Reality televisionis agenre oftelevision programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such asThe Real World, then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the seriesSurvivor,Idol, andBig Brother, all of which became globalfranchises.[1] Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature the gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves.
Documentaries,television news,sports television,talk shows, and traditionalgame shows are generally not classified as reality television. Some genres of television programming that predate the reality television boom have been retroactively classified as reality television, includinghidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, home improvement shows, andcourt shows featuring real-life cases and issues.
Reality television hasfaced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Critics argue that reality television shows do not accurately reflect reality, in ways both implicit (participants being placed in artificial situations), and deceptive (misleading editing, participants being coached on behavior, storylines generated ahead of time, scenes being staged). Some shows have been accused of rigging the favorite or underdog to win. Other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are intended to humiliate or exploit participants; that they make stars out of untalented people unworthy of fame, infamous figures, or both; and that they glamorize vulgarity.
Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are almost as old as the television medium itself. Producer-hostAllen Funt'sCandid Camera, in which unsuspecting people were confronted with funny, unusual situations and filmed with hidden cameras, first aired in 1948. In the 21st century, the series is often considered a prototype of reality television programming.[2][3]
In the early 1940s the young German television station, named afterPaul Nipkow had staged a show in which a young couple acted as model Aryans and presented their everyday lives without a script to the camera(Familienchroniken - Ein Abend mit Hans und Gelli). Even though it was clearlyNazi propaganda and the episodes were certainly affected bycensorship, in recent years the show has been presented more frequently as the oldest reality TV show in the world.[4]
Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s.Queen for a Day (1945–1964) was an early example of reality-based television. The 1946 television game showCash and Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts. Debuting in 1948,Allen Funt'shidden camera showCandid Camera (based on his previous 1947 radio show,The Candid Microphone) broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks.[5] In 1948, talent search shows, such asTed Mack'sOriginal Amateur Hour andArthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, featured amateur competitors and audience voting. In the 1950s, game showsBeat the Clock andTruth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes.Confession was a crime and police show that aired from June 1958 to January 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds.[6] The radio seriesNightwatch (1951–1955) tape-recorded the daily activities ofCulver City, California police officers. The seriesYou Asked for It (1950–1959) incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers.
First broadcast in theUnited Kingdom in 1964, theGranada Television documentarySeven Up! broadcast interviews with 14 ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, the filmmakerMichael Apted created a new film documenting the lives of the same individuals during the intervening period. Titled theUp Series, episodes included "7 Plus Seven", "21 Up", etc.; it is still ongoing. Structured as a series of candid interviews with no scripted plot, the films chronicle how the participants navigated personal milestones such as education, career, marriage, and family. Over time, by virtue of the sustained public attention, the participants became notable figures in British culture, effectively turning ordinary people into a type of celebrity.[7]
The seriesThe American Sportsman, which ran from 1965 to 1986 onABC in the United States,[8][9] would typically feature one or more celebrities, and sometimes their family members, being accompanied by a camera crew on anoutdoor adventure, such ashunting,fishing, hiking,scuba diving, rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, and the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration.
In the 1966Direct Cinema filmChelsea Girls,Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given. TheRadio Times Guide to Film 2007 said that the film was "to blame for reality television".[10]
In 1969, the British rock groupthe Beatles were filmed for a month during the recording sessions which would become their albumLet It Be and released thehomonymous film the following year. In 2021, directorPeter Jackson created an eight-hour, three-episode television series entitledThe Beatles: Get Back.[11]
The 12-part 1973PBS seriesAn American Family showed anuclear 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 ofReading.[12] Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions ofChuck Barris:The Dating Game,The Newlywed Game, andThe Gong Show, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition.[13]
The 1976–1980BBC seriesThe Big Time featured a different amateur in some field (cooking, comedy, football, etc.) trying to succeed professionally in that field, with help from notable experts. The 15-episode series is credited with starting the career ofSheena Easton, who was selected to appear in the episode showing an aspiring pop singer trying to enter the music business.[14]
In 1978,Living in the Past had amateurs participating in a re-enactment of life in anIron Age English village.
ProducerGeorge Schlatter capitalized on the advent of videotape to createReal People, a surprise hit for NBC, and it ran from 1979 to 1984. The success ofReal People was quickly copied by ABC withThat's Incredible, a stunt show produced byAlan Landsburg and co-hosted byFran Tarkenton; CBS's entry into the genre wasThat's My Line, a series hosted byBob Barker. TheCanadian seriesThrill of a Lifetime, a fantasies-fulfilled reality show, originally ran from 1982 to 1988. It was revived from 2001 to 2003. In 1985, underwater cinematographer Al Giddings teamed with formerMiss UniverseShawn Weatherly on the NBC seriesOceanquest, which chronicled Weatherly's adventures scuba diving in various exotic locales. Weatherly was nominated for anEmmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in informational programming.[15]COPS, which first aired in the spring of 1989 onFox and was developed due to the need for new programming during the1988 Writers Guild of America strike,[16] showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals. It introduced thecamcorder look andcinéma vérité feel of much of later reality television. The 1991television documentary on "typical American high schoolers",Yearbook, focused onseniors attending Glenbard West High School, inGlen Ellyn, Illinois andbroadcast prime-time onFox.
The seriesNummer 28, which aired onDutch television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in a limited 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 extensive use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, which serve as narration.Nummer 28 became the model for many later series ofBig Brother and its clones, and Peter Weir's full-length filmThe Truman Show. One year later, the same concept was used byMTV in its new seriesThe Real World.Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed thatThe Real World was directly inspired by his show.[17] But the producers ofThe Real World have said that their direct inspiration wasAn American Family.[18] According to television commentatorCharlie Brooker, this type of reality television was enabled by the advent of computer-basednon-linear editing systems for video (such as produced byAvid 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 use in shooting enough hours on a regular basis).[19]
Sylvania Waters (1992) was an Australian show that depicted a family, similar in concept toAn American Family.
