is a highly successful television show format based on the Spanish format "Operación Triunfo" produced by Endemol, that has been broadcast in over 50 countries...
, which combines the Big Brother and Idol formats, The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
and The Pick-up Artist
The Pick-up Artist (TV series)
The Pickup Artist is an American reality show on VH1 which focuses on a group of eight or nine male contestants who have historically been unsuccessful in love and relationships learning the art of the "pickup" as taught by seduction artist Mystery and his wings...
which combine competition with the self-improvement format, and American Inventor
American Inventor
American Inventor is a reality television series based on a competition to be named America's best inventor. It was conceived by UK entrepreneur Peter Jones, who appears on the British version of the somewhat similar programme Dragons' Den, a format originated in Japan where it is owned by Sony....
, which uses the Idol format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as Making the Band
Making the Band
Making the Band is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each iteration focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang...
and Project Greenlight
Project Greenlight
Project Greenlight was a contest and television series focusing on first-time filmmakers being given the chance to direct a feature film. It was created by Alex Keledjian, developed by Eli Holzman and produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sean Bailey, and Chris Moore through their production...
, devote the first part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing that person or group of people working on a project.
Popular variants of the competition-based format include the following:
Dating-based competition:Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing one out of a group of suitors. Over the course of either a single episode or an entire season, suitors are eliminated until only the contestant and the final suitor remains. For a time, in 2001–2003, this type of reality show dominated the other genres on the major US networks. Shows that aired included The Bachelor, its spin-off The Bachelorette
The Bachelorette
The Bachelorette is a spin-off of the American competitive reality dating game show The Bachelor. In its January 2003 debut on ABC, the first season featured Trista Rehn, the runner-up date from the first season of The Bachelor, offering the opportunity for Rehn to choose a husband among 25 bachelors...
, as well as For Love or Money
For Love or Money (TV series)
For Love or Money is an American reality television show initially broadcast as summer programming on NBC in 2003 and 2004. Four seasons of the program were shown in linked pairs, and all seasons were hosted by Jordan Murphy. It was produced by Nash Entertainment with Bruce Nash and J. D...
, Paradise Hotel
Paradise Hotel
The first season of Paradise Hotel aired on Fox from June 18, 2003 to October 1, 2003 with thirty episodes and was hosted by Amanda Byram. A similar show called Forever Eden was produced the following year...
, Temptation Island, Average Joe and Farmer Wants a Wife
Farmer Wants a Wife
Farmer Wants a Wife is a reality television series developed by Fremantle Media. The first edition premièred in United Kingdom on ITV in 2001. However, the original format of the programme is likely to date back to the TV programme Bauer sucht Bäuerin, which was broadcast in 1983 on SRG SSR idée...
, among others. More recent such shows include Flavor of Love
Flavor of Love
Flavor of Love is an American reality television dating game show parody starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy.While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on Strange Love, as well as The Surreal Life...
and its spin-offs I Love New York
I Love New York (TV series)
I Love New York is a reality television series, which first aired on VH1. It features Tiffany Pollard in a quest to find her true love. The series is a spin off of another relationship competition series, Flavor of Love, which featured Pollard as a finalist in two consecutive seasons...
, Rock of Love, and The Cougar
The Cougar (TV series)
The Cougar is an American reality television series where an older woman chooses a boyfriend from a group of twenty younger men. The series premiered on TV Land on April 15, 2009, and is hosted by TV actress and producer, Vivica A...
. This is one of the older variants of the format; shows such as The Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
that date to the 1960s had similar premises (though each episode was self-contained, and not the serial format of more modern shows).
Job search:In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants were pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based on that skill, are judged, and are then kept or removed by a single expert or a panel of experts. The show is usually presented as a job search of some kind, in which the prize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. Popstars
Popstars
Popstars is an international reality television franchise and a precursor to the Idol series. The series first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the five member all-girl group TrueBliss...
, which debuted in 1999, may have been the first such show. The first job-search show which showed dramatic, unscripted situations may have been America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
, which premiered in May 2003. Other examples include The Apprentice (which judges business skills), Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
(for chefs), Shear Genius
Shear Genius
Shear Genius is an American reality television series on the Bravo network that focuses on hair styling. The show first premiered on April 11, 2007....
(for hair styling), Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
(for clothing design), Top Design
Top Design
Top Design is an American reality television series. Interior designers compete to win cash and receive a spot in New York's Designer showcases....
(for interior design), Stylista
Stylista
Stylista was an American fashion-themed reality-television competition series that premiered on the CW network in the United States, and Citytv in Canada on October 22, 2008. The series was produced by Warner Horizon Television and Tyra Banks through her Bankable Productions. The series was not...
(for fashion editors), Last Comic Standing
Last Comic Standing
Last Comic Standing is an American reality television talent show that has aired from 2003 through 2010.The goal of the program is to select a comedian from a group, who will receive a development contract with the NBC network, and a television special first to air on the cable-TV network Comedy...
(for comedians), The Starlet
The Starlet
The Starlet is a reality television program on The WB.Ten young actresses lived together in a home formerly owned by Marilyn Monroe, while competing in a series of acting challenges for the chance to win a role on the WB drama One Tree Hill and a management contract with 3 Arts Entertainment.Hosted...
and Scream Queens
Scream Queens (TV series)
Scream Queens is an American reality series on VH1 produced by Joke Productions and Lionsgate Television that premiered in October 2008. The show chronicles a group of unknown actresses competing for a role in the Saw franchise. Tanedra Howard won the first season and gained a role in Saw VI...
(for actresses), I Know My Kid's a Star
I Know My Kid's a Star
I Know My Kid's a Star is an American competitive reality television TV show starring Danny Bonaduce of the 1970s TV show The Partridge Family as host and primary judge. Casting agent Marki Costello stars as co-host and secondary judge...
(for child performers), On the Lot
On the Lot
On the Lot is a short-lived reality show competition produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett. The show, which aired on Fox, featured filmmakers competing in weekly elimination competitions, with the ultimate prize of a million dollar development deal at DreamWorks...
(for filmmakers), The Shot
The Shot (TV series)
The Shot was a reality television show produced by VH1 in 2007. The Shot included 10 aspiring fashion photographers working through a series of games in order to win the competition. Russell James was the host/mentor....
(for photographers), So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
(for dancers), MuchMusic VJ Search (for television hosts), Dream Job
Dream Job
Dream Job is an American reality television show from ESPN, which began on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of Beg, Borrow & Deal having previously aired. However, this was the first reality show from a network to offer its winner an on-air place on one...
(for sportscasters), Face Off
Face Off (TV series)
Face Off is an American reality television game show on the Syfy cable network in which a group of prosthetic makeup artists compete against each other create prostheses such as those found in science fiction and horror films...
(for make-up artists), and The Tester
The Tester
The Tester is a serialized reality program created by Sony Computer Entertainment and produced by 51 Minds. Notable as the first original live-action series distributed on a video game console, The Tester features eleven or twelve contestants, selected from thousands of applicants, competing in a...
(for game testers). Some shows use the same format with celebrities: in this case, there is no expectation that the winner will continue this line of work, and prize winnings often go to charity. Examples of celebrity competition programs include Deadline
Deadline (reality TV series)
Deadline was a reality television series, aired on ITV2 during April and May 2007. It featured ten celebrities compiling a magazine with Janet Street-Porter as the editor-in-chief.-Content:...
, Celebracadabra
Celebracadabra
Celebracadabra is an American reality television series on VH1 that premiered on April 27, 2008. The series involves celebrities attempting to learn and perform magic. Magician/actor Jonathan Levit serves as the host. On Thursday June 12, 2008 C...
, and The Celebrity Apprentice.
Sports:Most of these programs create a sporting competition among athletes attempting to establish their name in that sport. The Club
The Club (Australian reality show)
The Club was an Australian reality television show about an Australian rules football sporting side, the Hammerheads, which was screened on the Seven Network in 2002 for one series...
