5. What are reality shows?
“Unabashedly commercial genre united
less by aesthetic rules or certainties than
by the fusion of popular entertainment with
a self-conscious claim to the discourse of
the real. This coupling . . . Is what has
made reality TV an important generic
forum for a range of institutional and
cultural developments
(Murray & Ouellette, 2004, pp 22).
20. Missing Video: Slideshow of India’s reality show names with Viva (first
reality TV music band of girls) album’s first song recording playing in
background.
23. VIEWERS
• As spectacle of humiliation
and grief?
– Jade Goody
• Insights into human
psychology?
Hear out Dr. John Paterson,
Dean of Education
• Emotions?
25. Non - Reality
Missing Video: Writers and editors of famous reality shows reveal the
truth behind the so-called “unscripted shows”
26. So What is it really?
• Debra Seagal’s notes on American Detective
• John Langley, executive producer COPS
calls it "recutting or refinessing“
• Dr. William Beard, University of Alberta
professor of film and media studies
• The Dating Experiment – Adam Sandler
• Jeff Bartsch – Editor – Blind Date
BUT
VIEWERS AREN’T FOOLS
27. INSTANT CELEBRITY
Missing Video: Above is Ashutosh’s (First Roadies winner) application
for the show. He reveals in this video what happens behind the scenes
32. IMPACT
Cultural indicators and Cultivation
– Ettema and Whitney 1994
Mean World Syndrome
– Gerbner (1994)
Cultivation Analysis
– Signorielli and Morgan 1990
33. Impact cont..
The more people watch television, and
hence are exposed to these
distortions of reality, the more they
will come to view the real world as
similar to the world portrayed on
television and thus perceive a greater
real- world incidence of the overrepresented entities
34. So what do we do?
• Producers censor their own
content
• Promote better breed of
reality shows
– But will these sell?
(Fountainhead)
Missing Video: CNN – IBN news caster talks about audience preferences: TRP
ratings for a show where female stripper attempts to become a news anchor are
higher than Lead India
35. Reality TV – Why or Why Not?
• Escape reality or manifest destiny
• Orwell Vs Huxley
Hinweis der Redaktion
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a book by George Orwell, depicted a world in which two-way television screens are fitted in every room, so that people's actions 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.)
Survivor (1965), a science fiction story by , depicted the 2050 "Olympic War Games" between Russia and the United States. The games are fought to show the world the futility of war and thus deter further conflict. Each side 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 who survive the battle become heroes. The games are televised, complete with color commentary discussing tactics, soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths.
1947 – Candid Microphone
1948 – Allen Funt’s Candid Camera
Talent shows
Started 1948
Miss America 1954
Game Shows – 1950s – beat the clock
Truth or consequences
1954 – 55 – Nightwatch (Cali Cops)
50 – 59 – You asked for it (Voting)
1964- 7 Up! – 1st time common citizens became celebrities
1966 – Andy Wharol (Chelsea Girls)
Radio times guide 2007 (to blame)
1973 – An American Family - the Louds
Marital break up – Bill & Pat
Lance – gay – 300 hours of footage
12 hrs shown – misrepresentation
1970s – dating shows - The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game
As the Loud family disintegrated, an amazing ten million Americana watched on with sick pleasure. Although three hundred hours of footage were shot of the family, only twelve were used for the show and the Louds later complained that the chosen footage and editing of the show gave a misrepresentation of their lives. However, the show’s drama spoke volumes and America listened with an eager ear. Years later MTV’s The Real World would become the darling of reality television and the inspiration for the average American’s fifteen minutes of fame, which continues to fuel the fire of volunteer based reality programming today
Direct link to COPS – 1989
Nummer 28, which aired on Dutch television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period 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 events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, that serve as narration
1992 – Real World – MTV (said they were influenced by An American Family not Nummer 28) – non linear editing systems helped
1997 – swedish – expedition robinson – elimination show intro
Explosion – survivor – american idol
Survivor, fear factor, dancing with stars
Syndicated across globe
India too
In US channels devoted
Fox reality
Zone Reality
DVD reissue and syndication concerns dispelled
Now prizes for shows too
CELEBREALITY
PRANK REALITY
GAME SHOWS
TALENT HUNTS
ADVENTURE OR FEAR BASED SHOWS
JOB HUNTS
MAKEOVERS
DATING SHOWS
SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
Indian reality tv
Producers
Viwers
Reality shows cost an average of $400,000 per hour to produce versus $2 million for a dramatic series”(Hibberd, 2002)
The answer lies in the fact that these shows are money spinning mechanisms that generate a lot of revenue for the channel. To start with, the basic format of the show requires one to vote for his or her favourite candidate. The voting can be cast through a text message or SMS or through a phone call which usually is a special number. These smsfs and phone calls cost much more than their ordinary counterparts. Television channels have a tie-up with the telephone companies in this regard and this generates a lot of money. Hence the more the votes, more is the money that comes in.
In addition advertisers also prefer to air their advertisements during the popular shows and this again translates to income for the channel. So high votes and ratings mean more advertisers and more money.
However, as much as society reflects the values set forth every night on the television screen, one cannot forget that it is this same society that determines what the television will show. As much as the public complains about today’s television programming, networks simply retort (rightfully so) that they’re just giving viewers what they want.
But people don't want natural; natural is what we want to get away from when we watch TV."
According to psychologist Dr. John Paterson, associate dean of education, "there are no really great insights in human behaviour to be found on these showsŠIt's too highly manipulated and edited for that--it's just entertainment that strikes a chord with audiences because you have real people, not actors."
Producers
Viwers
Deeming reality-based police programming a "sordid
enterprise" (Seagal 1993:53), she details the reduction and augmentation of numerous hours of
police film footage that are screened, sliced, and squeezed into the shows. These same processes
as "recutting or refinessing" to develop integrated shows that
provide "an action piece (which hooks the audience), a lyrical piece (which develops more
emotion), and a think piece (which provokes thought on the part of the audience)" (Langley 2001).
Casting & Stereotypes
There is now a growing concern about how reality television shows can help perpetuate racial stereotypes. In many shows a similar black female character has been featured - all different women, but very similar character traits. It's gone so far that Africana.com has trademarked the expression The Evil Black Woman to describe this sort of individual: brazen, aggressive, pointing fingers, and always lecturing others on how to behave
HURRICANE
Producers
Viwers
CNBC TV 18’s new reality show — the Philips Simplicity Challenge — is all about the search for a potential entrepreneur with a simple business idea.
ESPN Star Sports has a reality show called Dream Job which is a hunt for a Generation Next sports presenter for its new channel STAR Cricket
There was a time when you watched TV to escape reality. No more. The current television season has been inundated with staged, "reality-based" offerings meant to recycle lived veracity back to our living rooms in various formats
Manifest destiny of tv to be where u are not..
Aldous Huxley feared that in the future, nobody would want to read a book, that we will
turn into passive and egoistic beings and that the truth will be forever drowned in a sea of
irrelevance. Most importantly though, he feared that somewhere in the future, our oppressors
will find a more cunning way to control us, than the way described in ‘Nineteen Eighty
- Four.’ A way of turning us into captives of our own pleasure, unable to break free from the
technologies that surround us. Besides, an Orwellian world is much easier to identify and
to oppose than an enemy with a smiling face.
Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ , in relation to 1984, saw humankind coming to love their oppression
and to adore the technologies that prevented their capacity to think. Taking place
in London in the year 2540, Big Brother does not watch its citizens by his choice, they
watch him by theirs.
‘ What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there
would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would
give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the
truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of
irrelevance.’ (Postman 1985: viii)