The Impact Of Reality TV
How 'real' are reality shows?
A very common question is, "How real are reality television shows?" By definition, reality shows are some kind of true story; and they are, in general, made up of real people behaving the way they normally act, maybe in a slightly amped up condition because there's a camera and lights and a microphone and it gets them excited, and they might laugh louder or crack more jokes than they do normally. But in general, it's still them. If they're a moody weirdo, they're gonna come off as a moody weirdo; if they're a friendly, funny, happy person, they're gonna come off like a friendly, funny, happy person. In general you're seeing them, who they really are. Usually, the story of the reality show is what really happens to them: the friends they made, the enemies they made, the contest they won, the contest they lost, the love they found, the love they lost. It's all the true story of what happened, but it's told in a more entertaining way. Music is added, and cutaway shots of startled reactions are added, that may not have happened at that exact time, but it's all generally the true story of what happened.
What is the impact of reality TV on scripted TV shows?
The impact of reality television on the television industry has been that because it's a low-cost way to tell entertaining stories and get big audiences, it has forced scripted television, I think, to become more creative and to try harder. Scripted television, if it can be grouped together like that, had become complacent. Sitcoms had become monotonous and repetitive and dramas had become repetitive and formulaic, and reality television shook things up quite a bit. I think the reason you see shows like Lost, which is a big departure for what dramas were in the past, is because reality television forced scripted television to plough new fields and break new ground and try more creative formats and techniques. In one way, reality television has been good for scripted television because it's forced it to become better. In another way, it's been bad for scripted television because reality television is taking up so much programming time that there's not much time for scripted television, and it's really hurt the writers and the directors and the people who produce scripted television. There's a lot less work to go around for those people. The other side of that coin is it has reconcentrated the talent. For a long time, there was so much scripted television and when there was a blossoming of many, many new channels and cable channels, writers were spread very thin; whereas in the old days, in say the seventies, a sitcom might have twelve of the best writers in town on one show. It soon became in the eighties and nineties that if you had one good writer on your sitcom, you were in pretty good shape, and then you tried to limp through, and it brought down the overall quality. Now that there's less to go around, the writing is concentrating again on a few projects and you're getting higher quality scripted television again.
What is the impact of reality TV on movies?
Another thing reality television has done to the entertainment business, the movie business and drama television is that the audience now no longer minds shaky cameras, quick moving cameras, and television that's a little rougher around the edges. It's actually become the preference; things that are too polished and a little too slick are looked at by the audience as a little bit suspect. You see now in movies and in dramatic television a lot more variety, like in cinema. They're trying to look a little bit more like reality than they used to and it's because the preference of the audience is for a real experience that feels unpolished. Another way that reality television has changed the landscape for movies and for television is that documentaries have become much more popular. People like true stories. It's been proven that people like true stories and they seem to even prefer true stories in a lot of instances. Reality television has really opened up the field to documentary makers.
What are the effects of reality TV on pop culture?
One of the social aspects of reality television is that certain genres have done certain things. Celebrities on reality television has really done a big thing of showing people, to realize that celebrities are really just like as. They are insecure, maybe a little more insecure than we are. They try to crack jokes and fail sometimes, they brush their teeth, and they talk about the magazines. Celebrities are just like us. When you see Dancing With The Stars and they are struggling to dance just like I would struggle to dance in they same way, it's interesting. They used to be on such a pedestal, so mysterious, and so other-worldly, but now you imagine them to be just like your friends. Celebrities are now like your buddies and you just want them in your living room all the time, and that's why we're so fascinated with them. So it's done a lot for the celebrity world.
What are some of the lessons of reality TV?
The only thing that I think reality television has done is that it has made us see that we are all just like each other. Reality shows are a social experiment. It's almost like you are meant to see yourself in these people that you are watching on television. Part of what makes it entertaining is that you see people in a situation that you could imagine yourself in and speaking their feelings very openly, and that might touch something in you. I felt the same way myself at times and that kind of relationship with the characters has been made more immediate by reality television. I think that scripted television was, for a little while, getting to a place where the characters were not recognizably real; they were cartoon-ish or they were single dimensional. Reality television has brought in more multi dimensional characters, which makes them more relatable .
Does reality TV play a role in the 'dumbing down' of American culture?
Reality television gets a lot of criticism for being a dumbed-down medium or a mindless form of entertainment, and I would say that just like anything else, there is good, thoughtful reality television, and then there's dumb, mindless, stupid reality television, just like there's good, thoughtful dramatic television and dumb, stupid dramatic television. It runs the gamut. It's the same spread, I believe, as regular scripted entertainment. There are good movies and dumb movies. There's no monopoly on mindless entertainment for any of these genres, and people who make movies don't deserve to stand on a pedestal when they make dumb movies. There are some of us in reality television striving to make good, thoughtful, entertaining, interesting, poignant programs - all the wonderful words that you can use for great entertainment. I think some reality television is succeeding. I don't believe it deserves to bear the mantle of the dumbing down of society. Reality television is a reflection of society.
Why does reality TV use so many 'train wreck' characters?
Reality television gets a lot of criticism for putting stupid people or crazy people on TV, who you wouldn't normally see on TV. I disagree with that because the funniest sitcoms of the past were the ones about the craziest characters. Even in Seinfeld and Kramer - I mean there's something wrong with that guy, right? But he'd be a great reality show contestant as well. I don't feel like reality television has a monopoly on lunacy or low-brow humor, even. I feel like it crosses all the genres. The only thing that is true of reality television in this respect is that these are real people and it's kind of sad to see that real people are sometimes that stupid or that crazy. The truth is, we see it everyday anyway. The crazy woman at the grocery store or your loony neighbor who is stockpiling weapons - they're just as loony as the people I have on reality television.