Coming to Grips with Reality
Imagine being able to travel through time to the mid-1980’s and have a meeting with executives from the major television networks. (Okay, so wasting the gift of time travel to meet with TV execs makes no sense; just play along!) Anyway, they would certainly ask what the top shows were in 2010. Imagine their surprise when you told them the biggest show was a singing contest, followed by semi-celebrities learning to dance, people losing weight, men picking a woman to date or women picking a man, wives being swapped, people being videotaped while living together, and on and on and on. (Of course, I guess they’d be surprised to hear that “Wheel of Fortune” was still the highest-rated show in syndication. Or that the host was still alive.)
All in all, I think you’d have trouble getting any of them to believe you were being serious. Who in the world would want to watch any of this stuff? I’m not sure I’d have the heart to break the news that YouTube existed. After more than half a century, television has become a freak show for voyeurs. We appear to be happy doing what we used to dread—watching other people's home movies.
The most obvious problem with so-called Reality TV is that there’s nothing real about it. All of us in show business know the writers—er, segment producers—who create the story lines and the actors—er, real people—who carry them out. Is there anything funnier than watching two of these performers whispering to each other so as not to be overheard by someone else when they’re whispering to all of America?
But as inexplicable as the success of these shows is to me, I have come to understand the need for their existence. Without them, we would suffer from a severe celebrity shortage in America. Think of it. Entertainment Tonight and all of its clones, not to mention entire cable networks, need celebrity news to exist, but, without Reality TV, there wouldn’t be enough real celebrities to feed the beast. As a result, a method of manufacturing celebrities had to be found; like America entering World War II, factories had to be built to supply needed materiel.
So just try to think of The Bachelorette as a way to fill up another interview slot for Regis & Kelly. Think of the Kardashians as—well, you get the point. It doesn’t make those Reality TV shows any easier to swallow, but, like cockroaches and crabgrass, at least they serve a purpose in the circle of life.
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Jun '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
I imagine it's easier for writers to start with real people, often very odd people, rather than face a blank page. I imagine the main reason is, it's easier and cheaper, and people are willing to watch. Writing a House episode is probably hard work.
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
I certainly understand the economic allure of the genre, but I remain baffled that it attracts viewers. Of course, I'm getting old and crotchety, and I'm convinced that black & white TV is poised for a comeback.
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Pat, I must be old and crotchety, too. I can't stand reality TV. Every now and then I'll cozy up to the weight loss show to get that tingly feeling and maybe shed a few tears rejoicing in their success with those who have lost yet gained. But even that can't sustain me for very long.
As to black & white? Hmmm... do you think they'd make it 3D?
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Can we just blame Bob Saget for this sad state of affairs?
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Really strange indeed. I don't understand the attraction at all. Though I do have to admit, I'm not much of a TV watcher, period. (sorry Pat) Wheel of Fortune is 100X more interesting to me than the scores of silly reality shows, I just don't sit down in front of the TV except for when the golf majors are on.
Jun '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Don't forget Judge Wapner, and his subsequent incarnations. Reality TV to me feels like the exploitation of the willing. It plays (and preys) upon the vulnerabilities of the participants, and the compassions or indulgences of the viewers. I'm not suggesting that it's all bad (some of the Extreme Home Makeover stuff is transformative and positive for those beneficiaries), but the genre is certainly not my preferred cup of tea.
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Wapner? Better examples would be Oprah and Donahue. Sally Jesse and Springer. The "endless parade of human debris".
So called "reality" TV, I think, is only the natural evolution thereof; but, they're also game shows* further evolving into style that was the subject of King's The Running Man-- if not there already.
*except for Pawn Stars, of course. I mean it's educational, right?
Jim Chase
Don't forget Judge Wapner, and his subsequent incarnations. Reality TV to me feels like the exploitation of the willing. It plays (and preys) upon the vulnerabilities of the participants, and the compassions or indulgences of the viewers. I'm not suggesting that it's all bad (some of the Extreme Home Makeover stuff is transformative and positive for those beneficiaries), but the genre is certainly not my preferred cup of tea. · Jul 6 at 10:50am
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Pat, while I love your line about reality TV being a freak show for voyeurs, I think you may have miscategorized the genre. I'd argue that reality TV is simply a fresh take on the game show format. What's The Bachelor/Bachelorette, but an updated version of The Dating Game. Survivor and The Biggest Loser are pretty much updated versions of American Gladiators. Hell's Kitchen? Kind of like Wheel of Fortune (maybe that one's a stretch...).
What reality TV lacks in story line, it makes up for in good, old-fashioned competition. What could be more American?
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Pat, two things I love about Reality TV: 1) the way people on those shows always seem to be "launching" some kind of "line" -- a skin care line or a swimsuit line or a diet food line. Everyone in America -- which is a number pretty close to "everyone on a reality series" -- is about to launch a line. And 2) it totally undermines the theory that people, under observation, tend to act more civilly and gently with each other.
