Why did reality TV get so popular.

[Hugo Drax]

It seems there are tons of reality type TV shows filling the channels.

ie: Karashians, wife swap,duck dynasty,etc.. tons and tons

I never remember seeing such shows existing before. it seems in the mid 90s they started to appear and exploded in the 21st century.

 

[Mixolydian]

Ya gotta give the people what they want.

 

[nickbits]

They are cheap to make and people watch.

 

[Doppel]

When Survivor came out in '99 or '2000 it was novel and interesting. Then Big Brother came out. Kind of similar. Then it was realized that paying people close to nothing and still getting ratings = money, so they exploded, even though most of them are crap.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

They are cheap to make and people watch.

That doesn't answer the question. That explains why not the networks want to air so many, not why they got popular in the first place.

My theory: We're a society of people that are both stupid and voyeuristic, so we're predisposed to watch things supposedly happening to real people (like rubbernecking traffic accidents) and most of the viewers are so stupid that they think reality TV is real. So watching a "reality" TV family is more entertaining than watching a scripted TV family to the idiots who don't understand that the reality family is just as scripted.

 

[KeithTalent]

When Survivor came out in '99 or '2000 it was novel and interesting. Then Big Brother came out. Kind of similar. Then it was realized that paying people close to nothing and still getting ratings = money, so they exploded, even though most of them are crap.

Yeah but at least those are competitions so you can kind of root for teams, or individuals trying to win something. These other shows are just a bunch of morans doing nothing for an hour. I really do not understand, but all the women I know watch that crap religiously.

KT

 

[BoberFett]

People are stupid.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Yeah but at least those are competitions so you can kind of root for teams, or individuals trying to win something. These other shows are just a bunch of morans doing nothing for an hour. I really do not understand, but all the women I know watch that crap religiously.

KT

I always felt those two and, The Amazing Race were more like game shows with the game spread out over a season rather than a single episode.

The rest of them.... well, people are stupid.

 

[KeithTalent]

I always felt those two and, The Amazing Race were more like game shows with the game spread out over a season rather than a single episode.

The rest of them.... well, people are stupid.

Yeah totally. Forgot about The Amazing Race; I agree.

KT

 

[lakedude]

It seems to me like the writer's strike was the start of the trend. Normal shows are expensive because you have to pay writers and professional performers etc.

Reality TV is dirt cheap by comparison. I refuse to watch any of that crap on principle.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I always felt those two and, The Amazing Race were more like game shows with the game spread out over a season rather than a single episode.

The rest of them.... well, people are stupid.

True, although when you get down to it, all game shows are "reality" to a degree and they're the first successful reality programming. Other than the news I guess.

The funny thing is that reality TV is sort of an accident. Current reality TV dates back to Cops which was 1989 I think. MTV had Real World before that, but it didn't really take off anywhere else. And Cops was just a last-minute series thrown together to plug holes in the lineup due to a writers strike. The networks didn't think it was a solution, it was just better than dead air. And it took off. Maybe Cops was the perfect show to get the genre started. Real Housewives or dating shows were not dirty laundry enough, but Cops tapped into the schadenfreude of the nation. People like watching guys in wife-beaters getting cuffed and bent over the hood of a squad car.

 

[moonbogg]

Because reality is where our fantasies come to be.

 

[Printer Bandit]

give props to MTV's The Real World, they kicked it off.

 

[Newbian]

They really need to pump the reward for survivor up.

It was impressive when it started but now you can win a million dollars just spinning a wheel against only 2 other people.

 

[Franz316]

It's an epidemic really. They all follow the same formula too. For whatever reason, the American people enjoy watching others do their somewhat unusual job while acting somewhat crazy.

 

[destrekor]

When Survivor came out in '99 or '2000 it was novel and interesting. Then Big Brother came out. Kind of similar. Then it was realized that paying people close to nothing and still getting ratings = money, so they exploded, even though most of them are crap.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say The Real World was first.

It sucked then, still sucks now... but it got people watching.

Then some of the major network reality game shows came out... and then companies like Discovery Communications started testing the idea on Discovery Channel, it was successful and blew up all over the channels Discovery owns. Sci-Fi (err.. SyFy) and The Weather Channel are probably the worst abusers of the concept based on original network programming, at this point.

If Discovery Communications never jumped on the concept, we'd all probably be much happier. Not that it really changes anything - hundreds of channels and rarely is anything of interest on at a moment I just feel like randomly watching whatever. Thankfully, that's rare; I just DVR everything of remote interest and watch them that when I want to sit in front of the TV.

 

[Fern]

Why did reality TV get so popular.

I'd say partly because the quality of regular TV had fallen so and partly because reality shows can be interesting and/or educational.

I've never watched any of the ones you mentioned, but there a some I like:

1 Survivor. I'm a sucker for tropical islands. I'd spend hours playing Far Cry just walking around the island and beach. Oh, I only watch Survivor when it's on an island. never watched the Africa series. Sometimes the scheming is hilarious. Some are total idiots and you can see them getting themselves kicked off a mile away. Others like Russell Hantz are so dammed evil and effective they are simply great fun to watch.

2. The Gold mining shows. First I think it's entertaining and educational to watch how they do this. E.g., I had no idea that trommels existed. Otherwise, the crew led by Todd has been invariably inept. Whenever I'm feeling bad about a wrong decision etc after watching that show I feel like a cross between a genius and super lucky person. Some of their F' ups are comical.

3. Cooking shows (Chopped etc.). Good way to get info on cooking and food/meal ideas. also I enjoy watching competition.

4. Car shows (Fast n Loud, etc.) I like cars, and am a DIYer so I pick up ideas on my own car projects.

5. Pawn shop shows. I like to see how much stuff is actually worth. I'm frequently surprised, some stuff that seems like junk to me is valuable. Some that seems valuable to me (e.g., antique cars) is worth much less than I thought.

