In this grumble we look at two types of reality television, controlled and fly on the wall. Different, but altogether the same thing used to draw in viewers and boost the ratings.
First up, we have the controlled reality shows. This new format of television started around the mid-1990s with The Real World from the USA. The format was basic, eight people in their early 20s from all different walks of life sharing a life experience. The cast members were randomly chosen by the series producers and needed to get jobs and maintain a 'normal' relationship with their housemates.
Running for 20 years, and still being filmed today, this has sparked ideas with other production companies who wanted to push the boubdaries as far as possible for our entertainment. The most popular of these was Big Brother. New millennium, new show, the UK version saw Channel 4 popularity sky-rocket ad millions of people every night sat in their house and tuned in to watch othet people in another house. This was a highly controlled environment where the strangers became housemates for several weeks, restricted within the walls and garden where they were watched 24/7 and had to complete tasks to have luxuries. Many people thought that they pushes the boundaries too far causing controversy due to racism, homophobia and sexual encounters shown on the highlights show daily. This sparked outrage with the public, yet still managed to pull in the ratings.
There have been many other controlled reality shows over the years, some of the most popular being Celebrity Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here and Survivor. In most cases, the celebrity shows have caused more of a stir due certain "stars" trying to revive a dead career, only to lose any respect they had with a poor choice of words or actions.
Let's move on now to fly on the wall reality shows. They started out with shows such as Super Nanny and Come Dine With Me. Although controlled to an extent, these were people in their natural environments being followed by camera crews.
With the popularity of reality fly on the wall, the UK has been subjected to the likes of This Is Chelsea and The Only Way I Essex. Allegedly these are just normal people with normal lives being followed by a crew. My question with these is, if it is so normal, how can the camera crew know exactly how to film without getting the shot blocked and why are all the cast on chat shows when some of them argue to the point of destruction?
Ok, I know this has just been a lesson so far, so I will get on with the moan. How can any of these shows call themselves reality when in some cases they could not be further from it. Everyone being filmed is putting on a false frant of some sort and the entertainmant factor is just edited to get you watching. Think about it, if you were filmed for just one day, would there be anything worth watching or would someone have to intervene to make it worth while?
It sometimes ruffles my feathers when you see the US versions of Super Nanny and Wife Swap that state some of the filming has been staged. If this is the case, it's not reality, it is people acting as themselves. It's the same for all the shows to some degree, even subconsciously, people will change who they are for the entertainment factor.
With the way this is going, it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have a real life Truman Show or Running Man in the next decade.
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