Pop-Thoughts: the Reality TV Phenomenon

This week has flown by and so have all of my workdays prepping for a big (nearly final for the series) shoot out west.

I have given a good bit of thought to the genesis of the reality TV phenomenon, especially lately as my company’s latest show is coming to the end of shooting its episodes. Some people would say reality TV started with MTV's "The Real World," while others think "Survivor" really started the boom. I'm with the latter, but only because the game show reality format was huge for so long. Even today, our culture is addicted to reality-style competition, which created the big boom of voyeur TV. (Thank you, Mark Burnett. Without you, I wouldn’t have a job in TV right now.) When you think about it, reality TV is just a hand-held version of the game show obsessions that consumed Americans in the early years of television. Have you ever watched Game Show Network? I haven’t, really. But mostly because I’m disinterested in old television shows. Game shows were HUGE for so long, it only makes sense that competition-style shows like “The Amazing Race” and “Survivor” and “Fear Factor” took off like they did. (Of course these days we’re so much more interested in watching people make fools of themselves. Not to mention that most reality shows just make us feel better knowing we have it more together than half the people on TV — hello John and Kate Gosselin!)

Working on a new reality TV series, I’ve learned that every little bit of it is scripted. There are no surprises—at least not to the producers. A friend who worked on one of the “Real Housewives” series told me it’s the same for them too. Everyone knows reality TV is fake—for the most part. Prime example? “The Hills” on MTV. Best example of a reality show that doesn’t look scripted? That’s a tough one. Maybe early episodes of “John & Kate Plus 8” -- you know, before the divorce and before the producers opened their mouths. I don’t know anything about “Deadliest Catch,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were mostly scripted too. This is why the entertainment world needs producers.

As for anyone involved on camera, what can I say? The lens loves a genuinely surprised reaction. I’ve spent the last two weeks clearing locations I’ve never been to, cold-calling doctors I’ll never meet, and doing research for a show with characters (yes, we call them “characters”) that I’ll never see in real life. It’s a strange world, this reality television production. Though, I have to say, when the first clips from an edit come rolling into the inbox, it’s incredibly satisfying to watch.

People love to hate reality TV. The problem is that anyone who loves television doesn’t actually hate reality TV. If they did, TV Land would be the highest-rated network and re-runs of “Welcome Back Cotter” and “Three’s Company” would be topping the Variety charts every week. Of course network television still has its gems, like “House” and “Lost” (neither of which I watch. My shows include “Cake Boss” and the “Real Housewives” series. Everything else I love is on premium cable and, quite frankly, I can’t afford that so I get them after the fact on Netflix. “Mad Men” season 1 is coming in the mail next—so excited! I realize that's not premium cable, but I've missed the entire boat on this one—first and second seasons). Where was I? Oh right ... Reality TV.

Let’s face it, reality TV is here to stay. It might taper off for a while. And it will evolve. It has evolved already. And there are really three from voyeuristic competition-style shows (like “Survivor” and “Amazing Race”) to staged competitions (“Project Runway,” “Flavor of Love”/”Rock of Love,” and “America’s Next Top Model”) and then there’s straight voyeurism and documentary series (“Deadliest Catch” and “True Life”) , and, finally, the scripted stuff (“What Not To Wear,” “Real Housewives,” and, the guiltiest of all, “The Hills”). Sitcoms are a thing of the past. No one wants to watch anything filmed in front of a live studio audience with a laugh track, unless it’s “Saturday Night Live” or one of the late-night shows. Thank God there are non-reality options for us, too. But that’s a whole other post.

I love TV. There are too many shows to name them all, too many to categorize, whether reality or by a teleplay. The good thing is that you have options. You can watch trash, you can take in something thought-provoking, and you can choose to watch nothing. Hooray for Hollywood, hooray for cable, and thank God for the networks of Viacom!