THE HISTORY OF REALITY TV

Perception is reality.

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT REALITY TV

• “You can’t do that. You can’t do it, no you can’t. This is awful.”

• (Reaction Big Brother creator John de Mol got from his colleague when he first mentioned the format)

• “Whose was the sick mind which infected all the others? Because this does seem to be an infectious disease – worse than BSE”

• (German TV critic)

WHAT IS REALITY TV?

Reality TV is defined as a television programme that presents apparently unscripted dramatic or humorous situations and features ordinary people

instead of actors

EXPLOITATION?

LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR?

SWAMPING THE SCHEDULE

REALITY KILLS SCRIPTED DRAMA?• In the US, reality TV has been blamed for killing scripted drama on

network TV• In the 90s, NBC brought us Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and ER, the must

see-shows of the decade• In 2001 NBC’s dominance was broken by the CBS reality hit Survivor• The networks realised they could get high ratings without paying writers

or actors, ushering in the reality TV era.• In 2009, NBC did not place a single scripted drama in the top 20• Many see this as short-termism on behalf of the industry – will anyone

want to watch repeats of Survivor in 2020, yet we can still enjoy scripted comedy made 50 years ago

THE REALITY TV WINNERS

LIFE IMITATES ART?

THE CAM GIRLS

THE GRAND-DADDY OF REALITY TV

BEADLE’S ABOUT

Another key influence is the British documentary series Seven Up. The first programme appeared in 1964 and took a group of seven year olds – the

idea was to return every 7 years. We last saw them in 2005 aged 49!

Also important were early “fly on the wall” documentaries like “An American Family” in the US and “The Family in the UK”. They can be seen as

the direct ancestors of hit shows like “The Osbournes”. Like all the best reality shows they made the families into stars

It’s also worth looking at early talent shows like “The Gong Show” which made fools of members of the public. The show was very similar to Simon

Cowell’s hit shows like X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent

The true ancestors of modern reality TV are thought to be the real life police show Cops and MTV’s The Real World, a show about a group of young people living together. Many see this as the forerunner to Big Brother.

Also worth looking at is the British makeover show Changing Rooms, where members of the public were asked to decorate their neighbours homes,

often with disastrous results

THE GOLDEN AGE OF REALITY TV – 2000 to PRESENT DAY

REALITY TOPS THE RATINGS• Reality TV saw an explosion in popularity globally starting in the early

2000s• Two series – Survivor and American Idol have been the top rated series

on American TV for since 2001• The Apprentice and Big Brother have also had a massive global impact,

being syndicated world wide• Other huge hits have been Britain’s (or America’s) Got Talent, Wife

Swap, X Factor, The Osbournes, The Simple Life, Supernanny, Extreme Makeover, The Bachelor, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here

THE MAIN REALITY “GENRES”

• Talent Shows• Makeovers• Celebrity shows• Factual reality Television• Life swaps• Social experiments (such as Big Brother)

Reality TV is all about the edit – hours of footage are shot and then edited into carefully constructed packages. Without digital editing packages like avid or final cut pro this would be impossible – reality TV is a product of

technological change

• Reality TV works largely on stereotypes – the pretty one, the gay one, the stupid one

• The producers hold endless auditions to find the people to “cast” the show with.

• Any complexity of character is removed in editing. This is true in all TV, but especially so in reality shows that are produced purely for entertainment value

• There is very little that is real in reality TV; the contestants may not be scripted as such, but their actions are presented to the viewer in tightly edited and scripted packages that are designed to manipulate the audience

• But because it is sold as “reality” we quickly lose our critical faculties

BRAINWASHING

Reality shows are also often streamed live on the internet. This allows viewers to become totally immersed and creates the false sense of intimacy

that reality TV thrives upon. This year there was an outcry from hardcore fans when C4 cut the Big Brother live feed

SMS/PHONE VOTING

• The structure of modern reality TV has been influenced by technology - in particular the popularity of SMS text messaging, that took off in the early years of the 21st century

• Between 2000 and 2005, Big Brother gathered 80 million votes

SCANDAL

BAD TASTE TV?

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS

REALITY TV, CELEBRITY CULTURE AND THE CLASS SYSTEM

• Reality TV is one of the main driving forces behind modern celebrity culture

• Seeing ordinary members of the public given instant fame fuels the powerful myth “anyone can do it” that is part and parcel of Western culture.

• There is the illusion that TV fame can transcend class and power structures

THE CELEBRITY UNDEAD

REALITY TV = £££

• For ageing celebrities or faded stars, reality TV = the chance of a big pay cheque. Thanks to celebrity inflation, stars like David Hasslehoff can ask for as much as £50,000 for a day’s work

• In addition to the appearance fee, there are magazine deals and often lucrative advertising contracts

• Modern reality TV is a big industry and the big reality shows become household brands, like Pepsi or Nike

FAKERY

THE JAMIE EFFECT

SUMMARY

• Reality TV is a strange hybrid of documentary and entertainment

• Modern reality TV as a genre relies heavily on technology – digital editing, small cameras, SMS voting and the internet

• Reality TV is about stereotypes and conflict• Reality TV is primarily an entertainment genre but

can be used to do good – eg Jamie Oliver’s programmes