The 1994–95O. J. Simpson murder case, during which live network television followed suspect Simpson for 90 minutes being chased by police, has been described as a seminal moment in reality television. Networks interrupted their regular television programming for months for coverage of the trial and related events. Because of Simpson's status as a top athlete and celebrity, the brutal nature of the murders, and issues of race and class in Los Angeles celebrity culture, the sensational case dominated ratings and the public conversation.[20][21]
Many reality television stars of the 2000s and 2010s have direct or indirect connections to people involved in the case, most notablyKim Kardashian, daughter of defense attorneyRobert Kardashian, and several of her relatives and associates.[22][23]
The seriesExpedition Robinson, created by television producer Charlie Parsons, which first aired in 1997 inSweden (and was later produced in a large number of other countries asSurvivor), added to theNummer 28/Real World template the idea of competition and elimination. Cast members or 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 program that began in the UK in 1996, showed couples redecorating each other's houses, and was the first[citation needed] reality show with aself-improvement ormakeover theme. The dating reality showStreetmate premiered in the UK in 1998. Originally created byGabe Sachs asStreet Match, it was a flop in the United States. But the show was revamped in the UK byTiger Aspect Productions and became a cult hit. The production team from the original series later created the popular reality showsStrictly Come Dancing,Location, Location, Location, and the revampedMasterChef, among others.[citation needed] The 1980s and 1990s were also a time whentabloid talk shows became more popular. Many of these featured the same types of unusual or dysfunctional guests who would later become popular as cast members of reality shows.
Reality television became globally popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the successes of theBig Brother andSurvivor/Expedition Robinson franchises. In the United States, reality television programs suffered a temporary decline in viewership in 2001, leading some entertainment industry columnists[who?] to speculate that the genre was a temporary fad that had run its course.[citation needed] Reality shows that suffered from low ratings includedThe Amazing Race (although the show has since recovered and is in its 32nd edition),Lost (unrelated to the better-knownserial drama of the same name) andThe Mole (which was successful in other countries).[24] But stronghold showsSurvivor andAmerican Idol continued to thrive: both topped the U.S. season-average television ratings in the 2000s.Survivor led the ratings in2001–02, andIdol has the longest hold on the No. 1 rank in theAmerican television ratings, dominating over all other primetime programs and other television series in the overall viewership tallies for eight consecutive years, from the2003–2004 to the2010–2011 television seasons.
Another trend was to combine reality TV with a social history angle usually by having contestants taken back to various time periods primarily to see how millennials would cope without modern technology. Examples includedThe 1900 House,Bad Lads' Army andThat'll Teach 'Em. In addition to those was a series consisting of archeologists and historians running a farm though various historical periods, most notablyVictorian Farm.
Internationally, a number of shows created in the late 1990s and 2000s have had massive global success. Reality-television franchises created during that time that have had more than 30 international adaptations each include the singing competition franchisesIdols,[25]Star Academy[26] andThe X Factor, other competition franchisesSurvivor/Expedition Robinson,Big Brother,The Biggest Loser,Come Dine with Me,Got Talent,Top Model,MasterChef,Project Runway andDancing with the Stars, and the investment franchiseDragons' Den. Several "reality game shows" from the same period have had even greater success, includingDeal or No Deal,Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, andWeakest Link, with over 50 international adaptions each. (All but four of these franchises,Top Model,Project Runway,The Biggest Loser andDragons' Den, were created by either British producers or the Dutch production companyEndemol. AlthoughDragons' Den originated inJapan, most of its adaptations are based on the British version.) In India, the competition showIndian Idol was the most popular television program for its first six seasons.[27]
During the 2000s, severalcable networks, includingBravo,A&E,E!,TLC,History,VH1, andMTV, changed their programming to feature mostly reality television series.[28] In addition, three cable channels were started around that time that were devoted exclusively to reality television:Fox Reality in the United States, which operated from 2005 to 2010;Global Reality Channel inCanada, which lasted two years from 2010 to 2012; andCBS Reality (formerly known as Reality TV and then Zone Reality) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which has run from 1999 to the present.
During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue andsyndication. But DVDs for reality shows sold briskly;Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,The Amazing Race,Project Runway, andAmerica's Next Top Model all ranked in the top DVDs sold onAmazon.com. In the mid-2000s, DVDs ofThe Simple Life outranked scripted shows such asThe O.C. andDesperate Housewives. Syndication, however, has been problematic; shows such asFear Factor,COPS, andWife Swap, in which each episode is self-contained, can be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television or during the daytime (COPS andAmerica's Funniest Home Videos being exceptions). Season-long competitions, such asThe Amazing Race,Survivor, andAmerica's Next Top Model generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun inmarathons to draw the necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. (Even in these cases, it is not always successful: the first ten seasons ofDancing with the Stars were picked up byGSN in 2012 and was run in marathon format, but attracted low viewership and had very poor ratings). Another option is to create documentaries around series, including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in the original airings; the syndicated seriesAmerican 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 has, as of 2013 (when it moved to cable channelSpike), outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that had wide success isCheaters, which has been running since 2000 in the U.S. and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2001, theAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences added the reality genre to theEmmy Awards in the category ofOutstanding 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 2007, theweb seriesThe Next Internet Millionaire appeared; it was a competition show based in part onThe Apprentice, and was billed as the world's first Internet reality show.
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In 2010, the Dutch singing competition showThe Voice of Holland, created byJohn de Mol Jr., premiered; it added to the singing competition template the twist that judges could not see contestants during the initial audition round, and could judge them only by their voice. The show was an instant success, and spawned an entire franchise,The Voice, which has been highly successful, with almost 50 international adaptations.
The Tester (2010–2012) was the first reality television show aired over a video game console.[29]
By 2012, many of the long-running reality television show franchises in the United States, such asAmerican Idol,Dancing with the Stars andThe Bachelor, had begun to see declining ratings.[30] However, reality television as a whole remained durable in the U.S., with hundreds of shows across many channels. In 2012,New York Magazine'sVulture blog published a humorousVenn diagram showing popular themes across American reality shows then running, including shows set in the U.S. states ofAlaska,Louisiana andTexas, shows about cakes, weddings andpawnbrokers, and shows, usually competition-based, whose title includes the word "Wars".[31]
Duck Dynasty (2012–2017), which focused on the Robertson family that foundedDuck Commander, in 2013 became the most popular reality series in U.S. cable television history. Its fourth-season premiere was viewed by nearly 12 million viewers in the United States, most of which were in rural markets. Its rural audience share ranked in the 30s, an extremely high number for any series, broadcast or cable.
