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If you wish to Speak at or conduct anything else related to Wikipedia during the confer ence, please submit your proposal here. Last date for submission is August 30, 2 011. Close<="" a="" border="0"> Reality television From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the genre of TV shows. For the European channel once calle d "Reality TV", see Zone Reality. Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedl y unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usual ly features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a conte st or other situation where a prize is awarded.[1] The genre, which has existed in some form or another since the early years of television programming, explode d as a phenomenon around 1999 2000 with the success of such television series such as Big Brother and Survivor.[1] Programs in the reality television genre are co mmonly called reality shows and often are produced in a television series. Docum entaries and nonfictional programming such as television news and sports televis ion shows are usually not classified as reality shows. The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, often demeaning Japanese variety show shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as Gaki no tsukai), to surv eillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother.[1] Reality television frequently portrays a modified and highly influenced form of reality, at times utilizing sensationalism to attract audience viewers and incre ase advertising revenue profits.[2][3][4] Participants are often placed in exoti c locations or abnormal situations,[1] and are often persuaded to act in specifi c scripted ways by off-screen "story editors" or "segment television producers," with the portrayal of events and speech manipulated and contrived to create an illusion of reality through direction and post-production editing techniques.[2] [3][4] Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 1940s 1950s 1.2 1960s 1970s 1.3 1980s 1990s 1.4 2000s 2 Subgenres 2.1 Documentary-style 2.2 Competition/game shows 2.3 Self-improvement/makeover 2.4 Renovation 2.5 Social experiment 2.6 Dating shows 2.7 Talk shows 2.8 Hidden cameras 2.9 Supernatural and paranormal 2.10 Hoaxes 3 Analysis 3.1 Political impact 3.2 As a substitute for scripted drama 4 Criticism 4.1 Influenced by corporate profit motive 4.1.1 Product placement 4.2 "Reality" as misnomer

4.2.1 Unreal environments 4.2.2 Misleading editing 4.2.3 Restaging 4.2.4 Premeditated scripting and acting 4.2.5 Misleading premise 4.3 Instant celebrity 4.4 As a spectacle of humiliation 4.5 Participation of children 4.5.1 Jon & Kate Plus 8 4.6 Other examples 4.7 Counter Arguments 5 Prior elements in popular culture 6 Pop culture references 6.1 Films 6.2 Television 6.3 Web 6.4 Music 6.5 Books 7 Other influences on popular culture 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links [edit] History [edit] 1940s 1950s Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began i n the 1940s. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera Candid Camera show, (b ased on his previous 1947 radio show, Candid Microphone), broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. It has been called the "granddaddy of the r eality TV genre".[5] In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Ho ur and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors and audience voting. The Miss America Pageant, first broadcast in 1954, was a competition whe re the winner achieved status as a national celebrity.[6] In the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved conte stants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. The Groucho Marx-host ed game show, You Bet Your Life, was primarily composed of Marx' prescripted[7] comebacks to what was most often candid interviews of the contestants, although some 'contestants' were actors.[7] The radio series Nightwatch (1951 1955), which tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers, also helped pave the way for reality television. The series You Asked For It (1950 1959), in which viewer requests dic tated content, was an antecedent of today's audience-participation reality TV el ements, in which viewers cast votes to help determine the course of events. [edit] 1960s 1970s First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television series Sev en Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year-olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Ev ery seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the i ntervening period, titled 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, etc. The series was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-n ew effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities. In the 1966 Direct Cinema film Chelsea Girls, Andy Warhol filmed various acquain tances with no direction given; the Radio Times Guide to Film 2007 stated that t he film was "to blame for reality television."[8]

The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the 12-part 1973 PBS se ries An American Family, which showed a nuclear family going through a divorce; unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style. In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris: The Dating Game, The New lywed Game, and The Gong Show, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition.[9] O ne Man and His Dog was a British Television series which began in 1976 featuring the participants of sheepdog trials. In 1978, Living in the Past recreated life in an Iron Age English village. [edit] 1980s 1990s Reality television as it is currently understood can be directly linked to sever al television shows that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. COPS, which fi rst aired in the spring of 1989 and came about partly due to the need for new pr ogramming during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike,[10] showed police off icers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the camcorder look and cinma vrit feel of much of later reality television. Canadian TV ran Thrill of a Lifetim e a fantasies fulfilled reality show from 1982-88 which was revived in 2001-03. The series Nummer 28, which aired on Dutch television in 1991, originated the co ncept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended peri od of time and recording the drama that ensued. Nummer 28 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 event s on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, that s erve as narration. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in their new series The Real World and Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed that T he Real World was directly inspired by his show.[11] However, the producers of T he Real World have stated that their direct inspiration was An American Family.[ 12] According to television commentator Charlie Brooker, this type of reality televi sion was enabled by the advent of computer-based non-linear editing systems for video (such as those produced by Avid Technology) in 1989. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before. (Film, which was easy to edit, was too exp ensive to shoot enough hours of footage with on a regular basis).[13] The TV show Expedition Robinson, created by TV producer Charlie Parsons, which f irst aired in 1997 in Sweden (and was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor), added to the Nummer 28/Real World template the idea of c ompetition and elimination, in which cast members/contestants battled against ea ch other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. (These s hows are now sometimes called elimination shows). Changing Rooms, a TV show that began in 1996, showed couples redecorating each o thers' houses, and was the first reality show[citation needed] with a self-impro vement or makeover theme. [edit] 2000s Reality television saw an explosion of global popularity starting in the summer of 2000, with the successes of Big Brother and Survivor (in the US). In particular, Survivor and American Idol have topped the US season-average tele vision ratings on several occasions. Survivor led the ratings in 2001 02, and Idol has topped the ratings six consecutive years (2004 05 through to 2009 10). The show s Survivor, the Idol series, The Amazing Race, the America's Next Top Model seri