, in 2002, was one of the first shows to immerse sport with reality TV, based on a fabricated club competing against real clubs in the sport of Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
; the audience helped select which players played each week by voting for their favorites. Golf Channel's The Big Break
The Big Break
The Big Break is the Golf Channel's reality television program. The show's premise is to award an aspiring professional golfer exemptions into selected events on certain tours. The series debuted on October 6, 2003, and has become very popular. As of November 2011, Big Break is in its 16th...
is a reality show in which aspiring golfers compete against one another and are eliminated. The Contender
The Contender (TV series)
The Contender is a reality television series that follows a group of boxers as they compete with one another in an elimination-style competition, while their lives and relationships with each other and their families are depicted. Produced by Mark Burnett, the show is hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard,...
, a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
show, unfortunately became the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after being eliminated from the show; the show's winner was promised a shot at a boxing world championship. Sergio Mora
Sergio Mora
Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora is a Mexican American professional boxer trained by Dean Campos. He is the former WBC Light Middleweight Champion and also the first champion of NBC's The Contender....
, who won, indeed got his title shot and became a world champion boxer. In The Ultimate Fighter
The Ultimate Fighter
The Ultimate Fighter is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts competition produced by Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship , and soon to be shown on FX. The show features unknown, professional MMA fighters living together in Las Vegas, Nevada, and follows them as...
participants have voluntarily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competitive pressure.
- In sports shows, sometimes just appearing on the show, not necessarily winning, can get a contestant the job. The owner of UFC declared that the final match of the first season of Ultimate Fighter was so good, both contestants were offered a contract, and in addition, many non-winning "TUF Alumni" have prospered in the UFC. Many of the losers from World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
's Tough EnoughWWE Tough EnoughWWE Tough Enough is a professional wrestling reality television program produced by WWE wherein participants undergo professional wrestling training and compete for a contract with WWE. There were two winners per season for the first three seasons, all of which aired on MTV...
and Diva SearchWWE Diva SearchThe WWE Diva Search is a talent competition held by World Wrestling Entertainment. The first winner was Jaime Koeppe, but she did not receive a contract like subsequent winners of the contest. Other winners included Christy Hemme, Ashley Massaro, Layla El, and Eve Torres. In addition to the winners...
shows have been picked up by the company.
- Not all sports programs, however, involve athletes trying to make a name in the sport. The 2006 US reality series Knight SchoolKnight School (TV series)Knight School is a television documentary produced by ESPN about a group of sixteen Texas Tech students trying to make coach Bob Knight's Red Raiders men's basketball team as a non-scholarship player for the 2006/07 NCAA season. The documentary chronicles their progress and gives insight into Bob...
focused on students at Texas Tech UniversityTexas Tech UniversityTexas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
vying for a walk-on (non-scholarshipAthletic scholarshipAn athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
) roster position on the school's men's basketball team under legendary coach Bob Knight. In the Republic of Ireland, RTÉ OneRTÉ OneRTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...
's Celebrity BainisteoirCelebrity BainisteoirCelebrity Bainisteoir is a prime-time reality programme produced for Radio Telefís Éireann, which was produced by Animo Television/Kite Entertainment...
involves eight non-sporting Irish celebrities becoming bainisteoiri (managersManager (Gaelic games)In Gaelic games, a manager or coach is an individual involved in the direction and instruction of the on-field operations of a team. Managing, or coaching, entails the application of sport tactics and strategies during the game itself, and usually entails substitution of players and other such...
) of mid-level Gaelic footballGaelic footballGaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
teams, leading their teams in an officially sanctionedGaelic Athletic AssociationThe Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
tournament.
Self-improvement/makeover
Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving their lives. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season (as in The SwanThe Swan (TV series)
The Swan is a 2004 American reality television program broadcast on Fox in which women who were judged to be 'ugly' were given "extreme makeovers" that included several forms of plastic surgery...
and Celebrity Fit Club), but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode. Despite differences in the content, the format is usually the same: first the show introduces the subjects in their current, less-than-ideal environment. Then the subjects meet with a group of experts, who give the subjects instructions on how to improve things; they offer aid and encouragement along the way. Finally, the subjects are placed back in their environment and they, along with their friends and family and the experts, appraise the changes that have occurred. Other self-improvement or makeover shows include "How Do I Look?" (fashion makeover). The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
and Fat March
Fat March
Fat March is an American reality television series on the ABC network, based on the U.K. Channel Four series Too Big To Walk. It premiered on August 6, 2007 and ended on September 10, 2007.The show had received mixed reactions from fitness experts....
, (which covers weight loss), Extreme Makeover
Extreme Makeover
Extreme Makeover is a television program from ABC in which individuals volunteered to receive an extensive makeover in Hollywood. The show was created by television producer Howard Schultz. It first aired as a television special. It began airing in 2002 on Thursday nights at 8pm. A total of 55...
(entire physical appearance), Queer Eye
Queer Eye
Queer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content...
and What Not to Wear (style and grooming), Supernanny
Supernanny
Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The program returned in 2010...
(child-rearing), Made
Made (TV series)
MTV's MADE is a self-improvement reality television series broadcast on MTV. The series follows teens who have a goal and want to be "made" into things like singers, athletes, dancers, skateboarders, etc. The teens are joined by a "Made Coach", an expert in their chosen field, who tries to help...
(attaining difficult goals), Trinny & Susannah Undress (fashion makeover and marriage), Tool Academy
Tool Academy
Tool Academy is a competitive reality television show featuring nine "unsuspecting bad boys" who have been sent to "relationship boot camp". The nine men, all of whom have been nominated by their respective girlfriends, initially think they are taking part in a competition for the title of "Mr...
(relationship building) and Charm School
Charm School (TV series)
Charm School is a reality television series airing on VH1; a spin-off of Flavor of Love created by executive producers Cris Abrego and Mark Cronin. The first season, called Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School, is hosted by comedian Mo'Nique and features thirteen contestants from the first two...
and From G's to Gents
From G's to Gents
From G's to Gents is an MTV reality television series which features misdirected young men willing to change their lives and become gentlemen. The show is hosted by Fonzworth Bentley, and premiered on MTV on July 15, 2008. The objective of the show is to make the transformation from a roughneck to...
(self-improvement and manners).
Renovation
Some shows make over part or all of a person's living space, work space, or vehicle. The American show This Old HouseThis Old House
This Old House is an American home improvement magazine and television series aired on the American television station Public Broadcasting Service which follows remodeling projects of houses over a number of weeks.-Overview:...
was the first such show, debuting in 1979. The British show Changing Rooms, beginning in 1996 (later remade in the US as Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces
Trading Spaces is an hour-long American television reality program that aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series Changing Rooms. The show ran for eight seasons....
) was the first such renovation show that added a game show feel with different weekly contestants. Other shows in this category include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
, Debbie Travis' Facelift
Debbie Travis' Facelift
Debbie Travis' Facelift was a home improvement reality television show that ran from January 28, 2003 to December 30, 2005. It was produced in Canada for Home & Garden Television and also aired in the United States on the American version of the network, Home & Garden Television...
, Designed to Sell
Designed to Sell
Designed to Sell is an HGTV American reality television show hosted by Clive Pearse, Shane Tallant, Michael Johnson, and Rachel Reenstra, and produced by Pie Town Productions and Edelman Productions . Each 30-minute episode focuses on the fixing up and renovation of a home that is about to go on...
, While You Were Out
While You Were Out
While You Were Out was an hour-long American television reality program that aired episodes on the cable channel TLC. The format of the show is similar to TLC's Trading Spaces...
, and Holmes on Homes
Holmes on Homes
Holmes on Homes is a Canadian television series featuring general contractor Mike Holmes visiting homeowners who are in need of help, mainly due to unsatisfactory home renovations performed by hired contractors....
. Pimp My Ride
Pimp My Ride
Pimp My Ride is a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it and customizing it.The original United States version was hosted by rapper Xzibit...
and Overhaulin'
Overhaulin'
Overhaulin' is an American automotive reality TV show that ran for five seasons on TLC between 2004–2009. The show remains available via re-runs and syndication.-Hosts:...
show vehicles being rebuilt. Some shows, such as Restaurant Makeover
Restaurant Makeover
Restaurant Makeover is a closed television series which airs as reruns on the Food Network Canada and HGTV Canada, as well as the Fine Living channel and Food Network in the United States, TVtropolis and in over 16 other countries worldwide. The pilot episode starred designer Robin De Groot and...
and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a television programme featuring British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. The BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning programme debuted on Channel 4 in 2004....