Following from the1900 House format, the BBC produced a series calledBack in Time for Tea in which a family would experience tea time for various decades.
In 2014,Entertainment Weekly andVariety again noted a stagnation in reality television programs' ratings in the U.S., which they attributed to "The diminishing returns of cable TV's sea of reality sameness". They noted that a number of networks that featured reality programming, including Bravo and E!, were launching their first scripted shows, and others, includingAMC, were abandoning plans to launch further reality programs; though they clarified that the genre as a whole "isn't going anywhere."[32][33] Ratings and profits from reality TV continued to decline in the late 2010s.[34]
The South Korean competition showI Can See Your Voice, which premiered in 2015, showed guest judges attempting to guess which of a group of contestants could sing, and which could not, without hearing them sing. The show was successful, and spawned several imitators, most notablyKing of Mask Singer several months later.King of Mask Singer was a more traditional singing competition show, but with the wrinkle that the contestants were celebrities who remained masked until they were removed from the show, adding an element of guesswork to the competition.[35] The two shows both spawned successful international franchises,I Can See Your Voice andMasked Singer, respectively.Masked Singer has been especially popular, with over 50 local adaptations; itsAmerican adaptation was the third highest-rated series overall of both the 2018–19 and 2019–20 television seasons.[36] The success of the two franchises has led to other globally-syndicated franchises of reality competitions based around guesswork, such asGame of Talents (which began in Spain in 2019) andThe Masked Dancer (which began in the United States in 2020).[37]
Specialist skill-based TV competitions became popular during this decade with such programs likeThe Great British Bake-Off,Lego Masters,The Great British Sewing Bee andForged in Fire shown.
Television development across all genres was impacted in 2020 by theCOVID-19 pandemic, which forced many reality competition series to suspend production (and in some cases curtail a competition already in progress, such asCanadian andMalayalam versions ofBig Brother),[38][39][40] until such time that production could recommence with appropriate health and safety protocols approved by local authorities.[41][42] Due to their quicker turnaround times, the U.S. networks used reality series and other unscripted content (including those delayed from their summer lineups) to fill gaps in their schedules while the production of scripted programming resumed.[43][44]
At the same time, reality television continued to evolve in response to broader platform shifts and changing audience behaviors. The rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Max (formerly HBO Max) led to a new wave of reality formats, including dating shows likeLove Is Blind (2020–present) andToo Hot to Handle (2020–present), competitive series likeThe Circle (2020–present), and docu-soaps such asDubai Bling (2022–present).[45][46] Short-form platforms like TikTok also influenced traditional reality programming, with many new shows integrating viral challenges and social media interactions into their formats.[47] Reality competitions centered around specialized skills, such asIs It Cake? (2022–present), gained popularity for offering cozy, niche viewing experiences that appealed to audiences seeking lighter, feel-good content.[48] The demand for escapism and creativity during a period of global uncertainty led networks and streaming platforms alike to invest in more experimental and genre-blending formats.[49]
Internationally, there was also a surge in non-Western reality content gaining global traction, particularly from South Korea, Japan, and India. Shows likeSingle's Inferno (South Korea, 2021–present),Physical: 100 (South Korea, 2023–present),Indian Matchmaking (India/USA, 2020–present showcased a blend of competition, romance, and cultural elements that resonated with worldwide audiences through platforms like Netflix.[50][51][52]
There have been various attempts to classify reality television shows into different subgenres:
Another categorization divides reality television into two types: shows that purport to document real life, and shows that place participants in new circumstances. In a 2003 paper, theorists Elisabeth Klaus and Stephanie Lücke referred to the former category as "docusoaps", which consist of "narrative reality", and the latter category as "reality soaps", which consist of "performative reality".[56] Since 2014, thePrimetime Emmy Awards have used a similar classification, with separate awards for "unstructured reality" and "structured reality" programs, as well as a third award for "reality-competition" programs.
In many reality television 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 sometimes referred to asfly on the wall,observational documentary orfactual television. Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resemblingsoap operas – hence the termsdocusoap anddocudrama.Documentary-style programs give viewers a private look into the lives of the subjects.
Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants:
Although the term "docusoap" has been used for many documentary-style reality television shows, there have been shows that have deliberately tried to mimic the appearance and structure of soap operas. Such shows often focus on a close-knit group of people and their shifting friendships and romantic relationships. One highly influential such series was the American 2004–2006 seriesLaguna Beach: The Real Orange County, which attempted to specifically mimic the primetime soap operaThe O.C., which had begun airing in 2003.Laguna Beach had a more drama-like feel than any previous reality television show, through the use of higher-quality lighting and cameras, voice-over narration instead of on-screen "confessionals", and slower pacing.[57]Laguna Beach led to several spinoff series, most notably the 2006–2010 seriesThe Hills. It also inspired various other series, including the highly successful British seriesThe Only Way Is Essex andMade in Chelsea, and the Australian seriesFreshwater Blue.
Due to their dramatized feel, many of these shows have been accused of being pre-scripted, more so than other reality television shows have. The producers ofThe Only Way Is Essex andMade in Chelsea have admitted to coaching cast members on what to say in order to draw more emotion from each scene, although they insist that the underlying stories are real.[58]
Another highly successful group of soap-opera-style shows is theReal Housewives franchise, which began withThe Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006 and has since spawned nearly twenty other series, in the U.S. and internationally. The franchise has an older cast and different personal dynamics than that ofLaguna Beach and its imitators, as well as lower production values, but similarly is meant to resemble scripted soap operas – in this case, the television seriesDesperate Housewives andPeyton Place.
A notable subset of such series focus on a group of women who are romantically connected to male celebrities; these includeBasketball Wives (2010),Love & Hip Hop (2011),Hollywood Exes (2012),Ex-Wives of Rock (2012) andWAGS (2015). Most of these shows have had spin-offs in multiple locations.