Of course, what I hate about Reality TV is a little more serious. As a practitioner of scripted television, it's taken a big bite out of my business.
Possibly related data point: If you could somehow travel back in time to talk to network television executives, you'd be talking to, maybe, five or six people. Tops. Back then, those places were run with small teams of execs. Nowadays, there are dozens and dozens of them. I've been to table readings of television show scripts with -- I kid you not -- sixty executives.
More decision makers never, ever, results in better decisions.
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
I can proudly state that the last reality TV show I actually saw was either "Divorce Court" or "Queen For A Day" at my grandmother's house in about 1962.
Did anyone notice that actual new episodes of comedies or dramas are found more often on cable now than on the networks? The only thing worse than US broadcast TV is British broadcast TV.
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Reality TV keeps my dogs eating premium dog food so I'm biased. There are many horrible reality shows, but also some great ones - Celebrity Rehab can be fascinating. Tool Academy was fun trash. I love Forensic Files and Project Runway... The days of The Osbournes - though obviously edited, was completely real and unscripted - has probably passed us by. It was very expensive - shooting approximate 180 hours for a half hour of television. Big bucks no Whammies. Love Wheel, Pat. It's still one of my all time favorite shows.
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
I'm with FeliciaB and Pat in not understanding the allure of "reality" TV. But then, I don't have cable and didn't have a television from something like the mid 70s through mid 90s, so I am somewhat out of touch with recent contemporary (does that make sense in a non-redundant way?) culture. I also love the black & white movies and TV--they did wonderfully dramatic things with lighting that can't be replicated with color. I also prefer color to be on the less saturated side; maybe I just like to avoid too much stimulation.
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
I'm with you both, Pat and Diane. Two kinds of reality TV are afoot: the semiscripted nightmare parallel universe you describe, Pat -- which gives me the absolute Fear -- and, Diane, the entrepreneurialistic rituals captured in the better reality shows about chefs and designers and, in my favorite, people pitching moguls on their own small businesses. One redeeming aspect of this neat division is that it allows us to quarantine the recursive hell of the voyeur dramas...which can only mean that the next great leap forward in reality television is a total fusion of the two opposite formats into some new kind of monstrosity, American Idol meets Mexican soap opera meets Rock of Love. You heard it here first. Quick, Rob -- to the Sunset Blvd. Coffee Bean! (That's still the place to pitch, right?)
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
It is, I suppose, wrong to lump everything known as "Reality TV" into one heap. A defender or the genre I know asks whether we'd really be better off with a couple of "Matlock" spinoffs on the air. And, let's face it, we're not exactly examining the Dead Sea Scrolls on Wheel. However, neither do we attempt to embarrass or exploit the people who play our game, nor do we provide a platform for those who choose to embarrass or exploit themselves or their loved ones. I know, too, that television has always had more bad than good, even during the "Golden Age." Maybe it's just the sheer weight of all the outlets extant. Way back in 1961, then-FCC Chairman Newton Minow famously called television a "vast wasteland." I guess the problem is that it's gotten vaster!
Jul '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Going back in time to the mid-80's to talk with tv executives I'd pitch "A Show About Nothing."
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Rob Long: Nowadays, there are dozens and dozens of them. I've been to table readings of television show scripts with -- I kid you not -- sixty executives.
More decision makers never, ever, results in better decisions. · Jul 6 at 11:29am
I suppose that explains re-runs (A-Team, Karate Kid, Red Dawn, Tron, Footloose, Voltron / Go Lion, etc.) at the cinema, too. Still no love for Powers of Matthew Star, yet.
Anyway, I think one of the more attractive things about "reality" shows is the typical audience can recognize and identify with the actors/participants more readily than a scripted drama. Additionally, there's the idea that average people (often "worse off" than one's self) in relatively average situations (with just a little help) can win.
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
One show I wish they'd import from the U.K. is border collie/sheep herding trials. It is stunningly boring as the sheep go into woodsy areas and refuse to leave, Dickensian men in beards whistle and call out to the dogs... and yet, I remember watching a marathon of it.
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Now that I'd watch!
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Or maybe it's a vast waist-land.
Japanese TV is pretty wasted too. Lots of competitive quiz shows, but the contestants are always minor "stars", not civilians, sort of like Hollywood Squares. These often involve teams, reflecting the Japanese preference for group activities. The other big genre is food. The Japanese appetite for food shows can never be satisfied.
May '10
Re: Coming to Grips with Reality
Mr. Sajak, I'm very glad to see you here on Ricochet. I remember thinking when I heard you emcee President George W. Bush's 2001 Inaugural Parade: My, isn't he a brave little toaster?
It pleases me that you are still employed.
I agree, #1, etoiledunord! What eats at me about "reality television" is that it seems intellectually and morally lazy.