es, the Dancing With The Stars series, The Apprentice, Fear Factor and Big Broth er have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in doz ens of countries. Reality television lost its viewers' appeal after the September 11 terrorist att acks. Low ratings weighed heavily on reality shows such as The Amazing Race, Los t (unrelated to the better-known serial drama of the same name) and The Mole. B. J. Sigesmund of Newsweek provides three reasons for the low ratings. The first reason was selecting the right time slot for the shows. He said that Lost and The A mazing Race debuted September 5, 2001 but they went off the air for three weeks i n the events of the terrorist attacks. The second reason was that there was an o versaturation of reality shows coming out in one season. September 5 saw the deb ut of shows like Big Brother, Pop Stars, Temptation Island, Boot Camp, Survivor and The Mole in the same night on different networks. The third reason was the i ssue of quality. He said that, A great show like Survivor will always do great nu mbers. The good shows only do good numbers. And the bad ones fall by the wayside . [14] Less than 12 new reality television shows debuted during the 2002 summer season. One of them was Houston Medical, a reality shows that goes behind the scenes wi th four doctors. The difference between reality television and other genres is t hat there are no writers, no scripts or actors involved. Reality television invo lves unknown stars in front of the camera. One reality show that debuted during the 2002 summer television was NBC s Dog Eat Dog, a game show that combined the el ements of Fear Factor and Weakest Link. Reality television has given the network s the ability to find creative and diverse shows that have led them to serious d ramas and continue into the next season. Peyser concluded that television will c ontinue to try reality programs, no matter what the season. [15] There have been at least three television channels devoted exclusively to realit y television: Fox Reality in the United States, launched in 2005, Global Reality Channel in Canada in 2010, and Zone Reality in the United Kingdom, launched in 2002. (The Canadian and British channels still exist; Fox Reality ended in mid-2 010). In addition, several other cable channels, such as MTV and Bravo, feature original reality programming as a mainstay.[16] Mike Darnell, head of reality TV for the US Fox network, was quoted as saying that the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox) "might as well plan three or four [reality shows] each season because we're going to have them, anyway."[16] During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that re ality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndi cation. Despite these concerns, DVDs for reality shows have sold briskly; Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, The Amazing Race, Project Runway, and America's Next Top Model have all ranked in the top DVDs sold on Amazon.com, and DVDs of T he Simple Life have outranked scripted shows like The O.C. and Desperate Housewi ves. Syndication, however, has indeed proven problematic; shows such as Fear Fac tor, COPS and Wife Swap in which each episode is self-contained can indeed be re run fairly easily, but usually only on cable television and/or during the daytim e (COPS and America's Funniest Home Videos being exceptions). Season-long compet itions such as The Amazing Race, Survivor, and America's Next Top Model generall y perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in marathons to draw the necessa ry viewers to make it worthwhile. Another option is to create documentaries arou nd series including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not s een in the original airings; the syndicated series American Idol Rewind and the pay-per-view Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV series are examples of using this str ategy. COPS has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales and DVD. A FOX s taple since 1989, COPS is, as of 2010, in its 23rd season, having outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that has seen wide success is "C

heaters", which has been running for 10 seasons in the US and is syndicated in o ver 100 countries worldwide. In 2007, according to the Learning and Skills Counc il, one in seven UK teenagers hopes to gain fame by appearing on reality televis ion.[17] In 2001, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added the reality genre to the Emmy Awards with the category of Outstanding Reality Program. In 2003, to be tter differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a sec ond category Outstanding Reality-Competition Program was added. In 2008, a third category, Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program was add ed. In 2010, the Tester became the first reality television show ever aired over a v ideogame console. The show entered its second season in the same year.[18] [edit] Subgenres The genre of reality television consists of various subgenres. [edit] Documentary-style In many reality TV programs, camera shooting and footage editing give the viewer the impression that they are passive observers following people going about the ir daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often re ferred to as fly on the wall or factual television. Story "plots" are often cons tructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap oper as hence the terms docusoap and docudrama. In other shows, a cinma vrit style is adop ted, where the filmmaker is more than a passive observer their presence and influe nce is greatly manifest. Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variant s: Special living environment Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previo usly did not know each other, in artificial living environments; The Real World is the originator of this style. In almost every other such show, cast members a re given a specific challenge or obstacle to overcome. Road Rules, which started in 1995 as a spin-off of The Real World, started this pattern: the cast travele d across the country guided by clues and performing tasks. Big Brother is probably the best known program of this type in the world wit h different versions produced in many countries around the globe. Another exampl e of a show in this category The 1900 House, involves historical re-enactment wi th cast members hired to live and work as people of a specific time and place. 2 001'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. U8TV: The Lofters combined the "special living environment" format w ith the "professional activity" format noted below; in addition to living togeth er in a loft, each member of the show's cast was hired to host a television prog ram for a Canadian cable channel. Celebrities Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often th ese show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include T he Anna Nicole Show, The Osbournes, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and Hogan Knows Best. In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks; these include Celebrity Big Brother, The Simple Life, Tommy Lee Goes t o College, The Surreal Life, and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. VH1 has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality, known as "Cele breality".

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 ou tside experts are brought in (at least, none appear on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) is COPS which has been airing since 1989, preceding by many years the current reality show phenomenon. Other examples of this type of reality show include the American shows Miami Ink, The First 48, Dog the Bounty Hunter, American Chopper and Deadliest Catch; the British shows Airport, Police Stop! and Traffic Cops; the Australian shows Border Security and Bondi Rescue, and the New Zealand show Motorway Patrol. The US cable networks TLC and A&E in particular show a number of this type of realit y show. VH1's 2001 show Bands on the Run was a notable early hybrid, in that the sho w featured four unsigned bands touring and making music as a professional activi ty, but also pitted the bands against one another in game show fashion to see wh ich band could make the most money. [edit] Competition/game shows This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help im prove this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be chal lenged and removed. (May 2009) Main article: game show Another sub-genre of reality TV is "reality competition" or so-called "reality g ame shows," which follow the format of non-tournament elimination contests. Typi cally, participants are filmed competing to win a prize, often while living toge ther in a confined environment. In many cases, participants are removed until on ly one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually th is is done by eliminating participants one at a time, in balloon debate style, t hrough either disapproval voting or by voting for the most popular choice to win . Voting is done by the viewing audience, the show's own participants, a panel o f judges, or some combination of the three. A well-known example of a reality-competition show is the globally syndicated Bi g Brother, in which cast members live together in the same house, with participa nts removed at regular intervals by either the viewing audience or, in the case of the American version, by the participants themselves. There remains some disagreement over whether talent-search shows such as the Ido l series, America's Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, and Celebrity Duets are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as Star Searc h. Although the shows involve a traditional talent search, the shows follow the reality-competition conventions of removing one or more contestants per episode and allowing the public to vote on who is removed; the Idol series also require the contestants to live together during the run of the show (though their daily life is never shown onscreen). Additionally, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges. As a result, such shows are often conside red reality television, and the American Primetime Emmy Awards have nominated bo th American Idol and Dancing with the Stars for the Outstanding Reality-Competit ion Program Emmy. Modern game shows like Weakest Link, Greed, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Amer ican Gladiators, Dog Eat Dog and Deal or No Deal also lie in a gray area: like t raditional game shows (e.g., The Price Is Right, Jeopardy!), the action takes pl ace in an enclosed TV studio over a short period of time; however, they have hig her production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes than tr aditional shows (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or

