Reality TV: Is It Really Real?

It’s one of the hottest trends to hit television since its inception: reality TV.  Most people my age probably think back to MTV’s Real World series and think that is where this all started.  If you take a serious look at ‘unscripted’ television you will find that it goes all the way back to the 1940s and Alan Funt’s Candid Camera.  It took a while for the concept to take off, but over the last decade or so it has mushroomed into absolutely the most popular television genre of all time.  Almost every broadcast and cable network now has at least one reality TV show, with many carrying multiple shows.

 However, there is a big question that remains in some people’s minds.  Is it really real?

For some television history buffs, this question will draw the mind back to the scandal that was revealed when the public found out the answers on Twenty-One had been given to selected contestants before hand, tainting the growing television game show industry for years.  Because of such scandals, game shows were forced to put limits on how much contestants could earn from the 1970s to the 1990s.  This helped to ensure that people believed everything was on the up and up.

But what about the new-era of reality TV?  Shows like Survivor, Road Rules or even the recent Discovery Channel’s The Colony (see embedded clip below), where a group of people are placed in a post-pandemic situation where it is supposed to be survival of the fittest.  How can that be real?  In any of these cases there are obviously camera crews and  hidden cameras (that the “cast” knows are there).  Would you be reacting to situations the same way if you knew that millions of people would be watching?  On some shows that last for many months it could be conceivable that the people on the show become wrapped up enough in the scenario that their reactions are real.  I don’t know.  It’s a hard call considering all of these shows have their prize or reward at the end and everyone is always jockeying for a popularity position to ensure they make that week’s cut.

In the end, I think that reality television is just like any other type of entertainment.  Whether the participants are coached or helped in some way, or even if their reactions are tarnished by the thought of millions of people (or the money), it doesn’t really matter.  It’s fascinating for us, the average consumer, to watch.  We like to cheer for the underdogs.  We like to see the mean and overbearing folks get what’s coming to them.  Just like any other show, it usually requires a suspension of disbelief.  But once we have that in place, we can participate in the only legally voyeuristic entertainment I know of … reality TV.