, show both the decor and the menu of a failing restaurant being remade. The issue of "making over" was taken to its social extreme with the British show Life Laundry
Life Laundry
The Life Laundry was a BBC reality TV show that ran for three series from 2002 to 2004. It was first broadcast on BBC Two on 30 January 2002....
, in which people who had become hoarders, even living in squalor, were given professional assistance.
As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more conventional formats. Some argue the key difference is the emphasis of the human story and conflicts of reality shows, versus the emphasis on process and information in more traditional format shows. The show This Old House
This Old House
This Old House is an American home improvement magazine and television series aired on the American television station Public Broadcasting Service which follows remodeling projects of houses over a number of weeks.-Overview:...
, which began in 1979, the start to finish renovation of different houses through a season; media critic Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. Previously he was a television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner.-Career:Until recently Jarvis was...
has speculated that it is "the original reality TV show."
Social experiment
Another type of reality program is the social experiment that produces drama, conflict, and sometimes transformation. Wife SwapWife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...
which began in 2003 on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and has aired for four seasons on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
is a notable example. People with different values agreed to live by each other's social rules for a brief period of time and sometimes learn from the experience. Other shows in this category include ITV's Holiday Showdown
Holiday Showdown
Holiday Showdown is a BAFTA-nominated and Royal Television Society award winning reality television programme, produced by Chris Kelly for the UK independent TV production company RDF Media. It first aired in 2003 on ITV in the United Kingdom....
, Oxygen's The Bad Girls Club
The Bad Girls Club
Bad Girls Club is an American reality television series created by Jonathan Murray for Oxygen. The show centers on seven mischievous and rebellious women from different backgrounds and personalities who have a number of psychological and behavioral problems. They are introduced to the show to...
(lifestyles and actions), and Channel 4's Secret Millionaire
Secret Millionaire
The Secret Millionaire is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds . Members of the community are told the cameras are present to film a documentary...
. Faking It
Faking It
Faking It was a television programme originating on Channel 4 which has spawned various international remakes, including a US version which began in 2003 on the TLC network...
was a series where people had to learn a new skill and pass themselves off as experts in that skill. Shattered was a controversial 2004 UK series where contestants competed for how long they could go without sleep
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
.
Dating shows
Unlike the aforementioned dating competition shows, some shows feature all new contestants each episode. This format was first used in the 1960s show The Dating GameThe Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
. Modern examples include Blind Date, Matchmaker
Matchmaker (game show)
Matchmaker was a dating show that aired in syndication from September 14, 1987 to September 1988. The host was radio legend Dave Hull. Comedian Jimmie Walker hosted for one week of shows.-Gameplay:...
, Room Raiders
Room Raiders
Room Raiders is a "dating/reality" series on MTV.-Premise:On the show, three men or women have their rooms inspected, or "raided" by another single man or woman...
, Elimidate
ElimiDATE
elimiDATE was a television dating reality show in which one contestant chooses between four contestants of the opposite sex by eliminating them one by one in three total rounds...
, Next
Next (TV series)
Next is a dating game show produced by Kallissa Productions which ran on MTV from 2005-2008.-Format:"Next", deals with a single person, going on blind dates with possibly 5 other single people who were secluded on a RV, referred to as the "Next Bus". The added twist was that the date could end at...
, and Parental Control.
Talk shows
Though the traditional format of a talk show is that of a host interviewing a featured guest or discussing a chosen topic with a guest or panel of guests, the advent of trash TV shows has often made people group the entire category in with reality television. Programs like Ricki LakeRicki Lake (talk show)
Ricki Lake was the first daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake.The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience...
, The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
, The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show is an award-winning British daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that has been broadcast on ITV since 4 July 2005. The show is recorded and produced by Granada Television at the Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester city centre and broadcast each...
and many others have generally recruited guests by advertising a potential topic for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous and are chosen in the interest of creating on-screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, this sort of depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format, is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming.
Hidden cameras
Another type of reality programming features hidden cameraHidden camera
A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...
s rolling when random passers-by encounter a staged situation. Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
, which first aired on television in 1948, pioneered the format. Modern variants of this type of production include Punk'd
Punk'd
Punk'd is an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003 and was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher. It bore a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera and to TV's Bloopers...
, Trigger Happy TV
Trigger Happy TV
Trigger Happy TV was a hidden camera/practical joke reality television program. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for two series on the British television channel Channel 4 from 2000 until 2002...
, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment is a half-hour-long American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that was broadcast on The WB...
and Just For Laughs Gags
Just For Laughs Gags
Just For Laughs Gags is a Canadian silent comedy/hidden camera reality television show that is under the Just For Laughs brand. On December 26, 2002, JFL Gags began airing on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada...
. The series Scare Tactics
Scare Tactics
Scare Tactics is a hidden camera/comedy television show, produced by Hallock Healey Entertainment. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, beginning July 9, 2008. The first season of the show was hosted by Shannen Doherty....
and Room 401
Room 401
Room 401 was a hidden camera/reality television series on MTV, executive produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. It was named after the room Harry Houdini died in at Detroit's Grace Hospital in 1926. The show also used some of his famous acts....
are hidden-camera programs in which the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them.
Not all hidden camera shows use strictly staged situations. For example, the syndicated show Cheaters
Cheaters
Cheaters is a weekly syndicated hidden camera reality television series that documents people who are suspected of committing adultery, or cheating, on their partners. Investigations are headed by the "Cheaters Detective Agency". The show is hosted by Joey Greco, the show airs on Saturday nights...
, purports to use hidden cameras to record suspected cheating
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
partners, although the authenticity of the show has been questioned. Once the evidence has been gathered, the accuser confronts the cheating partner with the assistance of the host.
Supernatural and paranormal
Started by MTV's FearMTV's Fear
MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the...
in 2000, supernatural and paranormal reality shows place participants into frightening situations which ostensibly involve the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
. In series such as Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
, the stated aim is investigation, and some series like Scariest Places on Earth
Scariest Places On Earth
Scariest Places on Earth is an American paranormal documentary reality television series that originally aired from October 23, 2000 to October 29, 2006. The program was produced by Triage Entertainment for the Fox Family Channel, which is now ABC Family and owns the rights to the show...
challenge participants to survive the investigation; whereas others such as Paranormal State
Paranormal State
Paranormal State is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on the A&E Network on December 10, 2007. The program follows and stars the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club...
and Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
use a recurring crew of paranormal researchers. Shows such as Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
and Scare Tactics
Scare Tactics
Scare Tactics is a hidden camera/comedy television show, produced by Hallock Healey Entertainment. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, beginning July 9, 2008. The first season of the show was hosted by Shannen Doherty....
dispense with supernatural overtones and aim solely at inciting fear or aversion in the cast. In general, the shows follow similar stylized patterns of night vision
Night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low light conditions. Whether by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range...
, surveillance, and hand held camera footage; odd angles; subtitles establishing place and time; desaturated imagery; rapid fire, MTV editing; and non-melodic soundtracks.
Noting the recent trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value, New York Times Culture editor Mike Hale characterized ghost hunting
Ghost hunting
Ghost Hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts.Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence claimed to be supportive of paranormal activity...
shows as "pure theater" and compared the genre to professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
or soft core pornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.
Hoaxes
In hoax reality shows, a false premiseFalse premise
A false premise is an incorrect proposition that forms the basis of a logical syllogism. Since the premise is not correct, the conclusion drawn may be in error...
is presented to some of the series participants. In truth, the premise of the series is completely different. The rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. These shows often served to parody the conventions of the reality TV genre.
The first such show was 2003's The Joe Schmo Show
The Joe Schmo Show
The Joe Schmo Show is a reality television parody show which aired on the American cable network Spike TV from 2003–2004. The show's premise is that a target person or persons are led to believe that they are contestants on a reality television show; in reality, all of the other participants in the...
. Other examples are My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is a television show on the Fox Network that was filmed in July 2004 and aired in 2004-2005. Similar to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, it was a parody of shows such as The Apprentice. The contestants performed several tasks that they were told would help them win a job at...
(modeled after The Apprentice), My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé was a one-shot television reality show on the Fox Network during the 2003-2004 season. The show consisted of six hour-long episodes.-Plot summary:...