offering large cash prizes). In addition, there is more interaction between con testants and hosts, and in some cases they feature reality-style contestant comp etition and/or elimination as well. These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, lead many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella as well as the tradition al game show one.[19] There are various hybrid reality-competition shows, like the worldwide-syndicate d Star Academy, which combines the Big Brother and Idol formats, The Biggest Los er and The Pick-up Artist which combine competition with the self-improvement fo rmat, and American Inventor, which uses the Idol format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as Making the Band and Project Greenlight, devote the f irst part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing th at person or group of people working on a project. Popular variants of the competition-based format include the following: Dating-based competition Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing one out of a gro up of suitors. Over the course of either a single episode or an entire season, s uitors are eliminated until only the contestant and the final suitor remains. Fo r a time, in 2001 2003, this type of reality show dominated the other genres on th e major US networks. Shows that aired included The Bachelor, its spin-off The Ba chelorette, as well as For Love or Money, Paradise Hotel, Temptation Island, Ave rage Joe and Farmer Wants a Wife, among others. More recent such shows include F lavor of Love and its spin-offs I Love New York, Rock of Love, and The Cougar. T his is one of the older variants of the format; shows such as The Dating Game th at date to the 1960s had similar premises (though each episode was self-containe d, and not the serial format of more modern shows). Job search In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants w ere pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based on that skill , are judged, and are then kept or removed by a single expert or a panel of expe rts. The show is usually presented as a job search of some kind, in which the pr ize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. Popstars, w hich debuted in 1999, may have been the first such show. The first job-search sh ow which showed dramatic, unscripted situations may have been America's Next Top Model, which premiered in May 2003. Other examples include The Apprentice (whic h judges business skills), Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef (for chefs), Shear Genius (for hair styling), Project Runway (for clothing design), Top Design (for inter ior design), Stylista (for fashion editors), Last Comic Standing (for comedians) , The Starlet and Scream Queens (for actresses), I Know My Kid's a Star (for chi ld performers), On the Lot (for filmmakers), The Shot (for photographers), So Yo u Think You Can Dance (for dancers), MuchMusic VJ Search (for television hosts), Dream Job (for sportscasters), Face Off (for make-up artists), and The Tester ( for game testers). Some shows use the same format with celebrities: in this case , there is no expectation that the winner will continue this line of work, and p rize winnings often go to charity. Examples of celebrity competition programs in clude Deadline, Celebracadabra, and The Celebrity Apprentice. Sports Most of these programs create a sporting competition among athletes attempti ng to establish their name in that sport. The Club, in 2002, was one of the firs t shows to immerse sport with reality TV, based on a fabricated club competing a gainst real clubs in the sport of Australian rules football; the audience helped select which players played each week by voting for their favorites. Golf Chann el's The Big Break is a reality show in which aspiring golfers compete against o ne another and are eliminated. The Contender, a boxing show, unfortunately becam e the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after

being eliminated from the show. In The Ultimate Fighter participants have volunt arily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competi tive pressure. In sports shows, sometimes just appearing on the show, not necessarily winni ng, can get a contestant the job. The owner of UFC declared that the final match of the first season of Ultimate Fighter was so good, both contestants were offe red a contract, and in addition, many non-winning "TUF Alumni" have prospered in the UFC. Many of the losers from World Wrestling Entertainment's Tough Enough a nd Diva Search shows have been picked up by the company. Not all sports programs, however, involve athletes trying to make a name in the sport. The 2006 US reality series Knight School focused on students at Texas Tech University vying for a walk-on (non-scholarship) roster position on the sc hool's men's basketball team under legendary coach Bob Knight. In the Republic o f Ireland, RT One's Celebrity Bainisteoir involves eight non-sporting Irish celeb rities becoming bainisteoiri (managers) of mid-level Gaelic football teams, lead ing their teams in an officially sanctioned tournament. [edit] Self-improvement/makeover Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving their lives. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season (as in The Swan and Celebrity Fit Club), but usually there is a new target for impro vement in each episode. Despite differences in the content, the format is usuall y the same: first the show introduces the subjects in their current, less-than-i deal environment. Then the subjects meet with a group of experts, who give the s ubjects instructions on how to improve things; they offer aid and encouragement along the way. Finally, the subjects are placed back in their environment and th ey, along with their friends and family and the experts, appraise the changes th at have occurred. Other self-improvement or makeover shows include "How Do I Loo k?" (fashion makeover). The Biggest Loser and Fat March, (which covers weight lo ss), Extreme Makeover (entire physical appearance), Queer Eye and What Not to We ar (style and grooming), Supernanny (child-rearing), Made (attaining difficult g oals), Trinny & Susannah Undress (fashion makeover and marriage), Tool Academy ( relationship building) and Charm School and From G's to Gents (self-improvement and manners). [edit] Renovation Some shows make over part or all of a person's living space, work space, or vehi cle. The American show This Old House was the first such show,[citation needed] debuting in 1979. The British show Changing Rooms, beginning in 1996 (later rema de in the US as Trading Spaces) was the first such renovation show that added a game show feel with different weekly contestants.[citation needed] Other shows i n this category include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Debbie Travis' Facelift, Designed to Sell, While You Were Out, and Holmes on Homes. Pimp My Ride and Ove rhaulin' show vehicles being rebuilt. Some shows, such as Restaurant Makeover an d Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, show both the decor and the menu of a failing res taurant being remade. The issue of "making over" was taken to its social extreme with the British show Life Laundry, in which people who had become hoarders, ev en living in squalor, were given professional assistance. As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more co nventional formats. Some argue the key difference is the emphasis of the human s tory and conflicts of reality shows, versus the emphasis on process and informat ion in more traditional format shows.[citation needed] The show This Old House, which began in 1979, the start to finish renovation of different houses through a season; media critic Jeff Jarvis has speculated that it is "the original reali ty TV show."[20] [edit] Social experiment

