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Critics of the genre have claimed that the term is a misnomer and what such shows portray is far from actual Reality , with participants put in exotic locations or abnormal situations, sometimes coached to act in certain ways by off-screen handlers, and events on screen manipulated through editing and other post-production techniques. ORIGINS OF REALITY TELEVISION Since reality television is a somewhat nebulous concept, basically encompassing any portrayal of people in unscripted situations, there are a number of precedents for it, starting as far back as the 1950s. Allen Funt 's television show '' Candid Camera '', which debuted in 1953 (and itself was based on his previous 1947 Radio show, ''Candid Microphone''), pulled pranks on unsuspecting ordinary people and showed their reactions. It has been called the "granddaddy of the reality TV genre." {Link without Title} Another predecessor was the BBC series '' Seven Up! '', which was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964 . The series deals with a dozen ordinary seven-year olds from a broad cross of society, and their responses to questions on everyday life (every seven years, a film is made documenting the life of the same individuals in the intervening years, titled ''Seven Plus Seven'', ''21 Up'', etc.). The series cannot truly be classified as "reality television" because it is structured simply as a series of interviews, with no element of plot; still, it pioneered the concept of making television celebrities out of ordinary individuals. The first reality show in the modern sense was the PBS series '' An American Family ''. Twelve parts were broadcast in the United States in 1973 . The series dealt with a Nuclear Family going through a Divorce . In 1974 a counterpart program, '' The Family '', was made in the UK , following the Working Class Wilkins family of Reading . In 1992 , Australia saw '' Sylvania Waters '', about the '' Nouveau Riche '' Baker-Donaher family of Sydney . All three shows attracted their share of controversy. Some Talk Show s, most notably '' The Jerry Springer Show '', which debuted in 1991 , try to present real-life drama within the talk show format by putting on guests likely to get into fights with one another on the set. Reality television as it is currently understood, though, can be traced directly to several television shows that began in the late 1980s and 1990s. '' COPS '', which first aired in 1989 , showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the Camcorder look and Cinéma Vérité feel of much of later reality television. MTV 's '' The Real World '', which began in 1992 , originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. It also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including a heavy use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members that serve as narration. '' Changing Rooms '', a British TV show that began in 1996 , showed couples redecorating each others' houses, and was the first reality show with a Self-improvement or Makeover theme. The Swedish TV show '' Expedition Robinson '', which first aired in 1997 (and was later produced in a large number of other countries as '' Survivor ''), added to the "Real World" template the idea of competition, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. Australian series '' The House From Hell '' (1998) hosted by Andrew Denton and Amanda Keller on Network Ten was possibly the first example of the ''Big Brother'' genre. TYPES OF REALITY TV There are a number of sub-categories of reality television. Documentary-style In many reality television shows, the viewer and the camera are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as "'' may be the epitome of this style of show, with unscripted situations, real-life locations, and no tasks given to the cast (at least, no known ones). Often "plots" are constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling Soap Opera s — hence the term, ''docusoap''. Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants: Special living environment Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments; '', with cast members forced to live and work as people of a specific time and place would have; '' The 1900 House '' is one example. 2001 's '' Temptation Island '' achieved some notoriety by placing several couples on an island surrounded by single people in order to test the couples' commitment to each other. Celebrity reality Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: examples include '' The Anna Nicole Show '', '' The Osbournes '', and '' Newlyweds '' (featuring Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey ). In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks to do. These include '' The Simple Life '' and '' The Surreal Life ''. VH1 has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality called Celebreality . Professional activities Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business, or performing an entire project over the course of a series. No outside experts are brought in (at least, none of them show up on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest, and best known of these, is '' COPS ''. Another example is '' The Restaurant '', which covered the creation and running of a restaurant. VH1 's 2001 show '' Bands On The Run '' was a notable early hybrid, in that the show featured four Unsigned Band s touring and making music as a professional activity, but also pitted the bands against one another in game show fashion to see which band could make the most money. Game shows Another type of reality TV is so-called " Reality Game Show s", in which participants are filmed competing to win a prize, usually while living together in an enclosed environment. Participants are removed until only one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time (through Disapproval Voting ) or voting for the most popular choice to win, using some other Voting System ; voting is done by either the viewing audience or by the show's own participants. Probably the purest example of a reality game show is the globally-syndicated '' Big Brother '', in which cast members live together in the same house, with participants removed at regular intervals: no skills are involved in winning the show other than being appealing to others and handling the dynamics of a group well. There remains controversy over whether talent-search shows such as the ''Idol'' Series and '' Dancing With The Stars '' are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as '' Star Search ''. There is no element of plot on these shows; on the other hand, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges, and the shows follow the traditional reality-game-show conventions of removing one contestant per episode and having the public vote on who gets removed. Modern game shows like '' The Weakest Link '', '' Who Wants To Be A Millionaire '', '' Dog Eat Dog '' and '' Fear Factor '' are in an even grayer area: they closely resemble traditional game shows, though with higher production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or high cash prizes). These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, leads many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella. There are various hybrids, like the worldwide-syndicated '' Star Academy '', which combines the ''Big Brother'' and ''Pop Idol'' formats, '' The Biggest Loser '', which combines competition with the self-improvement format, and '' American Inventor '', which uses the ''Pop Idol'' format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as '' Making The Band '' and '' Project Greenlight '', devote the first part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing that person or group of people working at what it was they were selected to do. There are some popular subsets of the competition-based format: Dating-based competition Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing the hand of a group of suitors. Over the course of the season, the suitors are eliminated one by one until the end, when only the