Solid formats, quality make reality TV a hit

The genre has been around for over a decade; game formats like
“Survivor,” character dramas like MTV’s
“Real World,” courtroom spectacles like “Judge
Judy” and real-life adventures like “Cops” are
all tactics that have been pleasing audiences recently.

Over the last few years, the reality format has undergone more
than just a boost in popularity. While a sudden undeniable surge in
reality television programming is hard to deny, one thing
isn’t as certain ““ why has reality television hit the
big time now?

“Of the top ten shows for any given week in the last year,
probably four were reality programs,” said A.J. Lewis, who
graduated from the producer’s graduate program.
“It’s what’s selling.”

Indeed, next week, the major networks will air a slew of summer
reality series, including two new shows, FOX’s
“Casino” and NBC’s “Next Action
Star,” and many sequels including NBC’s “Last
Comic Standing 2″ and FOX’s “The Simple Life
2.”

UCLA sociology professor, Melvin Pollner suggested that the draw
of certain reality shows is their ability to bring audiences into
close proximity with the honest-to-goodness emotions of real people
— a privilege which we don’t often have in real life.

“The audience is attracted by the possibility of observing
others as they are being stressed, embarrassed, rejected, shocked
or exposed in these supposedly spontaneous and unpredictable and
relatively intimate activities,” Pollner said.

As hard as it might be to admit, this new outlet for our
voyeuristic desires is empowering and therefore, funny.

“One of the major theories of laughter is the superiority
theory, which says that humor occurs when we are able to observe
the inadequacy of another compared to ourselves,” Pollner
explained. “There’s a certain satisfaction in looking
at the ineptness, the incompetence and the inadequacy of another,
and having the opportunity explicitly or implicitly, to
laugh.”

Pollner added that contest-format shows like
“Survivor” are especially interesting to young
people.

“We are all, in one way or another, competing for love,
money and status,” he said. “These shows pose the
question “˜How far will you go in order to get the
prize?'”

The allure of these shows may be due to their innate appeal to
audiences, but the recent increase popularity is due to business
factors.

“Over the past two years, sitcoms haven’t been
performing very well. They haven’t been very innovative or
creative,” explained Lewis, who worked with TV mogul, David
E. Kelly, for two years on “Ally McBeal,” “The
Practice” and “Boston Public.”

As sitcoms were failing, networks realized that reality shows,
which don’t involve expensive writers or actors, could be
produced at a fraction of the cost of any sitcom or drama. Even if
the reality show ropes in a quarter of the audience of
“Friends,” it pulls a profit. As luck would have it,
the switch to reality was a big hit.

“The minute that one network had a reality series, it paid
for the other networks to start trying new types of programming.
Soon it became a competition among the networks to see who could
have the flagship reality series,” said Lewis.

But no one watches a show simply for its format. A reality show,
like any show, has to bring something new to the table. According
to Lewis, it has to be innovative, have a solid premise, and avoid
having too many twists.

For example, NBC’s “Average Joe” was one
series that twisted itself to death. Although it started with a
simple premise — a group of average guys compete for the hand of a
beautiful damsel — the show soon started to throw in tricks.
Halfway through the first season, heart-throb hunks crashed the
party to compete with the average joes. In successive seasons, more
gimmicks were introduced.

“”˜Average Joe 2′ started to get more and more
intricate and elaborate,” said Lewis. “Just when you
think you know everything, at the very last episode they would turn
the series on its head. That is the first signal that that specific
series has run its course. The minute that an audience senses that
it’s being tricked, a show is no longer palatable.”

Lewis contrasts this failure to shows like “The
Apprentice,” which he calls the “Mercedes-Benz of
reality programming”.

“That’s the idea of a good reality series, something
that felt organic, that didn’t feel overproduced,”
Lewis said. “With “˜The Apprentice,’ the premise
is strong enough from the get-go that it will hold true for the
life of the show. The reason why “˜Survivor’ has been
able to last eight seasons is because the format was
solid.”

The trend of reality TV is going strong and it doesn’t
show any signs of halting soon. Lewis predicts that the genre will
keep progressing with stronger premises, niche shows and even
sophisticated branches.

“Quality is quality,” Lewis said. “If
something is bad, people aren’t going to watch it. Reality
shows have to get better.”