Another type of reality program is the social experiment that produces drama, co nflict, and sometimes transformation. Wife Swap which began in 2003 on Channel 4 and has aired for four seasons on ABC is a notable example. People with differe nt values agreed to live by each other's social rules for a brief period of time and sometimes learn from the experience. Other shows in this category include I TV's Holiday Showdown, Oxygen's The Bad Girls Club (lifestyles and actions), and Channel 4's Secret Millionaire. Faking It was a series where people had to lear n a new skill and pass themselves off as experts in that skill. Shattered was a controversial 2004 UK series where contestants competed for how long they could go without sleep. [edit] Dating shows Unlike the aforementioned dating competition shows, some shows feature all new c ontestants each episode. This format was first used in the 1960s show The Dating Game. Modern examples include Blind Date, Matchmaker, Room Raiders, Elimidate, Next, and Parental Control. [edit] Talk shows Though the traditional format of a talk show is that of a host interviewing a fe atured guest or discussing a chosen topic with a guest or panel of guests, the a dvent of trash TV shows has often made people group the entire category in with reality television. Programs like Ricki Lake, The Jerry Springer Show, Dr. Phil, The Jeremy Kyle Show and many others have generally recruited guests by adverti sing a potential topic for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous an d are chosen in the interest of creating on-screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, th is sort of depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format , is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming. [edit] Hidden cameras Another type of reality programming features hidden cameras rolling when random passers-by encounter a staged situation. Candid Camera, which first aired on tel evision in 1948, pioneered the format. Modern variants of this type of productio n include Punk'd, Trigger Happy TV, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment and Just For La ughs Gags. The series Scare Tactics and Room 401 are hidden-camera programs in w hich the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them . Not all hidden camera shows use strictly staged situations. For example, the syn dicated show Cheaters, purports to use hidden cameras to record suspected cheati ng partners, although the authenticity of the show has been questioned.[21] Once the evidence has been gathered, the accuser confronts the cheating partner with the assistance of the host. [edit] Supernatural and paranormal Further information: paranormal television Started by MTV's Fear in 2000,[citation needed] supernatural and paranormal real ity shows place participants into frightening situations which ostensibly involv e the paranormal. In series such as Celebrity Paranormal Project, the stated aim is investigation, and some series like Scariest Places on Earth challenge parti cipants to survive the investigation; whereas others such as Paranormal State an d Ghost Hunters use a recurring crew of paranormal researchers. Shows such as Fe ar Factor and Scare Tactics dispense with supernatural overtones and aim solely at inciting fear or aversion in the cast. In general, the shows follow similar s tylized patterns of night vision, surveillance, and hand held camera footage; od d angles; subtitles establishing place and time; desaturated imagery; rapid fire , MTV editing; and non-melodic soundtracks. Noting the recent trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value,

New York Times Culture editor Mike Hale[22] characterized ghost hunting shows a s "pure theater" and compared the genre to professional wrestling or soft core p ornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.[23] [edit] Hoaxes In hoax reality shows, a false premise is presented to some of the series partic ipants. In truth, the premise of the series is completely different. The rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. These shows often served 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 (modeled after The Apprentice), My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, Hel l Date (modeled after Blind Date), Superstar USA (modeled after American Idol), Space Cadets (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into s pace), Punk'd (involving celebrities in staged crises), Invasion Iowa (in which a town was convinced that William Shatner was filming a movie there), and Realit y Hell[24] (different target and premise every episode). Other shows, though not hoax shows per se, have offered misleading information t o some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples inclu de Boy Meets Boy and Joe Millionaire. [edit] Analysis [edit] Political impact Reality television's global success has been, in the eyes of some analysts, an i mportant political phenomenon. In some authoritarian countries, reality televisi on voting has been the first time many citizens have voted in any free and fair wide-scale elections. In addition, the frankness of the settings on some reality shows present situations that are often taboo in certain orthodox cultures, lik e Star Academy Arab World, which began airing in 2003, and which shows male and female contestants living together.[25] In 2004, journalist Matt Labash, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV."[26] In China, after the fin ale of the 2005 season of Super Girl (the local version of Pop Idol) drew an aud ience of around 400 million people, and 8 million text message votes, the staterun English-language newspaper Beijing Today ran the front-page headline "Is Sup er Girl a Force for Democracy?"[27] The Chinese government criticized the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness", [28] and in 2006 banned it outright.[29] Other attempts at introducing reality t elevision have proved to be similarly controversial. A Pan-Arab version of Big B rother was cancelled in 2004 after less than two weeks on the air after a public outcry and street protests.[30] In 2007, Abu Dhabi TV begain airing Million's Poet, a show featuring Pop Idol-st yle voting and elimination, but for the writing and oration of Arabic poetry. Th e show became popular in Arab countries, with around 18 million viewers,[31] par tly because, according to analysts such as University of Pennsylvania professor Marwan Kraidy, it was able to combine the excitement of reality television with a traditional, culturally relevant topic.[32] In April 2010, however, the show a lso become a subject of political controversy, when Hissa Hilal, a 43-year-old f emale Saudi competitor, read out a poem criticizing her country's Muslim clerics . [1] Hilal received the highest scores from the judges throughout the competiti on, and came in third place overall.[31] [edit] As a substitute for scripted drama VH1 executive vice president Michael Hirschorn wrote that the plots and subject matters on reality television are more authentic and more engaging than in scrip ted dramas, writing that scripted network television "remains dominated by varia nts on the police procedural... in which a stock group of characters (ethnically , sexually, and generationally diverse) grapples with endless versions of the sa

me dilemma. The episodes have all the ritual predictability of Japanese Noh thea ter," while reality TV is "the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has enga ged hot-button cultural issues class, sex, race that respectable television... rarel y touches."[33] Television critic James Poniewozik wrote that reality shows like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers showcase working-class people of the kind that "used to b e routine" on scripted network television, but that became a rarity in the 2000s : "The better to woo upscale viewers, TV has evicted its mechanics and dockworke rs to collect higher rents from yuppies in coffeehouses."[34] [edit] Criticism Lighting crews are typically present in the background of reality television sho ws. Sound crews are typically present in the background of reality television shows. [edit] Influenced by corporate profit motive Writers for reality television do not receive union pay-scale compensation and u nion representation, which significantly decreases expenditures for producers an d broadcasters.[2] Many of the actors in reality television are compensated for their appearances.[21][35][36][37] [edit] Product placement Product placement, whereby companies and corporations pay to have their products included in television programming for marketing purposes is highly prevalent i n reality television.[38][39][40][41] The following is a list of television shows with the most instances of product p lacement (11/07 11/08; Nielsen Media Research).[citation needed] Eight out of the ten are reality television shows. The Biggest Loser 6,248 American Idol, 4,636 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', 3,371 America's Toughest Jobs, 2,807 Deal or No Deal, 2,292 America's Next Top Model, 2,241 Last Comic Standing, 1,993 Kitchen Nightmares 1,853 Hell's Kitchen, 1,807 [edit] "Reality" as misnomer Some commentators[who?] have said that the name "reality television" is an inacc urate description for several styles of program included in the genre.[2] Irene McGee, a castmember on the 1998 The Real World: Seattle, has done public speakin g tours about the negative and misleading aspects of reality TV. [edit] Unreal environments In competition-based programs such as Big Brother and Survivor, and other specia l living environment shows like The Real World, 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 spec ifically select the participants and use carefully designed scenarios, challenge s, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Bu rnett, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessm ent, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell g ood stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama."[42] [edit] Misleading editing In 2004, VH1 aired a program called Reality TV Secrets Revealed, which detailed

