Reality series

Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as '' The Real World'', then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series '' Survivor'', '' Idols'', and '' Big Brother'', all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves.

Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, and traditional game shows are generally not classified as reality television. Some genres of television programming that predate the reality television boom have been retroactively classified as reality television, including hidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, home improvement shows, and court shows featuring real-life cases and issues.

Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Critics argue that reality television shows do not accurately reflect reality, in ways both implicit (participants being placed in artificial situations), and deceptive (misleading editing, participants being coached on behavior, storylines generated ahead of time, scenes being staged). Some shows have been accused of rigging the favorite or underdog to win. Other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are intended to humiliate or exploit participants; that they make stars out of untalented people unworthy of fame, infamous figures, or both; and that they glamorize vulgarity.

History

Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are almost as old as the television medium itself. Producer-host Allen Funt's '' Candid Camera'', in which unsuspecting people were confronted with funny, unusual situations and filmed with hidden cameras, first aired in 1948. In the 21st century, the series is often considered a prototype of reality television programming.

1940s–1950s

Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s. ''Queen for a Day'' (1945–1964) was an early example of reality-based television. The 1946 television game show '' Cash and Carry'' sometimes featured contestants performing stunts. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera show '' Candid Camera'' (based on his previous 1947 radio show, ''Candid Microphone'') broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. In 1948, talent search shows, such as '' Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour'' and ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'', featured amateur competitors and audience voting. In the 1950s, game shows '' Beat the Clock'' and ''Truth or Consequences'' involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. ''Confession'' was a crime and police show that aired from June 1958 to January 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds. The radio series ''Nightwatch'' (1951–1955) tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers. The series ''You Asked for It'' (1950–1959) incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers.

1960s–1970s

First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary '' Seven Up!'' broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, the filmmaker created a new film documenting the lives of the same individuals during the intervening period. Titled the Up Series, episodes included "7 Plus Seven", "21 Up", etc.; it is still ongoing. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of the plot. By virtue of the attention paid to the participants, it effectively turned ordinary people into a type of celebrity, especially after they became adults.

The series ''The American Sportsman'', which ran from 1965 to 1986 on ABC in the United States, would typically feature one or more celebrities, and sometimes their family members, being accompanied by a camera crew on an outdoor adventure, such as hunting, fishing, hiking, scuba diving, rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, and the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration.

In the 1966 Direct Cinema film ''Chelsea Girls'', Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given. The '' Radio Times Guide to Film 2007'' said that the film was "to blame for reality television".

The 12-part 1973 PBS series ''An American Family'' showed a nuclear family (filmed in 1971) 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 Newlywed 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.

The 1976-1980 BBC
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