Reality TV: How Real Is It?

Reality TV shows have affected society in many different ways, with some audiences getting hooked on these shows because it helps them escape their own real lives! However others refuse to watch reality TV because they feel there is no realism to it at all. The shows vary in theme and material and every show is designed to attract the biggest possible audience. The bigger the audience, the more money the shows make – resulting in a very competitive market.

Real Vs Fake:

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors. However this belief is sometimes doubted when certain events or scenes cause uncertainty where it is apparent that concepts are invented so that the ratings are higher.

Like most things, reality shows must come to an end and the decision has been made to axe the originally successful Big Brother reality TV show. The 10th series pulled in an average of just 2 million viewers, which is a massive drop from the 10 million who tuned in during its heyday. It has been said that the remit to push the boundaries has been an essential part of the weird chemistry behind Big Brothers success, but it’s now what is telling us that the programme has reached a natural end point on Channel 4 and it’s time to move on. The Big Brother Reality show, made stars of former contestants in its prime, including the late Jade Goody, Chantelle Houghton and Kate Lawler.

Reality TV has worked for a really long time, but like all things in life it is overdone so people are going to get bored but until another controversy show comes along people are going to carry on watching it. Rating of Big Brother have slumped as viewers tire of the format and the way many housemates cynically use it as a jumping board for a career as a ‘celebrity’. And of course the show has never fully recovered from the fiasco race row over the treatment of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in 2008.

The reality TV dream is still going for shows such as X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, which both see ratings from their Saturday night shows of between 8.7 million to 10.7 million viewers. X Factor has seen a surge in interest over the years with this year (2009) topping ratings for its Saturday night timeslot, which was watched by 38% of the available TV audience- proving once again that reality TV isn’t over yet. With both shows clashing in time slots, Strictly Come Dancing and X factor, you would expect to see a dip in audience; however neither show has been damaged with more than 19 million people tuning in to watch them.

Love it or Hate it?

Reality television is at its peak at the moment and you either love it or you love it but pretend you hate it. So what is it that has our 21st Century Generation hooked on watching other people’s lives? And why have these shows become an International phenomenon?

People had become bored with the recycled jokes and the predictability of sitcoms and drama. The new reality TV shows were a blank canvas on to which a creative arena that played out in unpredictable ways was created. Reality TV shows appealed to people because of how easy it was for the audience to relate to the contestants as they were real people; not scripted characters. Some would argue that reality television shows were not actually about “reality”. But of course, they are as close to reality as any dramas and soaps that are purely designed and acted.

Dr Richard Howells, of the Centre for Culture, Media and Creative Industries Research at Kings College London, Said: ‘So much of reality TV is about novelty, but eventually it starts to get tired’. Could this mean the future of reality TV is looking bleak?

- K.J.N -