various misleading tricks of reality TV producers.[43] According to the show, va rious reality shows (notably Joe Millionaire) combined audio and video from diff erent times, or from different sets of footage, to create an artificial illusion of time chronology that did not occur, and a misportrayal of participant behavi ors and actions. In docusoap programming, which follows people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, able to portray certain parti cipants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronolog y and selective presentation of events. A Season 3 episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe included a segment on the ways in which selective editing can be used to this end.[13] [edit] Restaging According to VH1's Reality TV Secrets Revealed, the shows The Restaurant and Sur vivor had at times recreated incidents that had actually occurred, but were not properly recorded by cameras to the required technical standard, or had not been recorded at all. In order to get the footage, the event was restaged for the ca meras. [edit] Premeditated scripting and acting Reality television shows have faced speculation that the participants themselves are involved in fakery, acting out storylines that have been planned in advance by producers.[2] The Hills is one notable example; the show has long faced alle gations that its plots are scripted ahead of time. During the second season of H ell's Kitchen, it was speculated that the customers eating meals prepared by the contestants were in fact paid actors.[44] Some participants of reality shows ha ve also stated afterwards that they altered their behavior to appear more crazy or emotional in order to get more camera time. Daniel Petrie Jr., former president of the Writers Guild of America, west, an or ganization that represents 9,000 Hollywood film and television writers, stated: "We look at reality TV, which is billed as unscripted, and we know it is scripte d. We understand that shows don't want to call the writers writers because they want to maintain the illusion that it is reality, that stuff just happens."[2] [edit] Misleading premise Even the premise of shows has been called into question. The winner of the first "cycle", in 2003, of America's Next Top Model, Adrianne Curry, claimed that par t of the grand prize she received, a modeling contract with Revlon, was for a mu ch smaller amount of work than what was promised throughout the show.[45] During the airing of the first season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, in which a group of both men and women vied for the heart of Tila Tequila, there were rumor s that its star was not only heterosexual, but also had a boyfriend already.[46] The show's winner, Bobby Banhart, claimed that he never saw Ms. Tequila again a fter the show finished taping, and that he was never even given her telephone nu mber.[47] [edit] Instant celebrity Reality television has the potential to turn its participants into national cele brities, at least for a short period. This is most notable in talent-search prog rams such as the Idol series, which has spawned music stars in many of the count ries in which it has aired. Many other shows, however, such as Survivor and Big Brother, have made at least temporary celebrities out of their participants; som e participants have then been able to parlay this fame into media careers. For e xample, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback, later became a host on morning talk show The View; and Kristin Cavallari, who ap peared on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, has gone on to become a televisi on host and actress. Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, who appeared on MTV's J ersey Shore, was able to parlay his fame into lucrative endorsement deals. Jamie

Chung, a former contestant on The Real World, went on to pursue an acting caree r, starring in films such as Sucker Punch. Tiffany Pollard, originally a contest ant on Flavor of Love, was eventually given four additional reality series of he r own on VH1: I Love New York, I Love New York 2, New York Goes to Hollywood and New York Goes to Work. In Britain, Jade Goody became famous after appearing on Big Brother 3 in 2002; she later appeared on other reality programs, wrote a bes tselling autobiography and launched a top-selling perfume line. She later receiv ed extensive media coverage during her battle with cervical cancer, from which s he died in 2009. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who has appeared on The Real World and various spin-offs, later became a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Ente rtainment. Some reality-television alumni take on the role of professional greeters at nigh tclubs, appear at automobile shows, and the like. Reality TV contestants are sometimes derided as "Z-list celebrities" or "nonebri ties" who have done nothing to warrant their newfound fame.[48] The newspaper Th e Sun defined a "nonebrity" as "a pointless media figure who would love to rise up high enough to scrape on to the bottom end of the D-list."[48] [edit] As a spectacle of humiliation Some have claimed that the success of reality television is due to its ability t o provide schadenfreude, by satisfying the desire of viewers to see others humil iated. American magazine Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Do we watch reality televi sion for precious insight into the human condition? Please. We watch for those a wkward scenes that make us feel a smidge better about our own little unfilmed li ves."[49] Media analyst Tom Alderman wrote, "There is a sub-set of Reality TV th at can only be described as Shame TV because it uses humiliation as its core app eal."[50] Television critic James Poniewozik has disagreed with this assessment, writing, "for all the talk about 'humiliation TV,' what's striking about most reality sho ws is how good humored and resilient most of the participants are: the American Idol rejectees stubbornly convinced of their own talent, the Fear Factor players walking away from vats of insects like Olympic champions. What finally bothers their detractors is, perhaps, not that these people are humiliated but that they are not."[51] [edit] Participation of children [edit] Jon & Kate Plus 8 The reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8, which showed a family of two parents (Jon an d Kate Gosselin) raising their eight children, caused controversy when, in June 2009, Jon and Kate began divorce proceedings, and it emerged that Jon had been i nvolved with other women prior to the divorce. The episode announcing their sepa ration became the most-watched of the series, with 10.6 million viewers.[52][53] TLC has announced that Jon & Kate Plus 8 will continue under the new title Kate Plus Eight.[54] Criticism has been raised regarding Kate's intentions of continu ing with the show, as well as whether or not the children are being exploited or may be under emotional distress.[55] According to lawyer Gloria Allred: Every state does regulate to protect the health, the safety and welfare of little child performers [...] And these little ones are only eight years old and five years old, they can t protect themselves, so the state has to be sure tha t they are safe in their workplace.[55] In the case of the show, the children's workplace is their home. Currently there are no clear laws in Pennsylvania (where the Gosselins reside) regarding a chil d's appearance on a reality show.[56] However, Pennsylvania law permits kids who are at least seven years old to work in the entertainment industry, as long as certain guidelines are followed and a permit is obtained. For example, children