, Hell Date
Hell Date
Hell Date is a popular dating show on Black Entertainment Television with a unique twist.-Plot:The show starts with one unsuspecting dater telling the viewers who his/her ideal mate is. This individual thinks that he/she is on a standard dating show, such as "Blind Date", where both daters have...
(modeled after Blind Date), Superstar USA
Superstar USA
The WB's Superstar USA is a television show which spoofed the popular show American Idol. Essentially that show's polar opposite, Superstar USA told contestants they were looking for the best singer when they were actually looking for the worst...
(modeled after American Idol), Space Cadets (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into space), Punk'd
Punk'd
Punk'd is an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003 and was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher. It bore a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera and to TV's Bloopers...
(involving celebrities in staged crises), Invasion Iowa
Invasion Iowa
Invasion Iowa is a television mini-series that aired on Spike TV beginning on March 29, 2005, on ITV4 beginning on 3 November 2005 and The Comedy Channel in April 2007. The series depicts events from September 2004, in which William Shatner played a hoax on the small town of Riverside, Iowa by...
(in which a town was convinced that William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
was filming a movie there), and Reality Hell (different target and premise every episode).
Other shows, though not hoax shows per se, have offered misleading information to some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples include Boy Meets Boy and Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire is an American reality television show that was broadcast on Fox beginning in January 2003. It was broadcast in the UK that same year...
.
Political impact
Reality television's global success has been, in the eyes of some analysts, an important political phenomenon. In some authoritarian countries, reality television voting has been the first time many citizens have voted in any free and fair wide-scale elections. In addition, the frankness of the settings on some reality shows present situations that are often taboo in certain orthodox cultures, like Star Academy Arab World, which began airing in 2003, and which shows male and female contestants living together. In 2004, journalist Matt LabashMatt Labash
Matt Labash is an American journalist and feature writer currently a senior writer at The Weekly Standard, where his articles frequently appear....
, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV." In China, after the finale of the 2005 season of Super Girl (the local version of Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
) drew an audience of around 400 million people, and 8 million text message votes, the state-run English-language newspaper Beijing Today ran the front-page headline "Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?" The Chinese government criticized the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness", and in 2006 banned it outright. Other attempts at introducing reality television have proved to be similarly controversial. A Pan-Arab version of Big Brother was cancelled in 2004 after less than two weeks on the air after a public outcry and street protests.
In 2007, Abu Dhabi TV
Abu Dhabi TV
Abu Dhabi Al Oula is an Arabic television station that originally launched in 1969 but was re-launched in 2000 and again in 2008. It broadcasts from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company...
begain airing Million's Poet
Million's Poet
Million's Poet is a reality television show on the United Arab Emirates television network Abu Dhabi TV and the The Million's Poet Channel. The show is a competition for the most talented poet in Arabic poetry with prizes for the top 5 poets ranging from AED 1 to 5 million . The show is taped at...
, a show featuring Pop Idol-style voting and elimination, but for the writing and oration of Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
. The show became popular in Arab countries, with around 18 million viewers, partly because, according to analysts such as University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
professor Marwan Kraidy, it was able to combine the excitement of reality television with a traditional, culturally relevant topic. In April 2010, however, the show also become a subject of political controversy, when Hissa Hilal, a 43-year-old female Saudi competitor, read out a poem criticizing her country's Muslim clerics. http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100319/NATIONAL/703189836/1040 Hilal received the highest scores from the judges throughout the competition, and came in third place overall.
As a substitute for scripted drama
VH1 executive vice president Michael Hirschorn wrote that the plots and subject matters on reality television are more authentic and more engaging than in scripted dramas, writing that scripted network television "remains dominated by variants on the police procedural... in which a stock group of characters (ethnically, sexually, and generationally diverse) grapples with endless versions of the same dilemma. The episodes have all the ritual predictability of Japanese NohNoh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
theater," while reality TV is "the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has engaged hot-button cultural issues—class, sex, race—that respectable television... rarely touches."
Television critic James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
wrote that reality shows like Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch is a documentary/reality television series produced by Original Productions for the Discovery Channel. It portrays the real life events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and C. opilio crab fishing seasons.The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor,...
and Ice Road Truckers
Ice Road Truckers
Ice Road Truckers is a documentary-style reality television series that premiered on History on June 17, 2007.-History:In 2000, History aired a 46-minute episode titled "Ice Road Truckers" as part of the Suicide Missions series...
showcase working-class people of the kind that "used to be routine" on scripted network television, but that became a rarity in the 2000s: "The better to woo upscale viewers, TV has evicted its mechanics and dockworkers to collect higher rents from yuppies in coffeehouses."
Criticism
Union Critique of Reality Television
Writers for reality television do not receive union pay-scale compensation and union representation, which significantly decreases expenditures for producers and broadcasters. Many of the actors in reality television are compensatedRemuneration
Remuneration is the total compensation that an employee receives in exchange for the service they perform for their employer. Typically, this consists of monetary rewards, also referred to as wage or salary...
for their appearances.
Product placement
Product placementProduct placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
, whereby companies and corporations pay to have their products included in television programming for marketing purposes is highly prevalent in reality television.
The following is a list of television shows with the most instances of product placement (11/07–11/08; Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
). Eight out of the ten are reality television shows.
- The Biggest LoserThe Biggest LoserThe Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
6,248 - American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, 4,636 - Extreme Makeover: Home EditionExtreme Makeover: Home EditionExtreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
, 3,371 - America's Toughest JobsAmerica's Toughest JobsAmerica's Toughest Jobs is a reality television show that lasted one season and aired on the American television network NBC. It pitted contestants against each other as they attempted a series of difficult and dangerous jobs...
, 2,807 - Deal or No DealDeal or No DealDeal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
, 2,292 - America's Next Top ModelAmerica's Next Top ModelAmerica's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
, 2,241 - Last Comic StandingLast Comic StandingLast Comic Standing is an American reality television talent show that has aired from 2003 through 2010.The goal of the program is to select a comedian from a group, who will receive a development contract with the NBC network, and a television special first to air on the cable-TV network Comedy...
, 1,993 - Kitchen NightmaresKitchen NightmaresKitchen Nightmares is an American reality television series broadcast on the Fox network, in which Chef Gordon Ramsay spends a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business. It is based on the British show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The show is produced by ITV Studios...
1,853 - Hell's Kitchen, 1,807
"Reality" as misnomer
Some commentators have said that the name "reality television" is an inaccurate description for several styles of program included in the genre. Irene McGeeIrene McGee
Irene McGee is the host of No One's Listening, a podcast about the mass media, currently on The Progressive Radio Network She came to public attention in 1998 as a cast member of the MTV reality television series, The Real World: Seattle...
, a castmember on the 1998 The Real World: Seattle
The Real World: Seattle
The Real World: Seattle is the seventh season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. First airing in 1998, the...
, has done public speaking tours about the negative and misleading aspects of reality TV.
Unreal environments
In competition-based programs such as Big Brother and Survivor, and other special living environment shows like The Real World, the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricatedFiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the participants and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett is a British television producer and executive producer, based in the United States. He currently is the executive producer of five network television series with seven hours of network programming. Works with which Burnett is associated have won multiple awards and recognition...
, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama."
Misleading editing
In 2004, VH1VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
aired a program called Reality TV Secrets Revealed, which detailed various misleading tricks of reality TV producers. According to the show, various reality shows (notably Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire
Joe Millionaire is an American reality television show that was broadcast on Fox beginning in January 2003. It was broadcast in the UK that same year...
) combined audio and video from different times, or from different sets of footage, to create an artificial illusion of time chronology that did not occur, and a misportrayal of participant behaviors and actions.
In docusoap programming, which follows people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, able to portray certain participants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronology and selective presentation of events. A Season 3 episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is a British television review programme broadcast on BBC Four by Charlie Brooker. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.-Format:...
included a segment on the ways in which selective editing can be used to this end.
Restaging
According to VH1's Reality TV Secrets Revealed, the shows The Restaurant and SurvivorSurvivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
had at times recreated incidents that had actually occurred, but were not properly recorded by cameras to the required technical standard, or had not been recorded at all. In order to get the footage, the event was restaged for the cameras.
