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"Candid Camera" used to bill itself as "people caught in the act of being themselves. It has been described as the first "reality" show but......
Candid Camera was actually people being caught in the act of having a practical joke of some sort being played upon them. The victims were real, the jokers were actors. Further, the show would play the same joke on a few dozen people but broadcast only two or three people's reactions, those three typically being the three people who overreacted the most. So we were actually seeing selected "reality."
"Survivor" was the pioneer competitive reality show, but once more, it has never been reality, it has been placing people in a controlled environment and manipulating them. In the first few seasons they made more of an effort to make viewers get the impression that these survivor contestants were really facing the dangers of remote and primitive living, but of course there was never a chance that the show would place itself in a position of being sued by some contestant who starved or was mauled by a wild beast. They aren't out there trying to survive on their own, they are out there backed by a production crew and a medical team. The tribes are warned about rationing their food, but I recall a few times when tribes did exhaust their rice or water...and what happened was that the show simply replaced these items. I guess viewers got wise to this true absence of danger because in later seasons there hasn't been much emphasis on food or water supplies. It was also impossible not to notice that as they show progressed from season to season, the producers were clandestinely intervening to bring about certain reactions and situations which they deemed more favorable to ratings. Popular contestants would get a boost to help them stay on the program longer.
Then we have the Home Life style reality shows which supposedly are depicting real people going about their real business. Ask yourself, if at this very moment you were being filmed by a camera crew which intended to broadcast your behavior to millions of viewers, would your behavior be the same or different than it is when you believe that no one is watching? Again, this isn't reality at all, it is people performing reality for the cameras. Some react by trying to make everything into a drama, some react by refraining from indulging in their actual reactions, but is anyone behaving exactly as they would be if there was no camera around?
I think the only true reality show would be one where those being filmed have no awareness at all that they are on camera.
COPS is a reality tv show, one of the first and only ones.
Real cops in real time, chasing and arresting real criminals (or rather those innocent until proven guilty )
Same for Manhunters (US Marshals) and SWAT.
The rest are junk and fake and silly...or at least that's the opinion from someone who has NEVER watched one (me), besides the above-noted shows.
Even on COPS the officers were aware that they were being taped, I'm sure that some of them were cleaning up their act a bit because of this. Remember, the Rodney King beaters were unaware that they were about to become tv stars.
Ask yourself, if at this very moment you were being filmed by a camera crew which intended to broadcast your behavior to millions of viewers, would your behavior be the same or different than it is when you believe that no one is watching?
I think the only true reality show would be one where those being filmed have no awareness at all that they are on camera.
You're describing the Hawthorne Effect -- your behavior DOES change the moment that you know you are being observed. Multiply that by being filmed and then broadcast, you're right, the only true "reality TV" would HAVE to come from hidden cameras (and hastily signed releases).
I watched and enjoyed the early seasons of Survivor, but quit most reality TV shows after the season of the 2 Robs, when one of the Robs got engaged to another contestant while on the show... SO manipulated by the producers I couldn't stand it!! They really must have thought that their viewers were idiots.
Other shows where people are judged by a panel keep certain contestants for another week, not based on their skills, but because they are controversial and create better ratings (Project Runway, America's Top Model, The Apprentice). The fine print that speeds past at the end of a program usually contains language regarding "producers had input on the outcome of the judging."
I watched and enjoyed the early seasons of Survivor, but quit most reality TV shows after the season of the 2 Robs, when one of the Robs got engaged to another contestant while on the show... SO manipulated by the producers I couldn't stand it!! They really must have thought that their viewers were idiots.
Ha, that is when I stopped watching also. It wasn't fun anymore.
The "reality" show I can't understand is Undercover Boss. How can people working at a company not be suspicious of the new employee who shows up with a camera crew in tow? Where is the reality in that?
A true reality show would be too boring. Most of us live fairly boring lives.
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