may not work after 11:30 pm under most circumstances, or perform in any location that serves alcohol.[56] Kate defended her position that the children are happy and healthy, and not in a ny danger. In addition, Jon has stated that they are "in talks" regarding ensuri ng the children's happiness,[55] and that there is no truth to any reports that the children have been hurt by the series.[57] TLC released a statement saying t hat the network "fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations" to pro duce the show. The statement also said that "for an extended period of time, we have been engaged in cooperative discussions and supplied all requested informat ion to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry".[56] [edit] Other examples In another much-publicized case, issues have been raised about the underlying mo tives that led to the balloon boy hoax, in which six-year-old Falcon Heene was r eportedly coerced by his father to stage for a frantic, live-on-TV chase for an out-of-control helium balloon in which he was suspected to be. The police said t hat the father engineered the hoax with the hope of generating enough publicity in order to get the family back into the reality-show business, after two appear ances on ABC's Wife Swap. In an interview with the Denver Post,[58] child psycho logist Alan Zimmerman said: Using your family or children to please the masses, or producers of mass entertainment who want ratings and a good bottom line, is inherently risky [... ] They are by definition a commodity in a profit-oriented business. The same article quoted psychologist Jamie Huysman as saying, "It is exploitatio n [...] Nobody wants to watch normal behavior. Kids have to be co-conspirators t o get the camera to stay on." [edit] Counter Arguments Despite arguments that realism cannot be achieved in reality shows because the o utcomes may or may not have been scripted, Geoff King argues in his book, Specta cle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond: even though the contes tants are in a fabricated setting and the situation has been set up for a certai n outcome, as in real love shows such as The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, thes e contestants still harbor feelings that make their participation in the show re al to them. King says: I would argue, rather, that the simulated setting stimulates feeling, in part because the removal of the participants from their normal surroundings str ips them to nothing but the space and affect of social interaction. The intimacy that arises out of this amplified situation is real both for the participants a nd for the viewers. [59] Love, like television, must be performed to be real. The performance of love will generate the effects of love, just as the performance of reality will generate reality effects. [60] [edit] Prior elements in popular culture A number of fictional works since the 1940s have contained elements similar to e lements of reality television. They tended to be set in a dystopian future, with subjects being recorded against their will, and often involved violence. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a book by George Orwell, depicted a world in wh ich two-way television screens are fitted in every room, so that people's action s are monitored at all times. (The all-seeing authority figure in the book, "Big Brother", inspired the name of the pioneering reality series Big Brother.) Anot her is the impact on pop culture bearing a similarity (at least in the eyes of c

ritics) to the concept of prolefeed, feeding the masses what critics deem as tra sh television. Fahrenheit 451 (1953), a novel by Ray Bradbury, portrays a bookless future s ociety, with omnipresent electronic media and wall-sized two-way home television s. The protagonist's wife is immersed in a live audience participation program. "The Seventh Victim" (1953) was a short story by science fiction author Robe rt Sheckley that depicted a futuristic game in which one player gets to hunt dow n another player and kill him. The first player who can score ten kills wins the grand prize. This story was the basis for the film The 10th Victim (1965), also known by its Italian title, La decima vittima. You're Another, a 1955 short story by Damon Knight, is about a man who disco vers that he is an actor in a "livie", a live-action show that is viewed by bill ions of people in the future. "The Prize of Peril"[61] (1958), another Robert Sheckley story, was about a television show in which a contestant volunteers to be hunted for a week by trai ned killers, with a large cash prize if he survives. It was adapted in 1970 as t he TV movie Das Millionenspiel, and again in 1983 as the movie Le Prix du Danger . "It Could Be You" (1964), a short story by Australian Frank Roberts, feature s a day-in-day-out televised blood sport. Survivor (1965), a science fiction story by Walter F. Moudy, depicted the 20 50 "Olympic War Games" between Russia and the United States. The games are fough t to show the world the futility of war and thus deter further conflict. Each si de has one hundred soldiers who fight with rifles, mortars, and machine guns in a large natural arena. The goal is for one side to wipe out the other; the few w ho survive the battle become heroes. The games are televised, complete with colo r commentary discussing tactics, soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths. Bread and Circuses (1968) was an episode of the TV show Star Trek in which t he crew visits a planet resembling the Roman Empire, but with 20th century techn ology. The planet's "Empire TV" features regular gladiatorial games, with the an nouncer urging viewers at home to vote for their favorites, stating, "This is yo ur program. You pick the winner." The show included several jabs at real-world t elevision, such as a praetorian threatening, "You bring this network's ratings d own, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!" The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968) was a BBC television play in which a dis sident in a dictatorship is forced onto a secluded island and taped for a realit y show in order to keep the masses entertained. The Unsleeping Eye (1973), a novel by D.G. Compton (also published as The Co ntinuous Katherine Mortenhoe), was about a woman dying of cancer whose last days are recorded without her knowledge for a television show. It was later adapted as the 1980 movie Death Watch. "Ladies And Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis" (1976) was a short story by scie nce fiction author Kate Wilhelm about a television show in which contestants (in cluding a B-list actress who is hoping to revitalize her career) attempt to make their way to a checkpoint after being dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness, wh ile being filmed and broadcast around the clock through an entire weekend. The s tory focuses primarily on the show's effect on a couple whose domestic tensions and eventual reconciliation parallel the dangers faced by the contestants. Network (1976) was a film predictive of a number of trends in broadcast tele vision, including reality programming. One subplot featured network executives n egotiating with an urban terrorist group for the production of a weekly series, each episode of which was to feature an act of terrorism. Real Life (1979) where a pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix f amily to let him and his crew film their everyday lives. A parody of the groundbreaking PBS series An American Family. The Running Man (1982) was a book by Stephen King depicting a game show in w hich a contestant flees around the world from "hunters" trying to chase him down and kill him; it has been speculated that the book was inspired by Robert Sheck ley's The Prize of Peril. The book was loosely adapted as a 1987 movie of the sa

me name. The movie removed most of the reality-TV element of the book: its compe tition now took place entirely within a large TV studio, and more closely resemb led an athletic competition (though a deadly one). The film 20 Minutes into the Future (1985), and the spin-off TV show Max Hea droom, revolved around television mainly based on live, often candid, broadcasts . In one episode of Max Headroom, "Academy", the character Blank Reg fights for his life on a courtroom game show, with the audience deciding his fate. Vengeance on Varos (1985) was an episode of the TV show Doctor Who in which the population of a planet watches live TV broadcasts of the torture and executi ons of those who oppose the government. The planet's political system is based o n the leaders themselves facing disintegration if the population votes 'no' to t heir propositions. This episode is often credited as the origins of "voting some one off". [edit] Pop culture references Some scripted and written works have used reality television as a plot device: [edit] Films American Dreamz (2006) is a film set partially on an American Idol-like show . EDtv (1999) was a remake of Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves. Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves (1994) is a Qubcois film about a man who signs up to star in a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show. Real Life (1979) is a comedic film about the creation of a show similar to A n American Family gone horribly wrong. Series 7: The Contenders (2001) is a film about a reality show in which cont estants have to kill each other to win. In the film She's All That (1999), the girlfriend of one of the main charact ers is stolen by a former castmember of The Real World (played by Matthew Lillar d) Tomb of the Werewolf (2004) is a film about a man searching for treasure whi le being followed by a reality show film crew, who encounters a werewolf and a v ampire instead. The Truman Show (1998) is a film about a man (Jim Carrey) who discovers that his entire life is being staged and filmed for a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show. [edit] Television "Bad Wolf" (2005) is an episode of the TV show Doctor Who in which the chara cters find themselves trapped in various real-life reality television shows. The Comeback (2005) satirizes the indignity of reality TV by presenting itse lf as "raw footage" of a new reality show documenting the attempted comeback of has-been star Valerie Cherish. "Helter Shelter" (2002) is an episode of The Simpsons in which the family be come contestants in "The 1895 Challenge," living for several weeks in a Victoria n style house with antique furniture and no electricity. To boost the ratings, t hey soon find themselves being abused and humiliated by the show's director, who states that he created the show "by watching Dutch television and tweaking the title." The Simpsons has also repeatedly spoofed reality TV and made reference t o fictitious reality shows, with such titles as "Tied To A Bear," "Sucker Punch, " "Mystery Injection," "Animal Survivor,", "No-Pants Island" and "Fart Date." Rock Rivals (2008) is a British television show about two judges on a televi sed singing contest whose marriage is falling apart. "Special Service" (1989) was an episode of the remade TV series The Twilight Zone, in which a man discovers that his life has secretly been videotaped and i s a huge hit on a network television show. Total Drama Island (2007) is a Canadian animated series about teenagers on a Survivor-like show. It was subsequently followed by Total Drama Action (2009) a nd Total Drama World Tour (2010).