There are also fly-on-the-wall-style shows directly involving celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples includeThe Anna Nicole Show,The Osbournes,Gene Simmons Family Jewels,Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,Keeping Up with the Kardashians andHogan Knows Best.VH1 in the mid-2000s had an entire block of such shows, known as "Celebreality". Shows such as these are often created with the idea of promoting a celebrity product or upcoming project.
Some documentary-style shows shed light on rarely seen cultures and lifestyles. One example is shows aboutpeople with disabilities[59] or people who have unusual physical circumstances, such as the American seriesPush Girls andLittle People, Big World, and the British programmesBeyond Boundaries,Britain's Missing Top Model,The Undateables andSeven Dwarves.
Another example is shows that portray the lives of ethnic or religious minorities. Examples includeAll-American Muslim (Lebanese-AmericanMuslims),Shahs of Sunset (affluentPersian-Americans),Sister Wives (polygamists from aMormon splinter group),Breaking Amish andAmish Mafia (theAmish), andBig Fat Gypsy Weddings and its spinoffs (Romani people).
TheReal Housewives franchise offers a window into the lives of social-striving urban and suburban housewives. Many shows focus on wealth andconspicuous consumption, includingPlatinum Weddings, andMy Super Sweet 16, which documented hugecoming of age celebrations thrown by wealthy parents. Conversely, the highly successfulHere Comes Honey Boo Boo andDuck Dynasty are set in poorer rural areas of theSouthern United States.
Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. One early example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) isCops,[60] which debuted in 1989. Other such shows specifically relating to law enforcement includeThe First 48,Dog the Bounty Hunter,Police Stop!,Traffic Cops,Border Security andMotorway Patrol.[61]
Shows set at a specific place of business includeAmerican Chopper,Miami Ink and its spinoffs,Bikini Barbershop andLizard Lick Towing.
Shows that show people working in the same non-business location includeAirport andBondi Rescue.
Shows that portray a set of people in the same line of work, occasionally competing with each other, includeDeadliest Catch,Ice Road Truckers andMillion Dollar Listing Los Angeles and its spinoffs.
One notable subset of shows about professional activities is those in which the professionals haggle and engage in financial transactions, often over unique or rare items whose value must first be appraised. Two such shows, both of which have led to multiple spinoff shows, arePawn Stars (aboutpawn shops) andAmerican Pickers. Other shows, while based around such financial transactions, also show elements of its main cast members' personal and professional lives; these shows includeHardcore Pawn andComic Book Men. Such shows have some antecedent in the British seriesAntiques Roadshow,[62] which began airing in 1979 and has since spawned numerous international versions, although that show includes only appraisals and does not include bargaining or other dramatic elements.
Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in staged living environments;The Real World was the originator of this format. In almost every other such type of programming, cast members are given specific challenges or obstacles to overcome.Road Rules, which first aired in 1995 as a spin-off ofThe Real World, created a show structure where the cast would travel to various countries performing challenges for prizes.[citation needed]
Big Brother is probably the best-known program of this type in the world, with around 50 international versions having been produced. Other shows in this category, such asThe 1900 House andLads' Army, involvehistorical re-enactment, with cast members living and working as people of a specific time and place. 2001'sTemptation 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.The Challenge has contestants living together in an overseas residence, and has been around for over 30 seasons. The format of each season changes, however the main premise of the series involves a daily challenge, nomination process and elimination round.U8TV: The Lofters combined the "special living environment" format with the "professional activity" format noted earlier; in addition to living together in aloft, each member of the show's cast was hired to host a television program for a Canadian cable channel.
The Simple Life,Tommy Lee Goes to College andThe Surreal Life are all shows in which celebrities are put into an unnatural environment.
Originally, court shows were all dramatized and staged programs, with actors playing the litigants, witnesses and lawyers. The cases were either reenactments of real-life cases or cases that were fictionalized altogether. Among examples of staged courtroom dramas areFamous Jury Trials,Your Witness, and the first two eras ofDivorce Court.The People's Court revolutionized the genre by introducing thearbitration-based "reality" format in 1981, later adopted by the vast majority of court shows. The genre experienced a lull in programming afterThe People's Court was canceled in 1993, but then soared after the emergence ofJudge Judy in 1996. This led to a slew of other reality court shows, such asJudge Mathis,Judge Joe Brown,Judge Alex,Judge Mills Lane andJudge Hatchett.
Though the litigants are legitimate, the "judges" in such shows are actually arbitrators, as these pseudo-judges are not actually presiding in acourt of law. Typically, however, they are retired judges or at least individuals who have had some legal experience.
Courtroom programs are typicallydaytime television shows that air on weekdays.
The globally syndicated formatDragons' Den shows a group of wealthy investors choosing whether or not to invest in a series of pitchedstartup companies andentrepreneurial ventures. The seriesRestaurant Startup similarly involves investors, but involves more of a game show element in which restaurant owners compete to prove their worth. The British seriesShow Me the Monet offers a twist in which artworks' artistic value, rather than their financial value, is appraised by a panel of judges, who determine whether each one will be featured at an exhibition.
Another subgenre places people in wild and challenging natural settings. This includes such shows asSurvivorman,Man vs. Wild,Marooned with Ed Stafford,Naked and Afraid andAlaskan Bush People. The showsSurvivor andGet Out Alive with Bear Grylls combine outdoor survival with a competition format, although inSurvivor the competition also involves social dynamics.
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 inThe Swan andCelebrity 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 includeThe Biggest Loser,Extreme Weight Loss andFat March (which cover weight loss),Extreme Makeover (entire physical appearance),Queer Eye,What Not to Wear,How Do I Look?,Trinny & Susannah Undress... andSnog Marry Avoid? (style and grooming),Supernanny (child-rearing),Made (life transformation),Tool Academy (relationship building) andCharm School andFrom G's to Gents (self-improvement and manners).
The concept of self-improvement was taken to its extreme with the British showLife Laundry, in which people who had become hoarders, even living in squalor, were given professional assistance. The American television seriesHoarders andHoarding: Buried Alive follow similar premises, presenting interventions in the lives of people who suffer fromcompulsive hoarding. The British seriesSort Your Life Out, presented byStacey Solomon, is similar, but it also redesigns the participants' houses.
