Now a commonly heard phrase in our culture, reality TV is defined by Wikipedia as “a genre of television programming which presents supposedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people instead of professional actors.”
While there have been many reality shows long before they were given a name (“Candid Camera” in the 40s and “Beat the Clock,” for example), the genre truly burst onto the national scene in 2000 with the show “Survivor.”
There are reality shows acceptable for every palate. Some can be called cinéma vérité, or “cinema of truth,” due to the camera and the viewer passively observing the professional and personal lives of others in a documentary-esque style (“The Real World,” “The 1900 House,” “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County”). Some reality shows focus of helping people romantically (“Blind Date,” “Next,” “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?”), while others seek to provide opportunities for employment (“The Apprentice,” “America’s Next Top Model”). Some shows give people a chance to live out their dream (“American Idol,” “I Work for Rolling Stone,” “So You Think You Can Dance”). A few programs even portray makeovers, whether it be physical (“Celebrity Fit Club”), social (“Beauty and the Geek”) or vehicular (“Pimp My Ride,” “Trick My Truck”). No matter a person’s viewing preferences, reality TV is ready and willing to pander to it.
Yet, many people readily acknowledge they don’t consider these shows to be true to life, and more than a few shows have been accused of fakery to some degree. There have been allegations that the customers in the reality show “Hell’s Kitchen” were actors paid by FOX to participate. “Joe Millionaire” was found to have combined different audio and video to make it seem the contestants did things that never actually happened.
Even some people are thought to be typecast: the infamous Omarosa Manigualt-Stallworth from “The Apprentice” says in a TIME magazine article printed on Jan. 29, 2006 that her edited behavior intentionally depicted her as the villain.
“When I was a good girl, there were no cameras on,” Stallworth said in the article. “The minute I started arguing, there was a camera shooting me from every angle.” (“How Reality TV Fakes It”, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171, 1154194,00.html) “I take it (reality TV) as comedy,” Winston-Salem State University student Ivy Mullins stated. “It’s realistic people in a scripted situation, and you don’t see the raw footage. I’ll take it as entertainment, but I don’t call it ‘reality TV.'”Some viewers take their criticism further, commenting not just on the shows but on the contestants. They see those who enter the reality TV-verse as merely vain and hungry for fame, however fleeting that may be, and will do whatever it takes to obtain it. Whether it is fighting over a celebrity, eating vile things or acting the fool in front of a national audience, having their name shining in lights is the goal in these viewers’ eyes. “I think reality TV is crap,” graduating WSSU senior Domonique Williams commented. “It’s a whole bunch of people who found a way to get famous and will do literally anything to keep that fame.”
Even some reality show creators will admit to the unreality. Mark Burnett, creator of “Survivor” and other reality shows, does not even use the term “reality” in reference to his shows. As he explained in a 2003 article, “I tell good stories. It (Survivor) really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama.” (“Surviving and thriving”,http://www.theage. com.au/articles/2003/11/12/ 1068329621438.html)
So then, why do some people continue to watch reality TV?Some may watch reality TV shows to feel better about their own lives. Whether it is watching the romantic bloodletting and paternity dilemmas on “Maury” or bearing witness to the chaos of the “Jerry Springer Show,” they can serve both to entertain the viewer and provide perspective on their own problems.
There are those who see this as escapism, to see the worlds of other people and how the “other half” lives. Others say they watch these shows for the same reason others despise them…the behavior of the contestants.
Many critics thought this new genre would have a brief yet memorable and enormously lucrative existence. But now, seven years and countless shows later, reality TV is still going strong, and may very well remain so in the future.