[edit] Web "Realistically Speaking 1&2" (2007) is a two-part web-episode of Hero Envy i n which one of the main characters allows a reality-TV film crew to document his and his friends' lives in an elimination-style game in exchange for money. [edit] Music "Reality Show" is a song by T-Pain, from the 2008 album Thr33 Ringz, in whic h he sings to his lover, "Let's make a reality show", to "show 'em how much we i n love". "Real" is a song by James Wesley from his 2010 album Real. The song mocks va rious reality shows popular in the United States as unreal (he specifically ment ions The Bachelor, Survivor, The Amazing Race and The Real Housewives), comparin g them unfavorably with real-life hardships. The song peaked at #22 on Billboard 's Hot Country Singles charts. [edit] Books Chart Throb (2006) is a comic novel by Ben Elton that parodies The X Factor and The Osbournes, among other reality shows. Dead Famous (2001) is a comedy/whodunit novel, also by Ben Elton, in which a contestant is murdered while on a Big Brother-like show. Oryx and Crake (2003), a speculative fiction novel by Margaret Atwood, occas ionally makes mentions of the protagonist and his friend entertaining themselves by watching reality TV shows of live executions, Noodie News, frog squashing, g raphic surgery, and child pornography.[62][63][64] [edit] Other influences on popular culture A number of scripted television shows have taken the form of documentary-type re ality TV shows, in "mockumentary" style. The first such show was the BBC series Operation Good Guys, which premiered in 1997. Other examples include People Like Us, Trailer Park Boys, The Office, Modern Family, Drawn Together, Summer Height s High, Total Drama Island, Parks and Recreation , Reno 911! and Come Fly With M e. Some feature films have been produced that use some of the conventions of realit y television; such films are sometimes referred to as reality films, and sometim es simply as documentaries.[65] Allen Funt's 1970 hidden camera movie What Do Yo u Say to a Naked Lady? was based on his reality-television show Candid Camera. T he TV show Jackass spawned four films: Jackass: The Movie in 2001, Jackass: Numb er Two in 2006, Jackass 2.5 in late 2007, and Jackass 3D in 2010. A similar show , Extreme Duudsonit, was adapted for the film The Dudesons Movie in 2006. The pr oducers of The Real World created The Real Cancun in 2003. Games People Play: Ne w York was released in 2004. The mumblecore film genre, which began in the mid-2000s, and uses video cameras and relies heavily on improvisation and non-professional actors, has been descri bed as influenced in part by what one critic called "the spring-break psychodram a of MTV's The Real World". Mumblecore director Joe Swanberg has said, "As annoy ing as reality TV is, it's been really good for filmmakers because it got mainst ream audiences used to watching shaky camerawork and different kinds of situatio ns."[66] [edit] See also Television icon.png Television portal Broadcast media Bunim/Murray Productions

Endemol Factual television Great Reality TV Swindle Matt Kunitz John Langley List of reality television programs List of television show franchises Media manipulation Prolefeed [edit] References ^ a b c d Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Te levision. Routledge. ISBN 041526152X. ^ a b c d e f Booth, William (August 10, 2004). "Reality Is Only An Illusion , Writers Say - Hollywood Scribes Want a Cut Of Not-So-Unscripted Series". The W ashington Post. Retrieved April 26, 2009. ^ a b "Just how real are reality TV shows? - Shows may exist in a middle gro und not fully scripted nor completely true". MSNBC. April 14, 2009. Retrieved Ap ril 2009. ^ a b "Just How Real are Reality TV Shows?". NBCBayArea.com. April 8, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2009. ^ Rowan, Beth (July 21, 2000). "Reality TV Takes Hold". Infoplease.com. Retr ieved May 8, 2007. ^ "1950s - Year in Review". Miss America Pageant. Archived from the original on April 25, 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2007. ^ a b http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042171/ ^ Baracaia, Alexa (October 4, 2006). "Warhol 'reality' film named in top 100 ". Evening Standard. ^ James, Caryn (January 26, 2003). "Bachelor No. 1 And the Birth Of Reality TV". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2009. ^ Peterson, Karla (November 6, 2007). "With writers on strike, expect more r epeats and dose of reality". San Diego Union-Tribune. ^ Source: Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boo gaard, NRC Handelsblad, 28 september 1996 ^ Keveney, Bill (October 9, 2007). "MTV's 'Real World' launched a revolution ". USA Today. ^ a b "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe - Reality TV Editing". YouTube. February 2007. ^ Sigesmund, B. J. (2001, October 11). Will Reality TV Survive? Newsweek. Re trieved from Lexis Nexis database. ^ Peyser, M. (2002, August 9). The New Reality. Newsweek. Retrieved from Lex is Nexis database. ^ a b Levin, Gary (May 8, 2007). "'Simple economics': More reality TV". USA Today. ^ "Jaded". The Economist: pp. 57. January 27, 2007. ^ Snider, Mike (March 5, 2010). "Have a PlayStation? You can watch 'The Test er' ; Reality series is available only on consoles". USA Today: p. D.12. Retriev ed October 10, 2010. ^ "How can I audition for reality shows?". MSNBC. June 1, 2007. ^ Jarvis, Jeff (August 6, 2005). "Tag the greatest but not obvious TV shows" . BuzzMachine.com. Retrieved May 8, 2007. ^ a b Nowell, Scott (October 17, 2002). "Your Cheatin' Art". HoustonPress. R etrieved April 29, 2009. ^ "Mike Hale, Editor, The New York Times". New York Times Knowledge Network. Retrieved October 4, 2010. ^ Hale, Mike (December 10, 2009). "Consigning Reality to Ghosts". The New Yo rk Times. Retrieved January 7, 2010. ^ Perigard, Mark A (August 16, 2009). "Shocker! Stooges do anything for came ra in Reality Hell ". Boston Herald.