6. House hunter. I like to watch the international version. I used to live abroad and I like to see what the neighborhoods look like now and how much apartments and homes go for. Often when go to some place new, whether in Europe or the US on vacation, I'll pick up a free real estate listing just for kicks (sometimes I have considered buying a place though). Same with this show except I do it from my living room.

Fern

 

[KeithTalent]

Oh I actually love me some Chopped. Again though, that's more of a game show than a pure reality show.

KT

 

[mmntech]

Reality TV has been around for a while. Started with the Real World on MTV IIRC. That's pretty much the granddaddy of those shows. It hit mainstream popularity with game shows like Survivor, Big Brother, and Idol in the early 2000s.

I think the real catalyst for why it's so pervasive today on almost every channel was the writers' strike in 2007. Networks couldn't produce scripted television, so reality was a good alternative. Then they began asking why they needed to have writers at all, or actors. It was cheaper to just hire some bums off the street to put on a show about their dumb duck calling or dumpster diving business. People still watched the shows en mass. So it was win-win for the networks.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I always assumed it was similar to why soap operas got so popular before them. The discussions I've heard about both end up sounding really similar. Just people talking about how this one was wrong for cheating or that one was a conniving bitch, or the other one has a bad temper.

Maybe it's all rooted in our attraction to gossip. People seem endlessly interested in the goings on in the lives around them, and the things people do in reality TV are very similar to stuff I've heard whispered about this person or that in typical small town gossip. The difference with reality TV is that you get to see it all happen on your television. It scratches an itch that simple minded people seem to all have. There's a quote that comes to mind:

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."

That's a quote that I always thought rang of truth from the moment I heard it. I have no idea how many agonizing hours I've wasted listening to people drone on and on about the minutia of the lives of people they knew. I have no doubt that every one of those people finds reality TV to be great entertainment because it satisfies the craving they have for filling their brains with endless boring details about other people.

It all feels very mundane and pointless to me though. I live life in the real world where average and generally uninteresting things happen all the time around me. Why the hell would I choose that same kind of stuff as the basis for my entertainment?

 

[Jeff7]

They are cheap to make and people watch.

Low-hanging fruit. Find the sweet spot of effort versus payoff.

No more of this silly bullshit of "I want to make something good, that people will genuinely appreciate and remember," or "I want to make something with real artistic value."
Nope. Aim only as high as you need to in order to generate a good revenue stream, and then see how much lower that bar can go without causing problems.



Let's see what's on The Learning Channel:

- "Bride Aimee says she wants a dress that’s tight, blingy and to use her words "a little slutty." Yovanna and her two friends have flown in to find a dress that shows off her figure and some butt crack. Sahar, a belly dancing paralegal, has her fitting."
Educational programming. (Say Yes to the Dress) Oh, and it's a marathon of this show for nearly a full day from now.

- "The four royals are forced to find a new house and they decide to christen their new digs with a raucous pool party populated by a bevy of beautiful babes. Later, a mysterious stranger who shows up on their doorstep turns out to be a blast from the past." (Secret Princes)

- "In Dallas, nurse Angie pits her western-style manor against stationery designer Courtney's historic vintage home, artist Meredith's upscale suburban two-story and cowgirl Brandi's Texas-inspired ranch." (Four Houses)

- "A dialysis patient is bleeding and doctors can’t get it to stop. A naked man falls into a cactus and is covered head to toe in needles. A patient brings radioactive rocks to the hospital causing chaos in the ER." (Untold Stories of the E.R.)

- "The Caputo House is turned upside down when Theresa's husband Larry rescues a bunny from the wild. But will Theresa let Larry keep his new furry friend or will she send the bunny hopping? And, a woman hears from her young daughter." (Long Island Medium)
Yes, seriously a show about talking to the spirits of the dead.

"Whether she is grocery shopping or getting her nails done, someone from the other side is constantly trying to contact her to pass a message on."
"As she goes about her day, Theresa is also compelled to spontaneously give messages to people anywhere she goes."

Normally, this sort of thing would be classified as a mental disorder.

People are stupid.

Often a safe assumption.

 

[Crono]

[FONT=Courier New,Courier] While most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent... all signs indicated that the human race was heading in the opposite direction -- a dumbing down.[/FONT]

 

[mwtgg]

I always assumed it was similar to why soap operas got so popular before them. The discussions I've heard about both end up sounding really similar. Just people talking about how this one was wrong for cheating or that one was a conniving bitch, or the other one has a bad temper.

Maybe it's all rooted in our attraction to gossip. People seem endlessly interested in the goings on in the lives around them, and the things people do in reality TV are very similar to stuff I've heard whispered about this person or that in typical small town gossip. The difference with reality TV is that you get to see it all happen on your television. It scratches an itch that simple minded people seem to all have. There's a quote that comes to mind:

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."

That's a quote that I always thought rang of truth from the moment I heard it. I have no idea how many agonizing hours I've wasted listening to people drone on and on about the minutia of the lives of people they knew. I have no doubt that every one of those people finds reality TV to be great entertainment because it satisfies the craving they have for filling their brains with endless boring details about other people.

It all feels very mundane and pointless to me though. I live life in the real world where average and generally uninteresting things happen all the time around me. Why the hell would I choose that same kind of stuff as the basis for my entertainment?

This is why Facebook, Twitter, et al are so popular.

 

[BoomerD]

While there were some "reality TV" shows before, they came into HUGE popularity during the writers strike a few years ago as networks scrambled to find SOMETHING to fill in the time slots with...that didn't require "writers." (even though reality shows always seem to be very scripted)

 

[raildogg]

LOL instead of living your life, you can live it through the characters on TV. We would rather watch them living their lives.