Reality television programs once again have become some of the most watch shows on television today. It would seem that reality TV just came out of no where, but the truth is that TV audiences have long been enthralled by the genre of television programming that has purportedly provided unscripted, live situations,either dramatic or comedic, for decades.
The 1950s was the golden era that brought reality programs to TV audiences. A long running favorite form of “reality TV” has always been documentaries that cover actually events dealing with ordinary people instead of professionally trained actors. The statistics seem to suggest that being able to relate to the guy next door has been a long standing key to providing a TV series viewers would be interested in watching.
Reality television originated with such shows as Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. As the name suggests, the talent search show actually traveled from city to city giving every day people the opportunity to show off their talents on live television. The Original Amateur Hour was a big hit which ran from 1948 to 1952, making it a pioneer in the Reality TV genre.
The long standing Miss America Pageant was broadcast for the first time in 1954 and was one of the first talent search shows where the winner achieved a national celebrity status. You normally wouldn’t think to relate modern reality shows such as American Idol to the Miss America Pageant, yet history reveals national celebrity from Reality TV isn’t a new fad, simply a continuation of and idea that began back in the 1950s with the first beauty talent show and beauty pageant.
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