East Coast Musings 01.04.08: Reality Television

Posted by James Craig on 01.04.2009

It's cheap, full of drama and has already changed the television landscape...could it actually kill television?

In this column, I will explore various facets of the film and television worlds and offer my views on why things are they way they are and where I feel the subject of each topic in heading in the future by weighing both the pros and the cons each is facing. Nothing is safe and no one is safe as from my focus.

Happy New Year and welcome back to the first ECM of 2009. I've decided to change things up with this coloumn, and while still looking at film, I think that looking at television as well wil help to frshen things up and open up more subjects to write about. I've been sitting on following article for a while, and feel that with a new year, this should be the first article in the new revamped East Coast Musings.

We are currently in what can only be described as the boom of reality television. Networks have realized that the production costs and of costs involved with their serial -shows can be reduced many times over when they produce reality television. Networks practically drool over the thought of coming across a show like Survivor or American Idol where ratings are huge, production costs are not as high as they could be and best of all, and they don't need to pay 6 figure salaries per episode to actors. So what does that leave us, the viewing public with? Well, in the wake of the writer's strike we have been left with a deluge of reality programming that, in all are as hit and miss as a Mel Gibson improv appearance at the local synagogue.

There is some contention as to what was the beginning of reality television. COPS and The Real Worldare both in the conversation and for the most part, both have very strong claims. However, I chose to take The Real World as the beginning as I feel that Reality television, as a whole has the intent of taking people and exposing them to a sort of hyper reality apart from their day to day lives and then taking the results of this as the product. COPS is very much REAL television. These are real people, in real wife beaters (or none at all) getting arrested by real cops who are going about their day to day business. The Real World even states in its opening that it's taking 7 strangers, putting them in a house together and let's see what happens. Apart from living in some sort university residence or housing of that sort, you don't often get that, and even in those cases, the residents are forced to be together 24/7, and sure as hell aren't being filmed.

What was good about The Real World in its' first few outings is that yes there was some partying and such, but we actually got to see how others reacted when faced with situations completely outside of there comfort zone. We seen a gay couple come together as well as the issue of dealing with a person infected with the A.I.D.S. virus…in the same season, and watched as the cast had to deal with this very serious and at the time extremely timely and topical issue. The Real World back then gave us something to talk about. It made us think and ponder what we would do in the same situation. Have there been following seasons where there have been issues of grave seriousness presented, sure, but to be honest, it seems as if the focus of the show has shifted from timely social commentary to have beautiful people getting drunk and partying in crazy ways and having big blow ups as a result. I will say this, however, the last season of The Real World did put a focus on alcoholism and its' effect on those living with an alcoholic. I applaud the producers of the last season as it actually made an attempt to bring The Real World back to it's' roots.

In the year 2000 we hit with what would be the harbinger to the rise of reality television. Survivor, the show about taking a number of people from all walks of life, "stranding" them on a deserted island and then whittling the cast down through a series of competitions, all the while we get to see the drama happening as a result of this mish mash of personalities as well as what happens when there are few rules, an emphasis placed on making "good television" and having 16 different people vying for 1 million dollars. A format borrowed from a Swedish show titled Expedition : Robinson. What resulted was a ratings giant and a show that generated more water cooler talk then most had in previous memory. Series creator Mark Burnett took what had worked on shows like The Real World as well as the thrill of competition that you get from sports as well as the big pay day for your average Joes and Janes from game shows. Hit struck gold as gave CBS a ratings machine that would last right until its present incarnation premiering next Thursday. CBS also trotted out it's other reality stalwart, Big Brother, also going strong, having just finished its' 10th season.

I place my finger here, in the year 2000 on the CBS network as the point in time that the reality television wave began, and started building steam. The floodgates were open and television producers on every network started to try and find a way to introduce their own reality programming and try to cash in on the fad. So we had shows like The Mole on ABC, and Murder in Small Town X from FOX came along. Both of these shows adopted the reality competition format that had worked so well for Survivor and Big Brother. Ratings were decent and the feeding frenzy only grew from their. We were witnessing an evolution in how television is watched and produced right in front of us for the first time; really, since Seinfeld came along and challenged the traditional idea of what a sitcom was supposed to be.