Premeditated scripting and acting
Reality television shows have faced speculation that the participants themselves are involved in fakery, acting out storylines that have been planned in advance by producers. The Hills is one notable example; the show has long faced allegations that its plots are scripted ahead of time. During the second season of Hell's Kitchen, it was speculated that the customers eating meals prepared by the contestants were in fact paid actors. Some participants of reality shows have also stated afterwards that they altered their behavior to appear more crazy or emotional in order to get more camera time.Daniel Petrie Jr., former president of the Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
, an organization that represents 9,000 Hollywood film and television writers, stated: "We look at reality TV, which is billed as unscripted, and we know it is scripted. We understand that shows don't want to call the writers writers because they want to maintain the illusion that it is reality, that stuff just happens."
Wardrobe staging
Some shows, such as SurvivorSurvivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
, don't allow the participants to wear clothing of their own choosing while on camera, to promote the participants' wearing of "camera-friendly colors" and to prevent the participants from wearing the same style and/or color of clothing. Additionally, on Survivor, some unallowed clothing items include those with corporate logos.
Misleading premise
Even the premise of shows has been called into question. The winner of the first "cycle"America's Next Top Model, Cycle 1
America's Next Top Model was a reality show hosted by supermodel Tyra Banks that aimed to find someone who could be the next top fashion model. The cycle's catch-phrase was: "One Girl has what it takes."This was the only season to feature a cast of only 10 contestants...
, in 2003, of America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
, Adrianne Curry, claimed that part of the grand prize she received, a modeling contract with Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
, was for a much smaller amount of work than what was promised throughout the show. During the airing of the first season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila
A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila
A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila is an American reality television dating game show similar to the TV show The Bachelor. It premiered on October 9, 2007 on MTV starring Tila Tequila. The series is a bisexual-themed reality dating show where 16 straight males and 16 lesbian-identified female...
, in which a group of both men and women vied for the heart of Tila Tequila, there were rumors that its star was not only heterosexual, but also had a boyfriend already. The show's winner, Bobby Banhart, claimed that he never saw Ms. Tequila again after the show finished taping, and that he was never even given her telephone number.
Instant celebrity
Reality television has the potential to turn its participants into national celebritiesCelebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
, at least for a short period. This is most notable in talent-search programs such as the Idol series, which has spawned music stars in many of the countries in which it has aired. Many other shows, however, such as Survivor and Big Brother, have made at least temporary celebrities out of their participants; some participants have then been able to parlay this fame into media careers. For example, Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is an American television talk show host and television personality. She was a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback and is a current co-host on the daytime talk show The View .-Early life:...
, a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and aired from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS...
, later became a host on morning talk show The View; and Kristin Cavallari
Kristin Cavallari
Kristin Elizabeth Cavallari is an American television personality and actress. She is best known for her starring roles on the former MTV reality television programs Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and its spin-off, The Hills.-Early life:Cavallari was born in Denver, Colorado, the second of...
, who appeared on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, often referred to simply as Laguna Beach, is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004 until November 16, 2006. It documents the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, an affluent seaside community located in...
, has gone on to become a television host and actress. Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino
Michael Sorrentino
Michael Sorrentino , publicly known by his nickname The Situation, is an Italian American television personality. He has appeared on the MTV reality show Jersey Shore since its premiere in 2009.-Early life:...
, who appeared on MTV's Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore (TV series)
Jersey Shore is an American reality television series that premiered on MTV on December 3, 2009 in the United States. The series follows the lives of eight housemates spending their summer at the Jersey Shore in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Season 2 followed the cast escaping the cold northeast...
, was able to parlay his fame into lucrative endorsement deals. Jamie Chung
Jamie Chung
Jamie Jilynn Chung is an American actress known to reality television audiences as a cast member on the MTV reality television series, The Real World: San Diego and its spin-off show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno II, and for her appearances in TV and films, such as I Now...
, a former contestant on The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
, went on to pursue an acting career, starring in films such as Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch (film)
Sucker Punch is a 2011 action-fantasy thriller film, directed by Zack Snyder and co-written by him and Steve Shibuya. It is Snyder's first film based on an original script. The film stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, and Oscar Isaac...
. Tiffany Pollard
Tiffany Pollard
Tiffany Pollard is an American reality television personality and actress. She is best known as New York and for her participation in VH1's Flavor of Love and I Love New York television series. Pollard was given the nickname by rapper Flavor Flav, whom she dated on both season 1 and season 2 of...
, originally a contestant on Flavor of Love
Flavor of Love
Flavor of Love is an American reality television dating game show parody starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy.While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on Strange Love, as well as The Surreal Life...
, was eventually given four additional reality series of her own on VH1: I Love New York
I Love New York (TV series)
I Love New York is a reality television series, which first aired on VH1. It features Tiffany Pollard in a quest to find her true love. The series is a spin off of another relationship competition series, Flavor of Love, which featured Pollard as a finalist in two consecutive seasons...
, I Love New York 2
I Love New York (TV series)
I Love New York is a reality television series, which first aired on VH1. It features Tiffany Pollard in a quest to find her true love. The series is a spin off of another relationship competition series, Flavor of Love, which featured Pollard as a finalist in two consecutive seasons...
, New York Goes to Hollywood
New York Goes To Hollywood
New York Goes to Hollywood is a reality VH1 series that consists of eight, 30-minute-episodes. New York Goes to Hollywood premiered on August 4, 2008. This spin-off of the I Love New York series, features Tiffany "New York" Pollard as she tries to find an acting job in Hollywood, California...
and New York Goes to Work
New York Goes to Work
New York Goes to Work is a reality VH1 series that first premiered on May 4, 2009. This follow-up of New York Goes to Hollywood stars Tiffany "New York" Pollard as she tries to find a regular job. The jobs are selected by fans from a list of three possible jobs for each individual episode...
. In Britain, Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
became famous after appearing on Big Brother 3
Big Brother 2002 (UK)
Big Brother 3 was the third series of Big Brother UK. The series started on 24 May 2002, ending on 26 July 2002 and the final of this series drew 10.0 million viewers. Votes in the final week totalled 8.6 million...
in 2002; she later appeared on other reality programs, wrote a bestselling autobiography and launched a top-selling perfume line. She later received extensive media coverage during her battle with cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
, from which she died in 2009. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who has appeared on The Real World and various spin-offs, later became a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.
Some reality-television alumni take on the role of professional greeters at nightclubs, appear at automobile shows, and the like.
Reality TV contestants are sometimes derided as "Z-list
A-list
A-list is a term that alludes to major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry.The A-list is part of a larger guide called The Hot List that has become an industry-standard guide in Hollywood...
celebrities" or "nonebrities" who have done nothing to warrant their newfound fame. The newspaper The Sun defined a "nonebrity" as "a pointless media figure who would love to rise up high enough to scrape on to the bottom end of the D-list."
As a spectacle of humiliation
Some have claimed that the success of reality television is due to its ability to provide schadenfreudeSchadenfreude
Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and Swedish as skadeglädje....
, by satisfying the desire of viewers to see others humiliated. American magazine Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
wrote, "Do we watch reality television for precious insight into the human condition? Please. We watch for those awkward scenes that make us feel a smidge better about our own little unfilmed lives." Media analyst Tom Alderman wrote, "There is a sub-set of Reality TV that can only be described as Shame TV because it uses humiliation as its core appeal."
Television critic James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
has disagreed with this assessment, writing, "for all the talk about 'humiliation TV,' what's striking about most reality shows is how good humored and resilient most of the participants are: the American Idol rejectees stubbornly convinced of their own talent, the Fear Factor players walking away from vats of insects like Olympic champions. What finally bothers their detractors is, perhaps, not that these people are humiliated but that they are not."
Jon & Kate Plus 8
TLC has announced that Jon & Kate Plus 8 will continue under the new title Kate Plus Eight. Criticism has been raised regarding Kate's intentions of continuing with the show, as well as whether or not the children are being exploited or may be under emotional distress. According to lawyer Gloria AllredGloria Allred
Gloria Rachel Allred is an American lawyer noted for taking high-profile and often controversial cases, particulary those involving the protection of women's rights.-Early life:...
:
In the case of the show, the children's workplace is their home. Currently there are no clear laws in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
(where the Gosselins reside) regarding a child's appearance on a reality show. However, Pennsylvania law permits kids who are at least seven years old to work in the entertainment industry, as long as certain guidelines are followed and a permit is obtained. For example, children may not work after 11:30 pm under most circumstances, or perform in any location that serves alcohol.
