The Reality TV Controversies

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Background Note Contd...

By the late 1990s, TV viewership seemed to be saturating. As a result, competition between various TV channels intensified. With almost all channels offering similar stuff such as soaps, sitcoms and do-it-yourself infotainment programs, companies realized the need for innovative and novel programs that would attract users to their channel. Reality TV programs were soon identified as a powerful method for attracting viewers.

Reality TV Programs Reality TV constitutes non-fictional programs that supposedly provide a realistic account of current or historical events or situations. Various reality TV programs comprised interviews and talk shows; news and public affairs programming; documentaries; entertainment-news and review programs, portrayed as a re-creation of real world events. Reality TV programs were initially launched by major networks in Europe and the US. Fox TV, one of the first media companies to realize the potential of reality TV, launched a series of tabloid and crime-based reality shows. Three of its reality shows - A Current Affair, COPS and America's Most Wanted topped the TV ratings. During the 1980s NBC, ABC and CBS also offered reality TV shows5. In the early 1990s, reality shows focused mainly on tabloid news shows and reality-based entertainment-news programs. The main growth sectors constituted syndicated talk shows, network newsmagazines (including reality based police shows and tabloid shows).

Reality programming quickly became popular in North and South America and Eastern and Western Europe⁶. In other parts of the world such as Australia⁷, Asia and Africa, reality TV programming only picked up in the late 1990s. Soon, almost all the major TV Networks in every country got into reality TV programming.

Most of these shows were based on popular shows across the world. Country-specific versions of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire,' 'The Weakest Link,' 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' attracted a large number of viewers (and recorded high TV ratings) even in conservative Asian countries like Hong Kong, India,⁸ China, Russia,⁹ Taiwan, and Japan.

The proximity of the presented reality to the experiences of the viewers was a major reason for the success of reality TV shows. The huge cash prizes also contributed to the success of these programs. Since, these shows did not require actors and scriptwriters, they had low development costs. As a result, reality TV was lucrative for TV channels (see Table II for Advantages and Disadvantages of Reality TV).

However, the growing popularity of reality TV shows was accompanied by opposition from critics, scholars and family associations on social, psychological, moral and ethical grounds. Reality programs were criticized for degrading morals, through high focus on tabloid shows. It was reported that during the mid-1990s the advertisers, unwilling to associate their products to such sensational and exploitative tabloid programs, refused to sponsor them. However, the rising viewership for such programs and the growing competition in the industry coaxed the advertisers back into sponsoring them.

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5] Some of the most popular reality shows offered by these networks during the late 1980s included Unsolved Mysteries (NBC), Funniest Home Videos (ABC) and Rescue 911 (CBS).
6] Interestingly, in the early years, the US had been far behind other countries in offering such competition and violence based shows that catered to the voyeuristic nature of the viewers. US TV networks developed such programs only after the success of European programs like Survivor and Big Brother (during the mid 1990s). Currently US TV networks are leading the reality TV market; other TV networks worldwide are imitating their programs.
7] Though ABC, an Australian TV network, had been one of the pioneers of the reality TV shows, the concept gained popularity only in the late 1990s.
8] Unlike the reality TV programming offered globally, Indian networks focused on game shows (Kaun Banega Crorepati, Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke and Kamzor Kadi Kaun) and entertainment-based (Chupa Rustum) programs rather than on sex and violence based programs. Even though Indian reality programs were not vulgar, they were accused of promoting gambling, violating the privacy of individuals and encouraging the desire for easy money.
9] The most popular reality TV shows in Russia included "Za Steklom" (Behind the Glass), TV6 and the Russian version of Survivor. These shows were criticized severely by Russian religious and conservative groups.