Gabriel Week 11

Beginning with the obvious, the reality television is basically a variation of the documentary, with basically a camera, a narrator and the the people in the story come across as real as they should be. This intimacy meant that what was shown in a documentary often came across as being truthful, rather than staged, and this had an effect on the audience, they would much rather see actual people being interviewed or discussing what was going on than a narrative with no real human connection. Therefore the television industry began to combine it's television programming; as Hill (2005) states that "it is the hybridization of successful genres that gives reality television such strong market value"

Television which focuses on the real lives of people is always going to have a stronger influence on the people, than a fictional show, for instance, American Idol at its highest point was viewed by 38 million people worldwide while CSI, a fictional crime show which had the highest viewership previous to American Idol had only 20 million viewers by comparison.

Human nature means that we automatically feel more connected to something if we can somehow relate to it on an emotional, physical or mental level. Now I don't want to say that Survivor is a touching show about peoples will to survive because we all know that these people are looked after well and they are in no real danger, but because we all at some point have thought about what we would do if we were stranded on an uninhabited island somewhere we connect to in on a much more 'close to home' level than we do watching the CSI team chase down a serial killer who likes wearing a mask.


Hill (2005) does not give a clear definition of reality television because, especially with a genre with so many variations, there will always be shows that fit under reality television but don't fit under the definition. Reality TV does consist of a few things though that I think can help to define it. For instance a reality television show must focus, not only on a storyline but also on the personal lives of each participant (confession cameras, interviews etc) and with added focus on the challenges that the participants face. I use the term participant loosely, being used to mean anyone in front of the camera while the show is being filmed.

Hill (2005) also does say though that one of the characteristics that defines reality television is "the capacity to let viewers to see for themselves" that is to say that the audience is left to decide whether they believe the 'reality', whether they like a certain character, or make up their own minds about how the show made them feel, as opposed to fictional television shows which leave each viewer feeling the same way.