Kate defended her position that the children are happy and healthy, and not in any danger. In addition, Jon has stated that they are "in talks" regarding ensuring the children's happiness, and that there is no truth to any reports that the children have been hurt by the series. TLC released a statement saying that the network "fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations" to produce the show. The statement also said that "for an extended period of time, we have been engaged in cooperative discussions and supplied all requested information to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry".
Other examples
In another much-publicized case, issues have been raised about the underlying motives that led to the balloon boy hoax, in which six-year-old Falcon Heene was reportedly coerced by his father to stage for a frantic, live-on-TV chase for an out-of-control helium balloon in which he was suspected to be. The police said that the father engineered the hoax with the hope of generating enough publicity in order to get the family back into the reality-show business, after two appearances on ABC's Wife SwapWife Swap
Wife Swap is a reality television program, originally produced by UK independent television production company RDF Media and created by Stephen Lambert. It was first broadcast in 2003 on the UK's Channel 4. Since 2004, a US version has also been broadcast on the ABC network...
. In an interview with the Denver Post, child psychologist Alan Zimmerman said:
The same article quoted psychologist Jamie Huysman as saying, "It is exploitation [...] Nobody wants to watch normal behavior. Kids have to be co-conspirators to get the camera to stay on."
Counter Arguments
Despite arguments that realism cannot be achieved in reality shows because the outcomes may or may not have been scripted, Geoff King argues in his book, Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond: even though the contestants are in a fabricated setting and the situation has been set up for a certain outcome, as in real love shows such as The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, these contestants still harbor feelings that make their participation in the show real to them. King says:Prior elements in popular culture
A number of fictional works since the 1940s have contained elements similar to elements of reality television. They tended to be set in a dystopiaDystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n future, with subjects being recorded against their will, and often involved violence.
- Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
(1949), a book by George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
, depicted a world in which two-way television screens are fitted in every room, so that people's actions are monitored at all times. (The all-seeing authority figure in the book, "Big Brother", inspired the name of the pioneering reality series Big BrotherBig Brother (TV series)Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
.) Another is the impact on pop culture bearing a similarity (at least in the eyes of critics) to the concept of prolefeedProlefeedProlefeed is a Newspeak term in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It was used to describe the deliberately superficial literature, movies and music that were produced by Prolesec, a section of the Ministry of Truth, to keep the "proles" content and to prevent them from becoming too...
, feeding the masses what critics deem as trash television. - Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
(1953), a novel by Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, portrays a booklessBook burningBook burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded...
future society, with omnipresent electronic media and wall-sized two-way home televisions. The protagonist's wife is immersed in a live audience participation program. - "The Seventh Victim" (1953) was a short story by science fiction author Robert SheckleyRobert SheckleyRobert Sheckley was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical.Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and...
that depicted a futuristic game in which one player gets to hunt down another player and kill him. The first player who can score ten kills wins the grand prize. This story was the basis for the film The 10th VictimThe 10th VictimThe 10th Victim is a 1965 Italian/French international co-production science fiction film directed by Elio Petri. It is based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim". Sheckley later published a novelization of the film in 1966.-Plot:...
(1965), also known by its Italian title, La decima vittima. - You're AnotherYou're Another"You're Another" is a science fiction short story written by Damon Knight. It first appeared in the June 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and has been reprinted a number of times, including in the 1961 collection Far Out....
, a 1955 short story by Damon KnightDamon KnightDamon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
, is about a man who discovers that he is an actor in a "livie", a live-action show that is viewed by billions of people in the future. - "The Prize of Peril" (1958), another Robert Sheckley story, was about a television show in which a contestant volunteers to be hunted for a week by trained killers, with a large cash prize if he survives. It was adapted in 1970 as the TV movie Das Millionenspiel, and again in 1983 as the movie Le Prix du DangerLe Prix du DangerLe Prix du Danger is a 1983 French-Yugoslav science fiction movie, directed by Yves Boisset. It is based on Robert Sheckley's The Prize of Peril, published in 1958.-Story:...
. - "It Could Be You" (1964), a short story by Australian Frank Roberts, features a day-in-day-out televised blood sport.
- Survivor (1965), a science fiction story by Walter F. Moudy, depicted the 2050 "Olympic War Games" between Russia and the United States. The games are fought to show the world the futility of war and thus deter further conflict. Each side has one hundred soldiers who fight with rifles, mortars, and machine guns in a large natural arena. The goal is for one side to wipe out the other; the few who survive the battle become heroes. The games are televised, complete with color commentary discussing tactics, soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths.
- Bread and Circuses (1968) was an episode of the TV show Star TrekStar Trek: The Original SeriesStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
in which the crew visits a planet resembling the Roman EmpireRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, but with 20th century technology. The planet's "Empire TV" features regular gladiatorGladiatorA gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
ial games, with the announcer urging viewers at home to vote for their favorites, stating, "This is your program. You pick the winner." The show included several jabs at real-world television, such as a praetorianPraetorian GuardThe Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
threatening, "You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!" - The Year of the Sex OlympicsThe Year of the Sex OlympicsThe Year of the Sex Olympics is a 1968 television play made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 as part of Theatre 625. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox. It was directed by Michael Elliot...
(1968) was a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television play in which a dissident in a dictatorship is forced onto a secluded island and taped for a reality show in order to keep the masses entertained. - The Unsleeping EyeThe Unsleeping EyeThe Unsleeping Eye is a 1973 science fiction novel by D. G. Compton. It was published in the UK as The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe in 1974 and was filmed by Bertrand Tavernier in 1980 as Death Watch, starring Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider and Max von Sydow...
(1973), a novel by D.G. Compton (also published as The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe), was about a woman dying of cancer whose last days are recorded without her knowledge for a television show. It was later adapted as the 1980 movie Death WatchDeath WatchDeath Watch is a 1980 science fiction film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. It is based on the novel The Unsleeping Eye by David G. Compton, also known as The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe...
. - "Ladies And Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis" (1976) was a short story by science fiction author Kate WilhelmKate WilhelmKate Wilhelm is an American writer whose works include science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.- Career :Wilhelm was born in Toledo, Ohio....
about a television show in which contestants (including a B-list actress who is hoping to revitalize her career) attempt to make their way to a checkpoint after being dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness, while being filmed and broadcast around the clock through an entire weekend. The story focuses primarily on the show's effect on a couple whose domestic tensions and eventual reconciliation parallel the dangers faced by the contestants. - NetworkNetwork (film)Network is a 1976 American satirical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System , and its struggle with poor ratings. The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet...
(1976) was a film predictive of a number of trends in broadcast television, including reality programming. One subplot featured network executives negotiating with an urban terrorist group for the production of a weekly series, each episode of which was to feature an act of terrorism. - Real LifeReal Life (film)Real Life is an American comedy film released in 1979. The first feature directed by Albert Brooks, who also co-authored the screenplay, it is a spoof of the 1973 reality television program An American Family and portrays a documentary filmmaker named Albert Brooks who attempts to live with and...
(1979) where a pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives. A parody of the ground-breaking PBS series An American FamilyAn American FamilyAn American Family is an American television documentary filmed from May 30 through December 31, 1971 and first aired in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service in early 1973. After being edited down from about 300 hours of raw footage, the series ran 12 episodes and one season...
. - The Running ManThe Running ManThe Running Man is a science fiction novel by Stephen King, first published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982 as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books...
(1982) was a book by Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
depicting a game show in which a contestant flees around the world from "hunters" trying to chase him down and kill him; it has been speculated that the book was inspired by Robert SheckleyRobert SheckleyRobert Sheckley was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical.Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and...
's The Prize of Peril. The book was loosely adapted as a 1987 movie of the same nameThe Running Man (film)The Running Man is a 1987 American action film loosely based on Stephen King's 1982 novel of the same name. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson....
. The movie removed most of the reality-TV element of the book: its competition now took place entirely within a large TV studio, and more closely resembled an athletic competition (though a deadly one). - The film 20 Minutes into the Future20 Minutes into the FutureMax Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future is a 1985 cyberpunk television movie created by Chrysalis Visual Programming Ltd. for Channel 4 in the UK to provide a back story for Max Headroom, a computer generated TV host...