For me, personally, the sub genre within reality television is the finding love through a process of elimination shows. From The Bachelor to Flavor of Love, the whole idea of finding love, while competing against some other poor slobs for the hand of some person that apparently requires more attention then Paris Hilton at an Amish gathering boggles my mind. I feel that it is partially here where reality television is heading. The ratings can't be argued with as these shows seem to draw in the ladies and those who are big fans of train wrecks. But as more and more of these shows have propagated throughout the television landscape, the quality of the offering has also diminished and the people popping up on the shows have become more and more obnoxious…Flavor of Love and I Love New York come to mind. But that isn't even the tip of the ice berg, we have Rock of Love, The Bachelorette, 2 season's ofTila Tequila's Shot at Love which was spun off to A Double Shot at Love as well as the terrible one with the Italian guy from season one. It seems as if this list goes on forever and ever. I loathe this more then any other reality television and can't bring myself to watch anymore of it then I already have. I will admit, however, that the first season of Joe Millionaire on Spike was a guilty pleasure of mine when it was on. There's one network that comes to mind specifically when you talk about the reality love finder programming, that that would be …

I'm not quite old enough to remember the initial round of programming that MTV offered. I'm also Canadian, and was without any access to MTV right up to about 5 years ago for the most part. I knew of The Real World and was pretty much aware of the reputation that MTV initially built from its' inception. However, once MTV Canada came on here in the Great White North, I was completely and totally underwhelmed. I knew that MTV had long ditched the music video side of its' programming, and I accepted that, however, I also knew that it was still the home of The Real World series and even Undergrads, the cartoon about university life for freshmen that became a personal favorite of mine. I had high hope that I could at least find something that would be captivating. What I did find though was a pabulum of BAD dating shows, intolerable, whiney angst-y, rich spoiled teens onLaguna Beach and a watered down The Real World that seem more like a how to guide for getting drunk in the big city, getting sucker punched and going to jail. My head near exploded at the sheer stupidity of the programming.

The sheer volume of terrible dating type shows is something that I'm sure would be obvious to even the newest of viewers to the network. That then could only be followed by all the clones of Laguna Beach that there is. You have one concept, with something like 1800 shows spun off of it with the sole difference being a different cast. Well, different more so in name, as it seems that not only did MTV clone the show concept and repackage it, but also the main character. As I said above, MTV seemed to ever so slightly slide into a socially relevant mode with The Real World: Hollywood when it came to dealing with the issue of alcoholism. That being said, it's also hard to argue against what seems like a running endorsement of an alcohol heavy environment is the seasons coming beforehand. If anything, maybe this was MTV's way of doing a PSA saying, "YES, we encourage our cast members to party and drink for television's sake, but it can maybe hurt you too, just look at Joey."

Happily, MTV's plague of craptastic programming hasn't made its way completely into the full programming landscape, but you never know when this particular plague may find its way into the general television population. These shows by in large contribute very little to the social commentary that MTV had prided itself on doing for so long.

One last thing however, Rob and Big was a guilty pleasure of mine while it was on, so I will admit that I managed to find one show to keep my entertained, it's just the majority of the other programming that is on that sucks the magic wishing bone.

I just want to finish with a quick look at TLC. TLC, like MTV is a network that has nearly all of its programming falling under the reality television umbrella. And while it may not be the flashiest of programming out there, there are differences between the two. First and foremost, they cater to different demographics and different tastes. However, TLC still managed to take a schedule heavy in home repair and make over type shows and turn it into something that was talked about. Anyone else out there remembers when Trading Spaces was the talk of Moms and those inclined to renovate and decorate every Monday after the newest episode appeared? I do, and for the most part it was all harmless to watch. Who doesn't like to get ideas for their home, if they own one? TLC also branched out into the "real family" sub genre with shows like Big World, Small People and Jon and Kate Plus 8. Maybe these shows are as real as the admittedly scripted The Hills and Laguna Beach, but there was a feeling of sincere family living that meant feeling good about the shows. Are these shows my favorites or even something I will watch, no, not really, but I can see that they don't really treat their viewers like a complete idiots and insult their intelligence at every turn; I have no problem with good wholesome family watching.

I do have one problem with one line of programming that TLC produces. This would be the flipping shows. These shows started out showing that there is money out there to be made in flipping houses. It looked easy at times, and it looked profitable especially. From what I can gather, people decided to take the lead of those on the shows TLC was putting out and lost everything. So much so that there was a need to place a disclaimer at the beginning of the shows that there is, indeed some risk involved. Seems like common sense, but so does not letting a baby alligator bite your nipple, that still needed disclaimers. TLC doesn't get off scot free, but fares better then the rest.

I'm sure I've missed quite a bit. I know I have. But in reality, pun not intended, there is simply too much to cover. I just didn't have the space to cover every sub genre and facet of what reality television is, but I can say this for certain. As the need for more and more cost effective productions take should of Hollywood and the networks, executives are going to look at every avenue to produce what will bring in ratings and cost as little as possible. That leaves the door wide open for reality television programming to find a home on any network that doesn't want to spend too much and still make some coin. It's not going away, and judging by what has come out recently, it is not going to get any better. The fear is that there will eventually come a time when this cheap alternative to the tried and true traditional programming is all that will be available. I don't think that will happen, at least not anytime soon. What will happen, I fear, is that like a vine or weed, reality programming is going to place a strangle hold on the television landscape.

Having sized up as much of reality television as I could, I find that it is by and large some of the very worst of what's on television and it is closer to anything before to being the cause of death for television as we know it.