notes and quotes document

Reality television has become very popular over the past decade with shows such as "Survivor", "Big Brother" and "The Apprentice" attracting big audiences and making a lot of money for broadcasters worldwide. A definition of reality television is quite difficult but at its most basic it means programmes that show things really taking place, rather than drama or comedy that follows a script. Typically reality TV involves a group of people who are not trained actors being filmed in unusual situations over a period of time. Sport and news programmes are not considered reality TV. Documentaries that explore aspects of society are a grey area, with some closer to news reporting and others blurring into reality TV because they set up situations which did not already exist. Recently celebrity versions of reality shows have made definition even harder, because they show the private lives of professional singers, actors, sports people, etc. as they cope with new situations. Reality TV is often a hot topic as proponents believe it paints an unrealistic and inappropriate portrait and is therefore bad for our society and the children that make up the majority of the audience. They call for a cut in the number of hours given over to reality programmes, or even to ban them completely. Opponents meanwhile maintain that people should be allowed to watch what they like, and that reality programmes make good TV, as shown by consistently high viewer figures.

Reality TV throughout the years

• Reality television began in 1948 with Alan Funt's TV series Candid Camera. The genre exploded as a phenomenon around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series as Big Brother and Survivor
• The shows deemed responsible for the boom in reality TV and the rejuvenation in the genre IN 2000's are: Fear Factor, Big Brother and America's Next Top Model
• There have been at least three television channels devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in the United States, launched in 2005, Global Reality Channel in Canada in 2010, and Zone Reality in the United Kingdom, launched in 2002
• By 2012, many of the long-running reality television show franchises had begun to age, setting up declines in ratings across the format. This, along with increasing audience fracture from competing programs on broadcast and cable television, has raised questions about the long-term viability of reality television on the broadcast networks.
• Shows which have become structured reality tv like 'The Only Way Is Essex Geordie Shore, Made In Chelsea, The Valleys, Big Brother and many more.

Quote Book

• Reality TV is sleazy, it is manipulative. It is as momentary as anything in popular culture.  Morley Safer 
• I think that reality TV is so bad. It is a tool by the media to not make people think. Naveen Andrews 
• A key ingredient of reality TV is the casting of "ordinary people". No longer are audiences watching an actor pretend to be sad or happy. By and large, they are watching a real person be genuinely happy or sad. There is no performance to de-construct. It is real.
• Reality TV is bringing us back from that uncaring brink. Watching real people aspire to some goal, and then seeing all but one or two of them fail, sensitises us once again to the pains and pleasures of our fellow human beings.
• Instead of rising in anger at all reality TV, one should applaud these positive effects.
• Why watch reality TV when I can just open my blinds and look out my window to all the reality I can handle?
 Jarod Kintz
• When the likes of Victor from Big Brother's last series are rewarded with a radio station presenter's contract, I reckon that the violent confrontational ignorance that he demonstrated appears to be rewarded by the media which can only be harmful to society. The levels of hate/animosity and the death threats televised just are not light entertainment.
  
  
  
  

The Different types of reality TV

• Documentary Styled (Fly on the wall which are sometimes referred to as docudrama)
• Celebrities (Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include The Anna Nicole Show, The Osbournes, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, and Hogan Knows Best. In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks; these include Celebrity Big Brother, The Simple Life, The Surreal Life, and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!)
• Professional Activities (Could be a form of informative show, the longest serving show of this kind is the show COPS)
• Self Improvement (Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving their lives. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season as in The Swan and Celebrity Fit Club, but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode.)
• Social Experiment (Another type of reality program is the social experiment that produces drama, conflict, and sometimes transformation. Wife Swap which began in 2003 on Channel 4 and has aired for four seasons on ABC is a notable example. Big Brother is most probably the most notable show for social experimenting reality tv.

Pro's and con's of reality TV

ARGUMENTS FOR:

·                 We live in an age of mass culture. More people read tabloids than the broadsheets, and reality TV is a fair reflection of this.

·                 Elitism is out of date. People are no longer willing to accept only what broadcasters think is good for them. There is nothing wrong in giving people what they want.

·                 It is intrinsically fascinating to see how people speak and behave in unusual situations. This is why many intelligent people find themselves gripped by Big Brother and other reality shows. They teach us something about human nature and so broaden our experience.

·                 If we believe in freedom and free speech, then we have to accept reality TV as an expression of popular and democratic taste. Nobody is compelled to appear in reality TV programmes, or indeed to watch them.

·                 Reality TV is harmless fun. Only pompous people and snobs condemn it.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST:

·                 Reality TV is vulgar and shoddy. By creating pseudo-celebrities it contributes to the debasement of popular taste.

·                 It is often cruel, exposing the participants to gross humiliation for our amusement. This makes it the modern equivalent of going to laugh at the lunatics in Bedlam. The present row over racism on Big Brother shows how nasty it can be.

·                 It exploits the vulnerable, and has been condemned by the Mental Health Foundation for doing so.

·                 Popularity should not be the ultimate test of what is permissible. Public executions used to be popular and still are in some countries.

·                 It is nonsense to say that broadcasters shouldn't set standards or be obliged to adhere to codes of behaviour. We don't for instance allow them to promote racism or sectarianism or to incite violence. Reality TV is debasing and should be strictly controlled, if not banned altogether.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1470327/Reality-TV-is-damaging-society-says-Humphrys.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3607482.stm

—http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15335555