How much more American reality television programs can viewers endure? Television executives and producers are racing to attract audiences with this expanding genre by appealing to audience’s personal desire for fame and money.
Before examining how executives and producers appeal to audience desires in reality television programming, we must look at some history behind American reality television programming. Where did we first see the emergence of this genre into mainstream cable television?
It all started with seven strangers picked to live in loft have their lives taped and to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. This introduction was developed by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray in 1992 of MTV’s reality show “Real World.”
The idea was ground-breaking in television programming during this new era of cable television. The goal of Murray and Bunim was to expose audiences to “real” human emotions rather than the traditional scripted program of the networks.
The success of this genre is due to numerous factors including appeal to a specific target audience and shock-conflict value of the episodes. The latter is an important element for any successful reality program.
We all like to relate in some way to each of these individuals. We root for our favorites and have disdain those who are out to harm them. Reality television promises to give us people that we can relate to on some level or another. Or has it?
The popularity of reality programming on MTV developed by Bunim/Murray Productions has crossed over into traditional network television as well as other cable networks.
Today’s reality television programs target audience’s desire for fame and money rather than the “real” human experience. This is evident with programs such as:
The Biggest Loser
The Bachelor
Project Runway
American Idol
Top Chef
Big Brother
America's Got Talent
Survivor
The Next Food Network Star
So You Think You Can Dance
It is this desire for fame and money that television executives and producers use when developing reality programming. So, what would you do for a million dollars or a chance to be famous?
I am now going to speak from personal experience. I had considered being a second season contestant of The Biggest Loser when I was 285lbs. I did not care about the money or the fame that is associated with the program.
I just wanted to loose the weight for my personal health. I had decided to contact one of the first season’s contestants before submitting my video and my personal bio to NBC. I discovered the reality behind The Biggest Loser is it starts the contestants with rapid weight loss program in an unhealthy manner.
He informed me that the producers and executives needed quick results for television viewing audiences. This raised my eyebrow when discussing this with a previous contestant of the reality show.
Also, producers encouraged to show their disappointment and emotions of the weight goals that they did not attain for that specific week. From this discussion, I decided not to proceed in sending my video and personal bio to NBC.
Reality television started as an experiment with seven strangers picked to live in loft to have their lives taped and to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. It has become a contest of fame and monetary gain.
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If you ever watch the credits at the end of a reality TV show you'll also see 'script supervisor'.
ReplyDeleteKind of interesting seeing as how it’s supposed to be reality. I understand that these people help set up the jobs and the challenges but still, seems a little ominous and misleading.