I feel like TV in the 2000s was just…there were so many feel-good shows about. So many we watch back with nostalgia now. Lots of TV trash, yes, but that kind of ‘guilty pleasure’ reality/lifestyle/gameshow/entertainment TV we all can’t help but watch. Everything from Britains Got Talent, Beauty and the Geek, Take Me Out, Secret Eaters, to Survivor, Super Sweet 16, Americas Next Top Model, Wife Swap, 60 Minute Makeover, and How Clean Is Your House? Why was it so good, and what’s happened now?
A Brief History of Reality TV:
- Reality television is a genre of TV program that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, though can be extended to include other shows that document real-life, for exaple hidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, and home improvement shows
- In the 1940s and 50s there were the beginnings of reality shows, so really, from the beginning of TV! ‘Familienchroniken – Ein Abend mit Hans und Gelli’ is considered the first, a Nazi-propaganda-influenced program in which a young couple acted as model Aryans and presented their everyday lives without a script to the camera. Other shows followed, for example talent scouting, gameshows, showcasing police officers’ daily lives – people were always interested in ‘reality’! Still, reality TV was not quite a genre of it’s own, and was mainly linked to entertaining or documenting.
- First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up! broadcast interviews with 14 ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life – this was quite groundbreaking, and was one example of how TV started to infiltrate ‘the average individual’s life, and gain some credibility. There were shows that depicted general working class life, like the 1974 The Family, and people wanting to learn or do things, for example in the1976–1980 BBC series The Big Time, which featured a different amateur in some field (cooking, comedy, football, etc.) trying to succeed professionally in that field, with help from notable experts. Other forerunners of modern reality television investigated peoples’ personal lives more than ever before – like productions of Chuck Barris: The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition, and focused on more intimate subjects, like relationships.
- In the 80s and 90s reality TV really began to define itself. The series Nummer 28, which aired on Dutch television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in a limited environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. Nummer 28 also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including extensive soundtrack music and combining events on screen with after-the-event ‘confessionals’. Nummer 28 became the model for many later series of Big Brother and its clones, and Peter Weir’s full-length film The Truman Show. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in its new series The Real World. Another important advancement was computer-based non-linear editing systems for video. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before – so reality TV was easier to produce from an editing as well as filming perspective.
- The 2000s are widely considered the explosion of reality TV. They became globally popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the successes of the Big Brother and Survivor/Expedition Robinson franchises, and also because of the huge advancements in technology. TV, cinema, phones, the internet, Youtube – people were sharing, watching, connecting, talking, gossiping, discussing. Reality-television franchises created during this time that have had more than 30 international adaptations each include the singing competition franchises Idols, Star Academyand The X Factor, other competition franchises Survivor/Expedition Robinson, Big Brother, The Biggest Loser, Come Dine with Me, Got Talent, Top Model, MasterChef, Project Runway and Dancing with the Stars, and the investment franchise Dragons’ Den. During the 2000s, severa TV networks, including Bravo, A&E, E!, TLC, History, VH1, and MTV, changed their programming to feature mostly reality television series.
- In the 2010s and 2020s, reality TV continues to be very popular!
What are some types of reality TV?
Documentary-style, soap-opera style, hidden cameras, special living environment, court shows, investment/business, survival, self improvement or makeover, renovation, social experiment, paranormal, gameshow, competition, dating based…
Why do we LOVE reality TV so much?
- It provides us with an opportunity to escape the monotony of their own lives, escape the problems and burdens of their own circumstances, and offers opportunities for emotional release
- We are fascinated by tragedy and extreme conflict
- We enjoy learning about other peoples’ lives and cultures
- We form relationships and connections with characters – we are able to live under the illusion that we are witnessing the ‘real’, everyday lives of people, so can convince ourselves that we know these characters and have a relationship with them
- It’s ‘easy watching’ that doesn’t involve too much thinking
- We have short attention spans – and the content is often very quick and dramatised
What are some of the issues with reality TV?
- We can avoid our own problems, emotions, and looking at how we feel
- We can avoid our own jobs, family, and friends
- It can lead us to false ideas about what reality is like, changing our expectations of people and life – reality shows have been shown to negatively impact our expectations for romantic relationships and increase physical aggression
- It’s less policed, so often information is biased and skewed, affecting our judgement
- It’s often less informative and has little depth, meaning we don’t think deeply and don’t use our brains
- It often humiliates participants, and can lead to their emotional, or even physical, distress
- It encourages us to mak judgements on people without properly thinking
Why were the 2000s such a good time for reality TV?
- Lower production value. The classic game shows had more soul and were less scripted. Budgets were lower, TV was less advanced, as was producted, so many older shows had more of a comforting and relaxing atmosphere than today, so resonated more with people.
- Obsession with drama. Nowadays, particularly with shorter attention spans and the trend towards ‘the extreme’, people love drama, and so reality shows often tend to ‘hype up’ and exaggerate things, which can make it feel less real and relateable.
- Nostalgia. Simply, we love nostalgia, so many of us who grew up on reality television, will feel nostalgia for those shows, just like we do for toys and music we grew up with.
- Originality. The 2000s were when reality TV was BIG and became a phenomenon, so lots were produced. Now, the same ideas and scripts are repeated – nothing is unique, and that originality can’t be recreated.
- Money making. Shows and films are huge industries, and with the focus on making money, they often latch onto certain tropes and ideas. This also adds to the over dramatisation of things, because producers see what consumers like, and amplify it, as well as reinforcing the feeling of lack of originality, as they reuse the same ideas.
- Diversity. Shows from the early 2000s had something for everyone. Some argue that there is less diversity and fewer genres to choose from in TV today. Current show creators are too focused on what will appeal to their audience, instead of just making quality shows. They notice that some viewers enjoy teen dramas, leading to an overflow of teen shows.
- Protecting people. Nowadays we protect people more and this can mean not showing parts of their daily life that could be considered invasive, or changing reality. This is important, but it means reality TV is less real sometimes.
- Obsession with perfection and false reality. Conversely, we are also obsessed with people seeing the best image of ourselves and making our lives seem perfect. This means reality TV often feels staged and unreal, and is not relatable at all.