contestant and the final suitor remains. '' The Bachelor '' is the best-known member of this category. Job search In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants were pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based around that skill, and are judged, and then kept or removed, by a single expert or a panel of experts. The show is invariably presented as a job search of some kind, in which the prize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. Examples include '' The Apprentice '' (which judges business skills), '' America's Next Top Model '' (for modelling), and '' Project Runway '' (for clothing design). Sports These programs create a sporting competition among participants who are athletes attempting to establish their name in that sport. '' The Contender '', a boxing show, became the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after being eliminated from the show. In each season of '' The Ultimate Fighter '', at least one participant has voluntarily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competitive pressure. '' The Big Break '' is a similar show for golfing. Self-improvement/makeover Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving some part of their lives. The British show '''' (which covers weight loss), '' Extreme Makeover '' (entire physical appearance), '' Queer Eye For The Straight Guy '' (style and grooming), '' Supernanny '' (child-rearing), and '' Made '' (attaining difficult goals). As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more conventional formats. The show '' This Old House '', which began in 1979 , for example, shows people renovating a house. Similarly, more recently '' Pimp My Ride '' and '' Overhaulin' '' show vehicles being overhauled. Such shows are generally not considered true reality television because there is no potential for human drama in the format. Dating shows Some shows, such as '' Blind Date '', show people going out on dates. Sometimes a competition element is included, with more than one suitor for each potential match. Antecedents may be found in '' The Dating Game '' from the 1960s. Talk shows Though the traditional format of a "talk show" is that of a host interviewing a featured guest or discussing a chosen topic with a guest or panel of guests, the advent of "trash talk" shows has often made people group the entire category in with reality television. Programs like '' Ricki Lake '', '' The Jerry Springer Show '' and others generally recruit(ed) everyday guests by advertising a potential topic that producers were working on for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous and are chosen in the interest of creating on screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, this (allegedly) real depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format, is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming. Hidden cameras Another type of reality programming features Hidden Camera s rolling when random passersby encounter a staged situation. The reactions of the passersby can be funny to watch, but also reveal truths about the human condition. Allen Funt , an American pioneer in reality entertainment, led the way in the development of this type of show. He created '' Candid Microphone '', which debuted on the ABC Radio Network in 1947 , and the internationally successful '' Candid Camera '', which first aired on television in 1953 . Modern variants of this type of production include '' Punk'd '' and the British '' Trigger Happy TV '', which stages Humor ous and/or bizarre situations such as actors in animal costumes pretending to copulate on a crowded sidewalk. The Sci-Fi series '' Scare Tactics '' is a horror-based hidden-camera show where people can sign up their friends to be scared horrifically. Hoaxes In hoax reality shows, the entire show is a prank played on one or more of the cast members, who think they are appearing in a legitimate reality show; the rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. Like hidden camera shows, these shows are about pulling pranks on people, although in these shows the hoax is more elaborate (lasting an entire season), and the cameras are out in the open. Also, the point of such shows often is to parody the conventions of the reality TV genre. The first such show was 2003's '' The Joe Schmo Show ''; other examples are '' My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss '' (modelled after ''The Apprentice''), and '' Space Cadets '' (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into space). Other shows, though they have not gone to the length of hiring actors, have offered misleading information to some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples include '' Boy Meets Boy '' and '' Joe Millionaire ''. ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM Part of reality television's appeal is due to its ability to place ordinary people in extraordinary situations. For example, on the ABC show, '' The Bachelor '', an eligible male dates a dozen women simultaneously, traveling on extraordinary dates to Napa Valley , California and Vail , Colorado. Reality television also has the potential to turn its participants into national celebrities, outwardly in talent and performance programs such as ''Pop Idol'', though frequently ''Survivor'' and ''Big Brother'' participants also reach some degree of celebrity. It seems appealing for viewers to see an everyday person, just like themselves, enjoying exotic surrounds and possibly being turned into a celebrity. The name reality television can be somewhat a misnomer for several styles of program routinely included in the genre. In competition based programs such as ''Big Brother'' and ''Survivor'', the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricated world in-which the competition plays-out. Producers specifically select the participants, and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Even in docusoap series following people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, are able to portray certain participants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronology and selective presentation of events. Some participants have stated afterwards that they altered their behavior to appear more crazy or emotional in order to get more camera time. Yet there has been no clear indication that these programs are fully scripted or "rigged," as with the 1950s television Quiz Show Scandals . Several former reality show participants have spoken publicly about their experiences and the strategies used on reality shows. , of the currently airing VH1 show '' Can't Get A Date '' (originally called "Crushed Out".) Reality television has attracted criticism from those who feel that the pervasiveness of the genre on network television has come at the cost of scripted programming. There has also been concern expressed in the media by network executives that such programming is limited in its appeal for '' drew 6 million viewers in 2006, making it the highest-rated show in the history of that network. Similarly, UPN's number one-rated show in 2006 was the reality show ''America's Next Top Model''. And in March 2006, a fifth-season episode of '' American Idol '' drew some of the show's best ratings yet, overshadowing even the 2006 Winter Olympics . PREDICTORS IN POPULAR CULTURE A number of works beginning in the 1940s anticipated elements of reality television that would later appear. These works tended to be set in a Dystopia n future, with subjects being recorded against their will, and they often involved violence.
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POP CULTURE REFERENCES Some scripted works have used reality television as a plot device:
In addition, a number of scripted television shows have taken the form of documentary-type reality TV shows, in " Mockumentary " style. The first such shows were the British '' The Office '' and the Canadian '' Trailer Park Boys '', both from 2001. Other examples include '' Drawn Together '', '' Reno 911! '', and '' Fat Actress ''. SEE ALSO
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