(1985), and the spin-off TV show Max HeadroomMax Headroom (TV series)Max Headroom is a British-produced American science fiction television series by Chrysalis/Lakeside Productions that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future...
, revolved around television mainly based on live, often candid, broadcasts. In one episode of Max Headroom, "Academy", the character Blank Reg fights for his life on a courtroom game show, with the audience deciding his fate. - Vengeance on VarosVengeance on VarosVengeance on Varos is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 19–26 January 1985.-Synopsis:...
(1985) was an episode of the TV show Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in which the population of a planet watches live TV broadcasts of the torture and executions of those who oppose the government. The planet's political system is based on the leaders themselves facing disintegration if the population votes 'no' to their propositions. This episode is often credited as the origins of "voting someone off".
Pop culture references
Some scripted and written works have used reality television as a plot device:Films
- American DreamzAmerican DreamzAmerican Dreamz is a 2006 comedy/parody film that satirizes both American politics and popular entertainment.Director/producer/writer Paul Weitz has stated that the movie is meant to satirize both the TV show American Idol and the Bush Administration...
(2006) is a film set partially on an American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
-like show. - EDtvEdTVEDtv is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebec film Louis 19, le roi des ondes , it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner, Sally Kirkland, Elizabeth Hurley, Clint Howard, and Dennis Hopper.The...
(1999) was a remake of Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves. - Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves (1994) is a QuébécoisFrench-speaking QuebecerFrench-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
film about a man who signs up to star in a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show. - Real LifeReal Life (film)Real Life is an American comedy film released in 1979. The first feature directed by Albert Brooks, who also co-authored the screenplay, it is a spoof of the 1973 reality television program An American Family and portrays a documentary filmmaker named Albert Brooks who attempts to live with and...
(1979) is a comedic film about the creation of a show similar to An American FamilyAn American FamilyAn American Family is an American television documentary filmed from May 30 through December 31, 1971 and first aired in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service in early 1973. After being edited down from about 300 hours of raw footage, the series ran 12 episodes and one season...
gone horribly wrong. - Series 7: The ContendersSeries 7: The ContendersSeries 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill...
(2001) is a film about a reality show in which contestants have to kill each other to win. - In the film She's All ThatShe's All ThatShe's All That is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Iscove, and is a modern adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion...
(1999), the girlfriend of one of the main characters is stolen by a former castmember of The Real World (played by Matthew LillardMatthew LillardMatthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...
) - Tomb of the WerewolfTomb of the WerewolfTomb of the Werewolf is a 2004 horror film about a man searching for treasure while being followed by a reality show film crew, who encounters a werewolf and a vampire instead...
(2004) is a film about a man searching for treasure while being followed by a reality show film crew, who encounters a werewolfWerewolfA werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
and a vampireVampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
instead. - The Truman ShowThe Truman ShowThe Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
(1998) is a film about a man (Jim CarreyJim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
) who discovers that his entire life is being staged and filmed for a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show.
Television
- "Bad WolfBad Wolf"Bad Wolf" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on June 11, 2005. The TARDIS crew find themselves trapped in the Gamestation, also known as Satellite 5, where they must battle to survive the cruel games...
" (2005) is an episode of the TV show Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in which the characters find themselves trapped in various real-life reality television shows. - The ComebackThe Comeback (TV series)The Comeback is a television series produced by HBO that stars actress Lisa Kudrow as sitcom actress Valerie Cherish in modern-day Los Angeles, California. It was created by Kudrow and Michael Patrick King, a former executive producer of Sex and the City...
(2005) satirizes the indignity of reality TV by presenting itself as "raw footage" of a new reality show documenting the attempted comeback of has-been star Valerie Cherish. - "Helter ShelterHelter Shelter"Helter Shelter" is the fifth episode from the fourteenth season of The Simpsons that aired December 1, 2002.-Plot:After Homer is hit by a falling metal beam at work and suffers a serious head injury, Mr. Burns smartly buys him off with tickets at a luxury sky box at a hockey game as compensation...
" (2002) is an episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
in which the family become contestants in "The 1895 Challenge," living for several weeks in a Victorian style house with antique furniture and no electricity. To boost the ratings, they soon find themselves being abused and humiliated by the show's director, who states that he created the show "by watching Dutch television and tweaking the title." The Simpsons has also repeatedly spoofed reality TV and made reference to fictitious reality shows, with such titles as "Tied To A Bear," "Sucker Punch," "Mystery Injection," "Animal Survivor,", "No-Pants Island" and "Fart Date." - Rock RivalsRock RivalsRock Rivals is a British television drama series following the lives of two celebrity judges on an X Factor style show as their marriage falls apart. It was produced by Shed Productions, the company behind Footballers' Wives, Bad Girls and Waterloo Road...
(2008) is a British television show about two judges on a televised singing contest whose marriage is falling apart. - "Special ServiceSpecial Service (The Twilight Zone)"Special Service" is the sixty-second episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.- Opening narration:-Plot:...
" (1989) was an episode of the remade TV series The Twilight Zone, in which a man discovers that his life has secretly been videotaped and is a huge hit on a network television show. - :Total Drama Island (2007) is a Canadian animated series about teenagers on a Survivor-like show. It was subsequently followed by Total Drama Action (2009) and Total Drama World Tour (2010).
Web
- "Realistically Speaking 1&2" (2007) is a two-part web-episode of Hero EnvyHero EnvyHero Envy and Hero Envy: The Swass Adventures are an ongoing series of web-based comedy episodes, initially produced exclusively for internet distribution. The first series, "Hero Envy," was the sole venture of the production company Glint of Hope Productions...
in which one of the main characters allows a reality-TV film crew to document his and his friends' lives in an elimination-style game in exchange for money.
Music
- "CelebrityCelebrity (Brad Paisley song)"Celebrity" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Brad Paisley. It was released in March 2003 as the lead single from his album, Mud on the Tires. The song reached the top five of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, peaking at number three. It also peaked at number 31...
," a 2003 song by Brad PaisleyBrad PaisleyBrad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
from the album Mud on the Tires, makes fun of both reality television contestants and their ability to become famous without any real talent, as well as celebrity antics in general. The song reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and #3 on the Hot Country Singles chart. - "Reality Show" is a song by T-PainT-PainFaheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
, from the 2008 album Thr33 RingzThr33 Ringz-Commercial performance:Three Ringz debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling over 167,700 copies in its first week. The album has been certified Gold, selling over 700,000 copies.-Reception:-External links:**...
, in which he sings to his lover, "Let's make a reality show", to "show 'em how much we in love". - "RealReal (James Wesley song)"Real" is the title of a song written by Neal Coty and Jimmy Melton and recorded by American country music artist James Wesley. It was released in May 2010 as the second single and title track from his debut album, Real. It peaked at #22 on the U.S...
" is a song by James WesleyJames WesleyJames Wesley Prosser is an American country music singer. In 1999, Prosser released the album Life Goes On through Warner Bros. Records. Ten years later, he signed to Broken Bow Records under the name James Wesley...
from his 2010 album Real. The song mocks various reality shows popular in the United States as unreal (he specifically mentions The Bachelor, SurvivorSurvivor (U.S. TV series)Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...
, The Amazing RaceThe Amazing RaceThe Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...
and The Real Housewives), comparing them unfavorably with real-life hardships. The song peaked at #22 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles charts.
Books
- Chart ThrobChart ThrobChart Throb is a 2006 novel by Ben Elton. It was released in hardback on 6 November 2006 in the UK, and 9 January 2007 in the US. It is a satire of The X-Factor/Pop Idol style reality TV programmes.-Plot summary:...
(2006) is a comic novel by Ben EltonBen EltonBenjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
that parodies The X FactorThe X Factor (UK)The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
and The OsbournesThe OsbournesThe Osbournes is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV...
, among other reality shows. - Dead FamousDead Famous (novel)Dead Famous is a comedy/whodunit novel by Ben Elton in which ratings for a reality TV show, very similar to Big Brother, rocket when a housemate is murdered...
(2001) is a comedy/whodunitWhodunitA whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
novel, also by Ben Elton, in which a contestant is murdered while on a Big Brother-like show. - Oryx and CrakeOryx and CrakeOryx and Crake is a novel by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Atwood has at times disputed the novel being science fiction, preferring to label it speculative fiction and "adventure romance" because it does not deal with 'things that have not been invented yet' and goes beyond the realism she...