^ Lynch, Marc (2006). "'Reality is Not Enough': The Politics of Arab Reality TV". ^ Labash, Matt (October 18, 2004). "When a Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss". The Wee kly Standard. ^ "Democracy Idol". The Economist. September 8, 2005. ^ Macartney, Jane (August 29, 2005). "TV talent contest 'too democratic' for China's censors". The Times (London). ^ University of Cambridge (July 5, 2007). "Footage from banned Chinese "Pop Idol" receives Cambridge premiere". Press release. Retrieved July 29, 2007. ^ "Arab Big Brother show suspended". BBC News. March 1, 2004. ^ a b Winner's tribe put the millions in Million s Poet, James Calderwood, The National, April 19, 2010 ^ Move over American Idol: Hissa Hilal in finals of Arab reality TV poetry c ontest, Kristen Chick, Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 2010 ^ Hirschorn, Michael (May 2007). "The Case for Reality TV". The Atlantic Mon thly. ^ Poniewozik, James (May 22, 2008). "Reality TV's Working Class Heroes". Tim e. ^ "How Much do Reality Stars Get Paid?". ^ "Celebrity Apprentice Stars Paid $16,000 for 3 weeks". New York Post. Marc h 17, 2009.[dead link] ^ "Dancing with the Stars' celebs paid relatively little despite big ratings ". ^ TV product placement moves out of background. USA Today. October 14, 2004. ^ 1/5/2008. Profit motive: Ads become more prominent amid squeeze in industr y from The Californian (News). Retrieved May 2009. ^ Product Placement Market Soars to $3.46 billion in 2004: Report. Promo Mag azine. March 30, 2005. ^ TV Writers Must Sell, Sell, Sell. Wired Magazine. December 12, 2005. ^ "Surviving and thriving". The Age (Melbourne). November 13, 2003. ^ IMDB listing, "Reality TV Secrets Revealed" ^ Roger Holland (June 19, 2006). "Hell's Kitchen review". PopMatters. ^ My Fair Brady's Adrianne Curry & Christopher Knight: The Raw and Uncensore d PR.com Interview, Allison Kugel, December 10, 2005 ^ "Report: 'Bisexual' MTV Star Tila Tequila Is Straight". Fox News. November 30, 2007. ^ "As 'Shot' misses, Tequila aims anew". Chicago Tribune. January 3, 2008. ^ a b "Introducing the Nonebrities". The Sun. November 7, 2007. ^ Dan Snierson, Josh Wolk (December 2002). "Can't-Be TV". Entertainment Week ly. ^ Alderman, Tom (February 13, 2008). "Shame TV: Why Humiliation Sells on Ame rican Idol and Others". The Huffington Post. ^ Poniewozik, James (February 12, 2003). "Why Reality TV Is Good for Us". Ti me. ^ "Jon & Kate Plus 8 Separation Episode is Most-Watched in Series History". broadcastingcable.com. Retrieved June 23, 2009. ^ "Ratings: Jon & Kate 's Split Is a Record-Breaking Hit, and More". tvguide .com. Retrieved June 23, 2009. ^ "Gosselin Apologizes, Tries to Halt Divorce, But a New Kate Plus 8 Moves O n". www.popeater.ca. Retrieved September 29, 2009. ^ a b c ""Jon And Kate" 8 Being Exploited?". cbsnews.com. Retrieved May 21, 2009.[dead link] ^ a b c "Pa. labor officials probing Jon & Kate complaint". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 29, 2009.[dead link] ^ "Report: Jon Gosselin says his 8 kids are happy". news.yahoo.com. Retrieve d June 23, 2009.[dead link] ^ Psychological toll: Experts say TV cameras alter family dynamics, like in "balloon boy" case. By Electa Draper. The Denver PostPosted: 10/18/2009 01:00:00 am MDT. Updated: 10/18/2009 02:11:45 am MDT. ^ King, Geoff (2005). Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV an

d Beyond, p. 97. Bristol, GBR. Intellect Books ISBN 9781841501208. ^ King, Geoff (2005). Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV an d Beyond, p. 97. Bristol, GBR. Intellect Books ISBN 9781841501208. ^ "The Prize of Peril". e-text. arthurwendover.com. ^ Coral Ann Howells, "The Cambridge companion to Margaret Atwood", Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-521-83966-1, p.186 ^ John Moss, Tobi Kozakewich, "Margaret Atwood: The Open Eye", Re-appraisals , Canadian writers, volume 30, University of Ottawa Press, 2006, ISBN 0-7766-061 3-1, p.398 ^ Sharon Rose Wilson, "Myths and fairy tales in contemporary women's fiction : from Atwood to Morrison", Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, ISBN 0-230-60554-0, pp.43, 49 ^ Prigge, Matt (January 3, 2007). "Jackass Number Two... the year's best, mo st twisted cross-over documentary-and don't forget it is, in every definition of the word, a documentary". Repertory (Philadelphia Weekly). ^ Dollar, Steve (August 17, 2007). "Reality Never Looked So ... Real". The N ew York Sun. [edit] Further reading Big Brother - Why Bother? - Graham Barnfield's Spiked commentary Caudle, Melissa (2011). The Reality of Reality TV: Reality Show Business Pla ns. CreateSpace. ISBN 1460916980. A step-by-step approach to writing business pl ans for reality shows. DeVolld, Troy (2011). Reality TV: An Insiders Guide to Reality Television. M ichael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907998. A working producer provides informati on about how reality shows are made and how to develop a lasting career in the g enre. Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26152-X. Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette, eds. (2004). Reality TV: Remaking Telev ision Culture. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5688-3 Nichols, Bill (1994). Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contempora ry Culture. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34064-0. Godard, Ellis (2003). "Reel Life: The Social Geometry of Reality Shows". In Matthew J. Smith and Andrew F. Wood. Survivor Lessons. McFarland. pp. 73 96. ISBN 0786416688. Lord of the fly-on-the-walls - Observer article: Paul Watson's UK & Australi an docusoaps Sparks, Colin. "Reality TV: the Big Brother phenomenon". International Socia lism (114). Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boogaard, NRC Handelsblad, September 28, 1996 (Dutch) - about Nummer 28 being the inspiration for The Real World [2] Reality TV continues its downward spiral of morality[dead link] [edit] External links Truth or Dare: The Reality of British Television, a panel of experts discuss Reality TV, BAFTA Webcast, January 2008 The Reality of Reality Television, Mark Greif's assessment of Reality TV fro m n+1 View page ratings Rate this page What's this? Trustworthy Objective Complete Well-written

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