In one study, participants who admitted to watching more reality television were more likely to proceed with a desired plastic surgery than those who watched less.[63]
Some shows makeover part or all of a person's living space, workspace, or vehicle. The American seriesThis Old House, which debuted in 1979, features the start-to-finish renovation of different houses through a season; media criticJeff Jarvis has speculated that it is "the original reality TV show."[64] The British showChanging Rooms, beginning in 1996 (later remade in the U.S. asTrading Spaces) was the first such renovation show that added a game show feel with different weekly contestants.[citation needed]
House renovation shows are a mainstay on the American and Canadian cable channelHGTV, whose renovation shows include the successful franchisesFlip or Flop,Love It or List It andProperty Brothers, as well as shows such asDebbie Travis' Facelift,Designed to Sell andHolmes on Homes. Non-HGTV shows in this category includeExtreme Makeover: Home Edition andWhile You Were Out.
Pimp My Ride andOverhaulin' show vehicles being rebuilt in a customized way.
In some shows, one or more experts try to improve a failing small business over the course of each episode. Examples that cover many types of business includeWe Mean Business andThe Profit. Shows geared for a specific type of business includeRamsay's Kitchen Nightmares andRestaurant: Impossible (for restaurants),Bar Rescue (for bars) andHotel Hell (for hotels).
Another type of reality program is thesocial experiment that produces drama, conflict, and sometimes transformation. British TV seriesWife Swap, which began in 2003, and has had many spinoffs in the UK and other countries, is a notable example. In the show, people with different values agree to live by each other's social rules for a brief period of time. Other shows in this category includeTrading Spouses,Bad Girls Club andHoliday Showdown.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 in which contestants competed for how long they could gowithout sleep.Solitary was a controversial 2006-2010Fox Reality series that isolated contestants for weeks insolitary confinement pods with limited sleep, food and information while competing in elimination challenges ended by a quit button, causing winners to go on for much longer than needed as a blind gamble to not be the first person to quit.
The Dutch seriesDe Verraders, adapted internationally asThe Traitors, features contestants divided into two factions—the "traitors" and the "faithful"—and competing in challenges to build a cash jackpot awarded in the finale; three contestants secretly designated as "traitors" (which are known to the viewers) have the ability to secretly eliminate ("murder") other contestants each night, while the remaining contestants try to figure out the identities of the traitors so they can attempt to "banish" them in elimination votes. The jackpot is split among the faithful if they eliminate all of the traitors, but is split among the traitors if they fail.
Another type of reality programming featureshidden cameras 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 includePunk'd,Trigger Happy TV,Primetime: What Would You Do?,The Jamie Kennedy Experiment andJust for Laughs Gags. The seriesScare Tactics andRoom 401 are hidden-camera programs in which the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them. The Belgian hidden camera seriesSorry voor alles subjects a contestant to various staged situations over a month-long period, designed to analyze their personality and how they respond. After the contestant is taken to a studio and let off the hook, they then answer observation questions related to the events for a chance to win prizes.[65]
Not all hidden camera shows use strictly staged situations. For example, the syndicated programCheaters purports to use hidden cameras to record suspectedcheating partners, although the authenticity of the show has been questioned, and even refuted by some who have been featured on the series.[66] Once the evidence has been gathered, the accuser confronts the cheating partner with the assistance of the host. In many special-living documentary programs, hidden cameras are set up all over the residence in order to capture moments missed by the regular camera crew, or intimate bedroom footage.
Supernatural andparanormal reality shows such asMTV's Fear, place participants into frightening situations which ostensibly involveparanormal phenomena such asghosts,telekinesis orhaunted houses. In series such asCelebrity Paranormal Project, the stated aim is investigation, and some series likeScariest Places on Earth challenge participants to survive the investigation; whereas others such asParanormal State andGhost Hunters use a recurring crew ofparanormal researchers. In general, the shows follow similar stylized patterns ofnight vision, surveillance, and hand held camera footage; odd angles; subtitles establishing place and time; desaturated imagery; and non-melodic soundtracks. Noting the trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value,New York Times culture editor Mike Hale[67] characterizedghost hunting shows as "pure theater" and compared the genre toprofessional wrestling orsoftcore pornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.[68]
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Another subgenre of reality television is "reality competition", "realityplayoffs", or so-called "reality game shows", which follow the format of non-tournamentelimination contests.[69] 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 is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time (or sometimes two at a time, as an episodic twist due to the number of contestants involved and the length of a given season), through eitherdisapproval voting or by voting for the most popular 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 syndicatedBig 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 American version, by the participants themselves. There remains disagreement over whether talent-search shows such as theIdol series, theGot Talent series and theDancing with the Stars series are truly reality television or just newer incarnations of shows such asStar Search. Although the shows involve a traditional talent search, the shows follow the reality-competition conventions of removing one or more contestants in every episode, allowing the public to vote on who is removed, and interspersing performances with video clips showing the contestants' "back stories", their thoughts about the competition, their rehearsals and unguarded behind-the-scenes moments. Additionally, there is a good deal of unscripted interaction shown between contestants and judges. The AmericanPrimetime Emmy Awards have nominated bothAmerican Idol andDancing with the Stars for theOutstanding Reality-Competition Program Emmy.
Game shows likeWeakest Link,Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,American Gladiators andDeal or No Deal, which were popular in the 2000s, also lie in a gray area: like traditional game shows (e.g.,The Price Is Right,Jeopardy!), the action takes place in an enclosed television 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 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, have led to such shows often being grouped under both the reality television and game show umbrellas.[70]
There have been various hybrid reality-competition shows, like the worldwide-syndicatedStar Academy, which combines theBig Brother andIdol formats,The Biggest Loser, which combines competition with the self-improvement format, andAmerican Inventor, which uses theIdol format for products instead of people. Some reality shows that aired mostly during the early 2000s, such asPopstars,Making the Band andProject Greenlight, devoted 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 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. In the early 2000s, this type of reality show dominated the other genres on the major U.S. networks. Examples includeThe Bachelor, its spin-offThe Bachelorette,Temptation Island,Average Joe,Flavor of Love (a dating show featuring rapperFlavor Flav that led directly and indirectly to over 10 spinoffs),The Cougar andLove in the Wild. InMarried by America, contestants were chosen by viewer voting. This is one of the older variants of the format; shows such asThe 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). One of the more recent hits wasFarmer Wants a Wife.
