It seems like every time you turn on the television set you see some kind of reality based programming. It is the so-called “Newest” TV trend. Whether it is a news program like “60 Minutes” or "Survivor", it is everywhere. Our society has a new genre title, Reality Television. It is a very broad term and it covers just about everything. This so-called new genre has a long, not thought about past, new attractions, new shows, programming conflicts, downfalls, and hopefully a future.
When one thinks of reality based programming, most think that it is a new television genre. People think that all of a sudden the trend just appeared, which could not be farther from the truth. This type of programming has been around almost as long as there have been TV sets.
Your local news was the first reality based television show. People nowadays do not consider it reality programming. Then you have your news programs like "60 Minutes" and Nightline, that can also be considered. The morning show like "Goodmoring" America, was live reality programming.
Fast forward several years you will find reality based programming that would be closer to what most are used to. Crime shows like "Cops" and "America’s Most Wanted" are good examples of early types of show in this Genre. Then a few years later MTV jumps on the band wagon. They started two new shows called "Real World" and "Road Rules". This are the closest examples we have to what we now call reality TV.
The reality based television we know now came them from overseas, places like Australia, Sweden, and Denmark. Not only did they give us the new premise for this genre, they gave us American versions of their top shows. "Big Brother", "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire", and "Weakest Link" all came from other countries. The "Weakest Link" even has the original host from England.
So what has attracted us back to this kind of programming? It is much cheaper to produce than television. You do not have to pay actors, make extravagant sets and graphics. It is usually pretty plain and simple. Shows like MTV’s "Fear" lets the contestants film, not a camera crew.
Americans in general have a need to know what other real people are like. Shows like "Big Brother" lets the audience look into the everyday lives of these people. The audience gets to see what they are doing every minute of the time the contestants are there. Voyeurism, has a lot to do with this new raise in reality based television. We as a society have become more relaxed with what is OK to show on television. The people on the show "Big Brother" even had a camera installed in the bathroom. They could not get away from the audience.
These new show draw in millions and millions of viewers weekly. This is why all of the big networks want their own claim to fame. With this new kind of programming, even the smaller stations can get in on the band wagon, because the shows are cheaper to produce. Less money and big ratings are a big draw for all of the stations. For the week of April 2-8, 'Survivor: The Australian Outback' pulled in, “27.7 million viewers”, and the Tuesday version of 'Millionaire' brought in “17.2 million viewers”. If you look at the Nielson top 28 rated shows for that week, you will find that 8 of those show were reality based television shows.
With everyone wanting reality based shows, the stations are bound to run into some programming conflicts. If you take a look at the TV guide for the week of April 22-28, 2001 one can see how stations had tried to program their reality shows during primetime. Wednesday, you find that "Boot Camp" is the only reality program on that night. This should helps the ratings. Thursday has now become reality night on all, but one station. During the 8:00-9:00 p.m. slot ABC, CBS, AND FOX run this kind of programming. ABC runs 3 full hours of reality TV on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday FOX uses its entire prime time on reality programming.
Another kind of conflict came up in February. It was about Sweeps time that "Survivor: The Australian Outback" started showing. They announced that they were going to put the show on Thursday nights opposite the highly rated "Friends". Most people thought that was going to be disastrous for this second installment of "Survivor". So when Sweeps, came along NBC counteracted their move by coming up with “Super Sized Friends". It would have a 40 minute episode of "Friends" and 20 minutes of "Saturday Night Live". For the week of February 9, 2001 "Survivor: The Australian Outback" brought in “29 million viewers”, and “Super Sized Friends" had “21.2 million viewers.” Even though the numbers for "Friends" were down, "Saturday Night Live" had it’s highest rated show of the season.
A surge of new reality shows are under construction at this time. With the Screen Actors Guild possibly going on strike, this may bring more reality show to every television in the US. Since the people are not actors they are not effected by the possible strike. With the low production cost of reality TV, stations can afford to make the show and keep them till they need them. This is the least expensive alternative to pre-taping episodes for all of the show.
One hears so much good stuff about this new genre, some think it will never end. One thing people should keep in mind is the fact that Americans are so fickle. They are a nation obsessed with fads. There will always be some type of reality programming, but not the kind the most people are used to. We will still have the local news, the morning shows, and shows like "20/20", because they are not fad shows like Survivor. These shows have withstood the test of time.
With the serge of the so-called reality based television, television may, or may not be the same. What we do know is that there will always be new shows, new attractions, new conflicts, and new downfalls. This is the way programming is in America. It is constantly evolving and changing. Hopefully, for the better. As we have seen, good shows will stand the test of time.
Heidi Cross
TCOM 306
