Why Reality TV Will Soon Die a Healthy Death

By Richard Laermer, Guest Author

Besides writing the stories that Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck and A Scanner Darkly were all based upon, Philip K. Dick was also known for his own reality-bending brand of social commentary. His observation that “reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it” is particularly poignant in this age of reality TV inundation. And while Dick’s definition of reality still holds water in the current milieu of hit RTV shows with names like The Surreal Life and the canned spontaneity of shows like Big Brother 8 and The Hills, it begs the question, is there anything “real” about RTV at this late stage?
RTV started off innocently enough with Candid Camera and all those crazy pranks. (When is that coming back?) Back then, we were swept away by the talent show tide of the 1950s, which culminated in spectacular reality-based competitions like the Miss America Pageant in 1954. But then things started to get weird. Our fascination with observing the really real took a darker turn with the 1973 PBS reality series The American Family, which depicted a typical nuclear family in the US going through a divorce.

Not too long after, we started to savor the camcorder feel and gripping cinema vérité of programs like COPS and America’s Funniest Home Videos in the late 80s and early 90s. RTV as a formula changed irrevocably with the 1992 premier of the genre’s mega-hit The Real World, on what was once Music Television. Whereas before the focus may have been slices of life or competition, this show just captured the drama of strangers living together and in some cases slapping one another or engaging in risqué acts.

RTV has morphed into a veritable circus of voyeurism ever since that first show in downtown New York. And though our captivation has only mushroomed since, it’s safe to say that the lines demarcating what passes for the “reality” element of this genre have gone completely haywire.

In the competition/game show sub-group of the RTV genre, the emphasis isn’t so much on reality per se, but on the drama resulting from the game. These show constitute what Steve Burley of TVGameShows.net has coined “game operas.” The words of Survivor creator Mark Burnett when he spoke to The Age are telling when it comes to the alleged realism of RTV: “I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama.”

Though Burnett’s un-staged candor explains away the giant leap the average American must to take to consider a bunch of strangers being flown to Fiji to compete for cash and prizes as anything resembling “reality,” it doesn’t answer the question of why this passes for reality and not another scripted show. Nothing on Big Brother is real. The whole of the dance floor at Dancing With the Stars has been prearranged by a skill that is bizarrely judged — and is just a drama with dancers.

A parenthetic point here: according to ABC.com, “if couple[s] A, B and C receive 38, 26 and 14 points from the judges, we calculate what share these points represent of the total awarded by the judges[.] In this case the judges gave 78 points in total, and each couple’s share of 78 points breaks down as follows: 38= 48.72% of 78, 26= 33.33% of 78, 14= 17.95% of 78. Let’s suppose that when the public votes are tallied, each couple has the following shares: A= 20%, B=40%, C=40%.” Geesh.

Borrowing the words of Philip K. Dick: “Hey, gang, what is really real?”

Examining which facet of the genre has persisted most prominently over the years gives us insight into why it has lasted. Comparing RTV’s oldest example, Candid Camera, with the more recent and defunct Punk’d, it becomes obvious that despite their different contexts, the premise of each show is startlingly similar — capture the raw reactions of people in funky situations.

When we look across the spectrum of RTV with this premise in mind, we begin to see a picture painted not with real but with unvarnished human emotions.

Having grown bored with watching scripted (and pretty) actors acting out dramatic situations, we are suffering from postmodern ennui and indulge in a kind of communal voyeurism. No longer drawn by actors, but rather to the spectacle of watching others feel something we are told is “real” and “caught,” we can now be the great actor. The competition is really us versus the Hollywood crew.

Face it, truly fabulous actors are few and far between (not to mention expensive), so it is no wonder that we gravitate towards RTV in the same way that we rubberneck on the highway. And the Mark Burnetts of the broadcasting world are more than happy to keep the pathos coming our way since RTV eliminates the need to pay actors, though to be sure expensive writers are making up the scenarios.

As long as we stay glued to the RTV monster and profit margins stay fat, reality will keep on trending the way of the dodo.

For more essays like this, but that have nothing to do with reality TV, see Laermer.com and Richard’s new book 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade from McGraw-Hill (www.Yeahwhatever.com).