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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 and an undisclosed salary, although the award can simply be a sum of money and ancillary prizes, like a cover article in a magazine. The show also features judges who act as counselors, mediators and sometimes mentors to help contestants develop their skills further or perhaps decide their future position in the competition.Popstars, which debuted in 1999, may have been the first such show, while theIdol series has been the longest-running and, for most of its run, the most popular such franchise. The first job-search show which showed dramatic, unscripted situations may have beenAmerica's Next Top Model, which premiered in May 2003. Other examples includeThe Apprentice (which judges business skills);Hell's Kitchen,MasterChef andTop Chef (for chefs),The Great British Bake Off (for bakers),Shear Genius (for hair styling),Project Runway (for clothing design),Top Design andThe Great Interior Design Challenge (for interior design),American Dream Builders (for home builders),Stylista (for fashion editors),Last Comic Standing (for comedians),I Know My Kid's a Star (for child performers),On the Lot (for filmmakers),RuPaul's Drag Race (for drag queens),The Shot (for fashion photographers),So You Think You Can Dance (for dancers),MuchMusic VJ Search andFood Network Star (for television hosts),Dream Job (for sportscasters),American Candidate (for aspiring politicians),Work of Art (for artists),Face Off (forprosthetic makeup artists),Ink Master andBest Ink (for tattoo artists),Platinum Hit (for songwriters),Top Shot (for marksmen) andThe Tester (for game testers).
One notable subset, popular from approximately 2005 to 2012, consisted of shows in which the winner gets a specific part in a known film, television show,musical or performing group. Examples includeScream Queens (where the prize was a role in theSaw film series),The Glee Project (for a role on the television showGlee) andHow Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? (the lead role in a revival of the musicalThe Sound of Music). The most extreme prize for such a show may have been for one of the first such shows, 2005'sRock Star: INXS, where the winner became the lead singer of the rock bandINXS.J.D. Fortune, who won the show, went on to be INXS's lead singer until 2011.
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. The most popular such shows have been theDancing with the Stars andDancing on Ice franchises. Other examples of celebrity competition programs includeDeadline,Celebracadabra andCelebrity Apprentice.
Some job-related competition shows have a different set of contestants competing on every episode, and thus more closely resemble game shows, although the "confessional" commentary provided by contestants gives them a reality TV aspect. The 1993-1999 Japanese cooking competitionIron Chef could be considered an early example, although it does not include commentary by the participants, only by announcers and judges. Cooking competition shows with different contestants per episode that are considered reality shows include theChopped,Come Dine with Me andNailed It! franchises, along withCupcake Wars,Cutthroat Kitchen, andGuy's Grocery Games.
Non-cooking competition shows with a similar format includeForged in Fire andThe Butcher.
One concept pioneered by, and unique to, reality competition shows is the idea of immunity, in which a contestant can win the right to be exempt the next time contestants are eliminated from the show. Possibly the first instance of immunity in reality TV was onSurvivor, which premiered in 1997 in Sweden asExpedition Robinson, before gaining international prominence after the American edition (titledSurvivor) premiered in 2000. On that show, there are complex rules around immunity: a player can achieve it by winning challenges (either as a team in the tribal phase or individually in the merged phase), or, in more recent seasons, through findinga hidden totem. They can also pass on their immunity to someone else and in the latter case, they can keep their immunity secret from other players.[72] On most shows, immunity is quite a bit simpler: it is usually achieved by winning a task, often a relatively minor task during the first half of the episode; the announcement of immunity is made publicly and immunity is usually non-transferable. At some point in the season, immunity ceases to be available, and all contestants are susceptible to elimination. Competition shows that have featured immunity include theApprentice,Big Brother,Biggest Loser,Top Model,Project Runway,Lego Masters, andTop Chef franchises. Immunity may come with additional power as well, such as in the American version ofBig Brother where the winning contestant usually has influence over deciding who faces an elimination vote later in the week. In oneApprentice episode, a participant chose to waive his earned immunity and was immediately "fired" for giving up this "powerful asset".[73]
Sport-related reality shows can fall within the aforementioned sub-genres, either using it as the basis of competition, or by following sport as a profession:
Some reality shows aim tosatirize and deconstruct the conventions and cliches of the genre for comedic effect; in such cases, a fictitious premise is usually presented to one or more of the participants, with the rest of the cast consisting of actors and other figures that are in on the joke.
The authenticity of reality television is often called into question by its detractors. The genre's title of "reality" is often criticized as being inaccurate because of claims that the genre frequently includes elements such as premeditated scripting (including a practice called "soft-scripting"), acting, urgings from behind-the-scenes crew to create specified situations of adversity and drama, and misleading editing. It has often been described as "scripting without paper".
In many cases, the entire premise of the show is contrived, based around a competition or another unusual situation. Some shows have been accused of using fakery in order to create more compelling television, such as having premeditated storylines and in some cases feeding participants lines of dialogue, focusing only on participants' most outlandish behavior, and altering events through editing and re-shoots.[86][87]
Shows such asSurvivor andAmazing Race that offer a monetary prize are regulated in the United States by federal "game show" law,47 U.S.C. § 509, and are monitored during the filming by the legal staff and standards and practice staff of the parent network. These shows cannot be manipulated in any way that affects the outcome of the game. However, misleading editing does not fall into altering the fairness of the competition.