(2003), a speculative fiction novel by Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, occasionally makes mentions of the protagonist and his friend entertaining themselves by watching reality TV shows of live executions, Noodie News, frog squashing, graphic surgery, and child pornography.
Other influences on popular culture
A number of scripted television shows have taken the form of documentary-type reality TV shows, in "mockumentaryMockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
" style. The first such show was the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys is a British mockumentary, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about an elite police unit's bid to snare one of Britain's most powerful crime lords. It was first screened on BBC Two from 1997 - 2000. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, it witnesses, on camera, the total...
, which premiered in 1997. Other examples include People Like Us
People Like Us
People Like Us is a British comedy programme, a spoof on-location documentary written by John Morton, and starring Chris Langham as Roy Mallard, an inept interviewer...
, Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian comedy mockumentary television series created and directed by Mike Clattenburg that focuses on the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, some of whom are ex-convicts, living in the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The...
, The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
, Modern Family
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
, Drawn Together
Drawn Together
Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
, Summer Heights High
Summer Heights High
Summer Heights High is a Logie Award-winning Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. It is a parody of high-school life epitomised by its three protagonists: effeminate and megalomaniacal "Director of Performing Arts" Mr G; self-absorbed, privileged teenager...
, Total Drama Island, Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
, Reno 911!
Reno 911!
Reno 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central that ran from 2003 to 2009. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically COPS, with comic actors playing the police officers. Most of the material is improvised, using a broad outline, and...
and Come Fly With Me
Come Fly with Me (2010 TV series)
Come Fly with Me is a British mockumentary television comedy series created by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the series launched on 25 December 2010 on BBC One and BBC One HD...
.
Some feature films have been produced that use some of the conventions of reality television; such films are sometimes referred to as reality film
Reality film
Reality film or reality movie describes a genre of films that have resulted from reality television, such as The Real Cancun, MTV's film version of The Real World, which was originally titled Spring Break: The Reality Movie...
s, and sometimes simply as documentaries. Allen Funt
Allen Funt
Allen Funt was an American television producer, director and writer, television personality, best known as the creator and host of Candid Camera from the 1940s to 1980s, as either a regular television show or a television series of specials...
's 1970 hidden camera movie What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?
What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?
What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? is a hidden-camera style reality film released in 1970, and directed by Candid Camera creator Allen Funt...
was based on his reality-television show Candid Camera. The TV show Jackass
Jackass (TV series)
jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
spawned four films: Jackass: The Movie
Jackass: The Movie
Jackass: The Movie is a 2002 American reality film directed by Jeff Tremaine with the tagline "Do not attempt this at home." It is a riskier and uncensored continuation of the stunts and pranks by the various characters of the MTV television series Jackass, which had completed its unique series...
in 2001, Jackass: Number Two
Jackass: Number Two
Jackass Number Two is a 2006 American comedy film. It is the sequel to Jackass: The Movie , both based upon the MTV series Jackass. Like its predecessor and the original TV show, the film is a compilation of stunts, pranks and skits...
in 2006, Jackass 2.5 in late 2007, and Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D is a 2010 American 3D comedy film and the fourth film in the Jackass series. It was released on October 15, 2010 by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films to American theaters and marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, which started in 2000...
in 2010. A similar show, Extreme Duudsonit
Extreme Duudsonit
The Dudesons are a four-man stunt group from Finland. The Dudesons are best known from their TV shows and live performances. Their TV shows are combination of stunts, comedy and reality.-History:...
, was adapted for the film The Dudesons Movie in 2006. The producers of The Real World created The Real Cancun
The Real Cancun
The Real Cancun is a 2003 American reality film released on April 25, 2003 in the U.S.Inspired by the reality television genre, this film followed the lives of sixteen Americans from March 13 - 23, 2003 as they celebrated spring break in Cancún, Mexico and experienced romantic relationships,...
in 2003. Games People Play: New York was released in 2004.
The mumblecore
Mumblecore
Mumblecore is an American independent film movement that arose at the turn of the 21st century. Filmmakers associated with the movement include Andrew Bujalski, Lynn Shelton, Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, and Barry Jenkins....
film genre, which began in the mid-2000s, and uses video cameras and relies heavily on improvisation and non-professional actors, has been described as influenced in part by what one critic called "the spring-break psychodrama of MTV's The Real World". Mumblecore director Joe Swanberg
Joe Swanberg
Joe Swanberg is an American independent filmmaker. He is a member of the "Mumblecore" movement. His films include Kissing on the Mouth , LOL , Hannah Takes the Stairs , Nights and Weekends and Alexander the Last...
has said, "As annoying as reality TV is, it's been really good for filmmakers because it got mainstream audiences used to watching shaky camerawork and different kinds of situations."
See also
- :Broadcast media
- Low cultureLow cultureLow culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
- Bunim/Murray ProductionsBunim/Murray ProductionsBunim/Murray Productions is an entertainment production company based out of Van Nuys, California, and is considered a pioneer in the reality television genre. It is best known for The Real World, The Bad Girls Club, and Road Rules...
- EndemolEndemolEndemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
- Trash cultureTrash cultureTrash culture is a term for some aspects of modern culture in the UK and USA that peaked in the 1990s and 2000s. The term is used for labeling the cultural by-products of modernism with barbarism and injustice.-Overview:...
- Factual televisionFactual televisionFactual television is a genre of non-fiction television programming that documents actual events and people. These type of programs are also described as documentary, observational documentary, fly on the wall, docudrama, and reality television...
- Great Reality TV SwindleGreat Reality TV SwindleThe Great Reality TV Swindle was a con perpetrated in 2002 by Nik Russian, a British man who, at the time, was working at an entry-level position in a branch of the UK book chain Waterstone's...
- Matt KunitzMatt KunitzMatt Kunitz is a television executive producer known for his work on reality television programming. In July 2008, the Los Angeles Times dubbed Kunitz "The King of Reality TV." Kunitz is currently the executive producer on Wipeout, a stunt based competition reality game show he created for...
- John LangleyJohn LangleyJohn Langley is an American television and film director, writer, and producer who is best known as the creator and executive producer of the long-running television show COPS, which premiered on FOX in March 1989....
- List of reality television programs
- List of television show franchises
- Media manipulationMedia manipulationMedia manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. Such tactics may include the use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding...
- ProlefeedProlefeedProlefeed is a Newspeak term in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It was used to describe the deliberately superficial literature, movies and music that were produced by Prolesec, a section of the Ministry of Truth, to keep the "proles" content and to prevent them from becoming too...
Further reading
- Big Brother - Why Bother? - Graham BarnfieldGraham BarnfieldGraham Barnfield is a British academic and pundit associated with the hard left Revolutionary Communist Party .In 1993 he began writing on cultural politics in the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
's Spiked commentary - Caudle, Melissa (2011). The Reality of Reality TV: Reality Show Business Plans. CreateSpace. ISBN 1460916980. A step-by-step approach to writing business plans for reality shows.
- DeVolld, Troy (2011). Reality TV: An Insiders Guide to Reality Television. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907998. A working producer provides information about how reality shows are made and how to develop a lasting career in the genre.
- Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26152-X.
- Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette, eds. (2004). Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5688-3
- Nichols, Bill (1994). Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34064-0.
- Lord of the fly-on-the-walls - Observer article: Paul Watson's UK & Australian docusoaps
- Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boogaard, NRC HandelsbladNRC HandelsbladNRC Handelsblad, often abbreviated to NRC, is a daily evening newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. The newspaper was created on October 1, 1970, from merger of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad . In 2006 a morning newspaper, nrc•next, was launched...
, September 28, 1996 (Dutch) - about Nummer 28 being the inspiration for The Real World - http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20090706_reality_tv_continues_its_downward_spiral_of_morality.html Reality TV continues its downward spiral of morality
External links
- Truth or Dare: The Reality of British Television, a panel of experts discuss Reality TV, BAFTA Webcast, January 2008
- The Reality of Reality Television, Mark Greif's assessment of Reality TV from n+1N+1n+1 is a New York–based American literary magazine that publishes social criticism, political commentary, essays, art, poetry, book reviews, and short fiction. It is published three times each year, and content is published on several times each week...