Beyond concerns about authenticity, media critics have argued that reality television may have broader societal consequences. In 2022, Time magazine TV critic Judy Berman wrote that "to the extent that the U.S. has become a harsher, shallower, angrier, more divided place in the 21st century, reality TV, which has helped normalize cruelty, belligerence, superficiality, and disloyalty, and rewarded people who weaponize those traits, bears a share of the blame."[88]
Reality television shows that have been accused of, or admitted to, deception includeThe Real World,[89][90][91] the American version ofSurvivor,[92]Joe Millionaire,[93]The Hills,A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila,[94]Hogan Knows Best,[95]Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,[96]The Bachelor andThe Bachelorette,[97][98]Pawn Stars,[99]Storage Wars,[100]Squid Game: The Challenge andKeeping Up with the Kardashians.[101][102]
In contrast, criticMatt Zoller Seitz praisedDeadliest Catch as having "brought old-school documentary sobriety to a genre more often known for shamelessness."[103]
Reality television's global success has become, in the view of some analysts, an important political phenomenon. In some[quantify]authoritarian countries, reality-television voting has provided the first opportunity for many citizens to vote in any free and fair wide-scale "elections". In addition, the frankness of the settings on some reality shows presents situations that are often taboo in certain conservative cultures, likeStar Academy Arab World, which began airing in 2003, and which shows male and female contestants living together.[104] A Pan-Arab version ofBig Brother was cancelled in 2004 after less than two weeks on the air after a public outcry and street protests.[105] In 2004 journalistMatt Labash, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV".[106]
In 2007,Abu Dhabi TV began airingMillion's Poet, a show featuringPop Idol-style voting and elimination, but for the writing and oration ofArabic poetry. The show became popular in Arab countries, with around 18 million viewers,[107] partly because it was able to combine the excitement of reality television with a traditional, culturally relevant topic.[108] In April 2010, however, the show also became a subject of political controversy, whenHissa Hilal, a 43-year-old femaleSaudi competitor, read out a poem criticizing her country's Muslim clerics.[109] Both critics and the public reacted favorably to Hilal's poetry; she received the highest scores from the judges throughout the competition and came in third place overall.[107]
InIndia, in the summer of 2007, coverage of the third season ofIndian Idol focused on the breaking down of cultural and socioeconomic barriers as the public rallied around the show's top two contestants.[27]
TheChinese singing competitionSuper Girl (a local imitation ofPop Idol) has similarly been cited[by whom?] for its political and cultural impact.[110] After the finale of the show's 2005 season drew an audience of around 400 million people, and eight milliontext-message votes, the state-run English-language newspaperBeijing Today ran the front-page headline: "Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?"[111] The Chinese government criticized the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness",[112] and in 2006 banned it outright.[113] It was later reintroduced[by whom?] in 2009, before being banned again in 2011.Super Girl has also been criticized by non-government commentators for creating seemingly impossible ideals that may be harmful to Chinese youth.[110]
InIndonesia, reality television shows have surpassed soap operas as the most-watched broadcast programs.[114] One popular program,Jika Aku Menjadi ("If I Were"), follows young, middle-class people as they are temporarily placed into lower-class life, where they learn to appreciate their circumstances back home by experiencing daily life for the less fortunate.[114] Critics have claimed that this and similar programs in Indonesia reinforce traditionally Western ideals ofmaterialism andconsumerism.[114] However, Eko Nugroho, reality-show producer and president of Dreamlight World Media, insists that these reality shows are not promoting American lifestyles but rather reaching people through their universal desires.[114]
Reality television has also received criticism in Britain and the United States for itsideological relationship withsurveillance societies and consumerism. Writing inThe New York Times in 2012, author Mark Andrejevic characterised the role of reality television in a post-9/11 society as the normalisation of surveillance in participatory monitoring, the "logic of the emerging surveillance economy", and in the promise of a societal self-image that is contrived.[115] AnLSE paper by Nick Couldry associates reality television withneoliberalism, condemning the ritualised enactment and consumption of what must be legitimised for the society it serves.[116]
Reality television generally costs less to produce than scripted series.[citation needed]
VH1 executive vice president Michael Hirschorn wrote in 2007 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 thepolice 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 JapaneseNoh theater," while reality television is "the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has engaged hot-button cultural issues – class, sex, race – that respectable television... rarely touches."[117]
Television criticJames Poniewozik wrote in 2008 that reality shows likeDeadliest Catch andIce 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."[118]
In a 2021 interview, filmmakerMike White (who had previously competed onThe Amazing Race andSurvivor) said that reality competition shows likeSurvivor accurately conveyed how, in real life, "so much of self is situational", so that, as circumstances change, "the oppressed becomes the oppressor, the bully becomes the bullied." In contrast, he felt that in scripted drama "there's a lot of religiosity around humanity."[119]
Reality television has the potential to turn its participants into nationalcelebrities, at least for a short period. This is most notable in talent-search programs such asIdol andThe X Factor, which have spawned music stars in many of the countries in which they have aired. Many other shows, however, have made mostly temporary celebrities out of their participants; some participants have then been able to parlay this fame into media and merchandising careers. Participants of non-talent-search programs who have had subsequent acting careers includeLilian Afegbai,Jacinda Barrett,Jamie Chung,Stephen Colletti,David Giuntoli,Vishal Karwal,NeNe Leakes andAngela Trimbur; though Barrett and Trimbur were already aspiring actresses when they appeared on reality television. Reality TV participants who have become television hosts and personalities includeNabilla Benattia,Rachel Campos-Duffy,Kristin Cavallari,Colby Donaldson,Raffaella Fico,Elisabeth Hasselbeck,Katie Hopkins,Rebecca Jarvis,Jodie Marsh,Heidi Montag,Tiffany Pollard andWhitney Port; some of them have had acting careers as well. Reality TV participants who have become television personalities as well as successful entrepreneurs includeGemma Collins,Lauren Conrad,Jade Goody,Bethenny Frankel andSpencer Matthews. Several cast members of MTV'sJersey Shore have had lucrative endorsement deals, and in some cases their own product lines. WrestlersMike "The Miz" Mizanin andDavid Otunga got their start on non-athletic reality shows.
InAustralia, various reality TV personalities have later served as radio hosts, including Fitzy and Rachel Corbett fromBig Brother,[120] Mick Newell fromMy Kitchen Rules,[121] Heather Maltman fromThe Bachelor,[122] and Sam Frost fromThe Bachelorette.[123][124]
Some reality-television alumni have parlayed their fame into paid public appearances.[125][126]
Severalsocialites, or children of famous parents, who were somewhat well known before they appeared on reality television shows have become much more famous as a result, includingParis Hilton,Nicole Richie,Kelly Osbourne,Kim Kardashian, and many of the rest of theKardashian family.
Reality television personalities often get derided as "Z-list celebrities". Some have been lampooned for exploiting an undeserved "15 minutes of fame".[127] TheKardashian family is one such group of reality television personalities who were subject to this criticism in the 2010s,[127][128] Kim Kardashian in particular.[129]
Two international franchises,The Apprentice andDragons' Den, are notable for having some of the business people who appeared there as judges and investors go on to win political office. The prime example isPresident of the United StatesDonald Trump: his stint as host of the originalThe Apprentice from 2004 to 2015 has been credited by some commentators as a factor in his political success, since it greatly increased his fame, and showcased him as a tough and experienced authority figure.[130]Lado Gurgenidze, who hosted the Georgian version ofThe Apprentice in 2005, was appointedPrime Minister of Georgia from 2007, and served until 2008.Harry Harkimo, who hosted the Finnish version ofThe Apprentice from 2009 to 2013, has been a member of theParliament of Finland since 2015.João Doria, who hosted seasons 7-8 of the Brazilian version ofThe Apprentice,O Aprendiz, from 2010 to 2011, served asMayor of São Paulo from 2017 to 2018,[131] and asGovernor of São Paulo from 2018 to 2022.Bruno Bonnell, who hosted the short-lived French version ofThe Apprentice in 2015, was a member of France'sNational Assembly from 2017 to 2022.
Dragons' Den investors who have gone on to hold political office after appearing on their country's version of the program includeTommy Ahlers of Denmark,Nir Barkat of Israel,Anne Berner of Finland,Tomio Okamura of the Czech Republic, andLencke Wischhusen of Germany.
In a rare case of a previously unknown reality television alumnus succeeding in the political arena,The Real World: Boston cast memberSean Duffy was aU.S. Representative fromWisconsin from 2010 to 2019.[132]
In 2006, four of the ten most popular programs among viewers under 17 were reality shows.[133] Studies have shown that young people emulate the behavior displayed on these programs, gathering much of their knowledge of the social world, particularly about consumer practices, from television.[110][134][135][136] Some critics have decried the positive representation of sexually objectified women in shows likeThe Girls Next Door.[137][138]
In 2007, according to theLearning and Skills Council, one in seven UK teenagers hoped to gain fame by appearing on reality television.[139]
A number of studies have tried to pinpoint the appeal of reality television.[140] Factors that have been cited in its appeal include personal identification with the onscreen participants; pure entertainment; diversion from scripted TV; vicarious participation;[141] a feeling of self-importance compared to onscreen participants;[142] enjoyment of competition;[142] and an appeal tovoyeurism, especially given "scenes which take place in private settings, containnudity, or include gossip".[143][144][145]
A 2012 survey byToday.com found that Americans who watch reality television regularly are more extroverted, more neurotic, and have lower self-esteem than those who do not.[146]
A number of fictional works since the 1940s have contained elements similar to elements of reality television. They tended to be set in adystopian future, with subjects being recorded against their will and often involved violence.
Some scripted and written works have used reality television as a plot device:
A number of scripted television comedy and satire shows have adopted the format of the documentary-type reality television show, in "mockumentary" style. The first such show was the BBC seriesOperation Good Guys, which premiered in 1997. Arguably the best-known and most influential such show is the BBC'sThe Office (2001), which spawned numerous international remakes, including asuccessful American version. Other examples includePeople Like Us (BBC UK, 1998),The Games (ABC Australia, 1999),Trailer Park Boys (2001),Reno 911! (2003),The Naked Brothers Band (2006),Summer Heights High (2007),Parks and Recreation (2009),Modern Family (2009),Come Fly with Me (2010),Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013),Trial & Error (2017),Cut (2017) andAbbott Elementary (2021). The genre has even encompassed cartoons (Drawn Together (2004) andTotal Drama (2007)) and a show about puppets (The Muppets, 2015).
Not all reality-television-style mockumentary series are comedic: the 2013 American seriesSiberia has a science fiction-horror bent, while the 2014 Dutch seriesThe First Years is a drama.
The 2013–2015 Americansketch comedy seriesKroll Show set most of its sketches as excerpts from various fictional reality television shows, which one critic wrote "aren't far off from the lineups at E!, Bravo, and VH1", and parodied those shows' participants' "lack of self-awareness".[154] The show also satirized the often incestuous nature of reality television, in which some series lead to a cascade of spinoffs.Kroll Show executive producer John Levenstein said in an interview that reality TV "has so many tools for telling stories in terms of text and flashbacks and ways to show things to the audience that it's incredibly convenient for comedy and storytelling if you use the full reality show toolkit."[155]
Some feature films have been produced that use some of the conventions of reality television; such films are sometimes referred to asreality films, and sometimes simply as documentaries.[156]Allen Funt's 1970 hidden camera movieWhat Do You Say to a Naked Lady? was based on his reality-television showCandid Camera. The seriesJackass spawned five feature films, starting withJackass: The Movie in 2002. A similar Finnish show,The Dudesons, was adapted for the filmThe Dudesons Movie, and a similar British show,Dirty Sanchez, was adapted forDirty Sanchez: The Movie, both in 2006. The producers ofThe Real World createdThe Real Cancun in 2003. The Chinese reality showKeep Running was adapted for the 2015 filmRunning Man.
The 2003 BBC filmThe Other Boleyn Girl incorporated reality TV-style confessionals in which the two main characters talked directly to the camera.[157]
In 2007, broadcasterKrishnan Guru-Murthy stated that reality television is "a firm and embedded part of television's vocabulary, used in every genre from game-shows and drama to news and current affairs."[158]
Themumblecore 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'sThe Real World". Mumblecore directorJoe 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."[159]
The viewers are seeing the PRODUCED side of her show and not so much the genuine stuff, and she looks silly because of it... A LOT TAKES PLACE IN THE EDITING ROOM!
Such women are symbolic of both the triumph and failure of consumerism and popular culture, where Playboy models and reality TV stars are revered by a younger, impressionable generation.
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