Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people instead of professional actors. Although the genre has existed in some form or another since the early years of television, the term "reality television" is most commonly used to describe programs produced since 2000. Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as the news and sports shows are usually not classified as reality shows. Zone Reality (formerly Reality TV) is a European reality television channel. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Reality television covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, often demeaning shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (a modern example is Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother. Downtowns Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! ) (Downtowns This Aint No Job for Kids!) is a Japanese variety show hosted by the two very popular Japanese owarai duos, Downtown (consisting of Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本人志) and Masatoshi Hamada (浜田雅功), Cocorico (consisting of Naoki Tanaka (田中直樹) and Shouzo Endo (遠藤章造), and comedian Housei Yamazaki... The original Big Brother logo Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where for around three months, a number of contestants (normally fewer than fifteen at any one time) try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house. ...

Critics say that the term "reality television" is somewhat of a misnomer. Such shows frequently portray a modified and highly influenced form of reality, with participants put in exotic locations or abnormal situations, sometimes coached to act in certain ways by off-screen handlers, and with events on screen manipulated through editing and other post-production techniques. Reality in everyday usage means the state of things as they actually exist. ...

Origins of reality television

There were a few radio series that paved the way for reality television, such as Nightwatch (1954-1955), which tape recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers. Culver City Seal Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. ...

Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the 1940s. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's Candid Camera, (based on his previous 1947 radio show, Candid Microphone), broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. It has been called the "granddaddy of the reality TV genre." [1] Debuting in the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences, involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors and audience voting. The Miss America Pageant, first broadcast in 1954, was a competition where the winner achieved status as a national celebrity. [2] 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Allen Funt (September 16, 1914 _ September 5, 1999) is an American celebrity best known as creator and host of Candid Camera from 1951-1954 and 1960_1966 on CBS. He began the show on radio as Candid Microphone on ABC radio. ... Candid Camera is a long-running television series, created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially appeared on radio as Candid Microphone in the 1940s, then screened in the United States in the 1950s, with local versions produced around the world. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... For other uses, see Beat the Clock (disambiguation). ... Action Comics #127 (December 1948), featuring Superman appearing on the show with Ralph Edwards Truth or Consequences was an American quiz show, originally hosted on radio by Ralph Edwards from 1940 to 1957, and later on television by Edwards himself from 1950 to 1951, Jack Bailey from 1954 to 1955... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Original Amateur Hour was an American television program from the mediums early days. ... Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts (also known as Talent Scouts) was a television variety show which ran on CBS from 1948 until 1958. ... Miss America contestants visit Andrews Air Force Base in 2003 The Miss America pageant (different from the Miss USA pageant) is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the fifty states plus two territories of the United States of America. ...

First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964 the BBC/Granada Television series Seven Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals in the intervening years, titled Seven Plus Seven, 21 Up, etc. The series was structured simply as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did broadcast individuals' character development over time. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the soft drink, see 7 Up. ...

The first reality show in the modern sense was the PBS series An American Family. Twelve parts were broadcast in the United States in 1973. The series dealt with a nuclear family going through a divorce. In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading. In 1992, Australia saw Sylvania Waters, about the nouveau riche Baker-Donaher family of Sydney. All three shows attracted their share of controversy. Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... An American Family is televisions first documentary-style reality show, shot in 1971 and aired in the United States on PBS in 1973. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The term nuclear family was developed in the western world to distinguish the family group consisting of parents (usually a father and mother) and their children, from what is known as an extended family. ... For the record label, see Divorce Records. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Family was a 1974 television series made by the BBC. It was a fly-on-the-wall documentary series, seen by many as the precursor to reality television. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Sylvania Waters was an Australian reality television series which followed the lives of an Australian family. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Parvenu. ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ...

Some talk shows, most notably The Jerry Springer Show, which debuted in 1991, try to present real-life drama within the talk show format by hosting guests likely to conflict on the set. A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ... The Jerry Springer Show (first aired September 20, 1991) is an internationally known television tabloid talk show, hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The cast of the first season (1992) of The Real World, The Real World: New York

Reality television as it is currently understood, though, can be traced directly to several television shows that began in the late 1980s and 1990s. COPS, which first aired in the spring of 1989, showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the camcorder look and cinéma vérité feel of much of later reality television. The television show Nummer 28 (the house had number 28 in that street), 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. It 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. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in their new series The Real World; Nummer 28 creator Erik Latour has long claimed that The Real World was directly inspired by his show. Changing Rooms, a British TV show that began in 1996, showed couples redecorating each others' houses, and was the first reality show with a self-improvement or makeover theme. The Swedish TV show Expedition Robinson, which first aired in 1997 (and was later produced in a large number of other countries as Survivor), added to the "Real World" template the idea of competition, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. Image File history File linksMetadata RealWorldNewYork. ... Image File history File linksMetadata RealWorldNewYork. ... The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally executive produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray and produced and directed by George Verschoor. ... COPS is an American reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriffs deputies during patrols and other police work. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sony DV Handycam A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Nummer 28 was a Dutch reality soap, directed by Joost Tholens and produced by Today TV, shown as part of the youth show 1-4-U of public broadcaster KRO in 1991. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally executive produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray and produced and directed by George Verschoor. ... Changing Rooms is a British Entertainment television programme. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The W. Edwards Deming Institute. ... A makeover is a term applied to changing ones appearance, usually through cosmetics. ... Expedition: Robinson is a popular Swedish reality television program. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Survivor is a popular reality television game show produced in many countries throughout the world. ...

Types of reality TV

There are a number of sub-categories of reality television:

Documentary-style

In many reality television shows, the viewer and the camera are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as "fly on the wall" or cinéma vérité. MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County may be the epitome of this style of show, with unscripted situations, real-life locations, and no tasks given to the cast (at least, no known ones). Often "plots" are constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap operas — hence the term, docusoap. For the song by the same artist, see Fly on the Wall Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For Philippine soap opera, see Teleserye. ...

Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants:

Special living environment

Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments; The Real World is the originator of this style. In almost every other such show, cast members are given a specific challenge or obstacle to overcome. Road Rules, which started in 1995 as a spinoff of The Real World, started this pattern: the cast travelled across the country guided by clues and performing tasks. Many other shows in this category involve historical re-enactment, with cast members forced to live and work as people of a specific time and place would have; The 1900 House is one example. 2001's Temptation Island achieved some notoriety by placing several couples on an island surrounded by single people in order to test the couples' commitment to each other. Most reality shows in this format are in many ways the new professional wrestling. The shows depend on drama, and theatrics more than on actual unscripted behavior. Arguably, the events that occur in these shows could be due to clever editing and omissions. The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally executive produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray and produced and directed by George Verschoor. ... Road Rules, MTVs second reality show, debuted on July 19, 1995. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Reenactors of the American Civil War Historical reenactment is an activity in which participants recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. ... The 1900 House is a historical reality television programme made by Wall to Wall/Channel 4 in 1999. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Temptation Island was a U.S. reality television program broadcast on the Fox network in which several couples agreed to live with groups of singles of the opposite sex, in order to test the strength of their relationships. ...

Celebrity reality

Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: examples include The Anna Nicole Show, The Osbournes, The Girls Next Door featuring Hugh Hefner, Hogan Knows Best, and Tommy Lee Goes to College.In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks to do. These include The Simple Life and The Surreal Life. VH1 has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality called celebreality. The Anna Nicole Show first season DVD The Anna Nicole Show was a reality sitcom, starring the late model and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. ... The Osbournes was an Emmy Award-winning American reality television program broadcast by MTV in the U.S., by CTV in Canada, Channel 4 in the UK and MTV UK and Ireland in Ireland and the UK, RTÉ Two in Ireland, Network Ten, MTV Australia in Australia and TV2 in... The Girls Next Door. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Hogan Knows Best is an American reality television show, centered around the family life of professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea), and often focusing on the Hogans raising of their children, and on Hulk Hogans attempts to manage and assist in his childrens burgeoning careers. ... Tommy Lee Goes to College is an NBC reality television show that began broadcasting on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 and on VH1 on Friday, August 19, 2005. ... The Simple Life is the name of a reality television series originally broadcast on Fox in 2003. ... The Surreal Life is a reality television series that sets a select group of out-of-the-spotlight celebrities and films them as they live together in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks. ... VH1 (VH-1: Video Hits One until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV. VH1 and sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division... Celebreality is a term that combines the words celebrity and reality and is generally used to refer to television programming in which celebrities star and participate in reality television shows. ...

Professional activities

Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business, or performing an entire project over the course of a series. No outside experts are brought in (at least, none of them show up on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest, and best known of these, is COPS. Other examples include The Restaurant and American Chopper. COPS is an American reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriffs deputies during patrols and other police work. ... The Restaurant is a reality television miniseries that broadcast on NBC in 2003, with a second season broadcasting in 2004. ... American Chopper: The Series is a Learning Channel reality television series produced by Pilgrim Films & Television Inc. ...

VH1's 2001 show Bands on the Run was a notable early hybrid, in that the show featured four unsigned bands touring and making music as a professional activity, but also pitted the bands against one another in game show fashion to see which band could make the most money. VH1 (VH-1: Video Hits One until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV. VH1 and sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division... An unsigned band is a rock band that has not been signed to a record label. ...

Elimination/Game shows

Another type of reality TV is so-called "reality game shows", in which participants are filmed competing to win a prize, usually while living together in an enclosed environment. Participants are removed until only one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time, in balloon debate style, through either disapproval voting or by voting for the most popular choice to win; voting is done by either the viewing audience or by the show's own participants. A game show is a radio or television program involving members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. ... A balloon debate is a debate in which a number of speakers attempt to win the approval of an audience. ... Disapproval voting is any voting system that allows many voters to express formal disapproval simultaneously, in a system where they all share some power. ...

Probably the purest example of a reality game show is the globally-syndicated Big Brother, in which cast members live together in the same house, with participants removed at regular intervals: no skills are involved in winning the show other than being appealing to others and handling the dynamics of a group well. The American version, though, involved mental and physical competitions for rewards to help get forward in the game. The original Big Brother logo Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where for around three months, a number of contestants (normally fewer than fifteen at any one time) try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house. ...

There remains controversy over whether talent-search shows such as the Idol series, America's Got Talent, American Inventor, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, Skating with Celebrities, and Celebrity Duets are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as Star Search. There is no element of plot on these shows; on the other hand, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges, and the shows follow the traditional reality-game-show conventions of removing one or more contestants per episode and having the public vote on who gets removed. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Americas Got Talent is an American television show on NBC. The talent show is a search for Americas next best amateur talent act. ... American Inventor is a reality television series based on a search for Americas best inventor. ... So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance reality show and competition that is broadcast on the Fox Network, on Fox Japan, on CTV in Canada, on Living in United Kingdom and Ireland and on Network Ten in Australia. ... Countries with their own version Dancing with the Stars is the name for a number of international television series based on the format of the British series Strictly Come Dancing. ... Skating with Celebrities is a reality show on the FOX network that began airing on January 18, 2006. ... Celebrity Duets is a reality television show, in which eight celebrities, most of whom are not known for their singing, will perform alongside a different recording artist each week, provided they stay in the competition. ... Star Search was a television show from 1983 to 1995 hosted by Ed McMahon, which also appeared as a remake in 2003-2004. ...

Modern game shows like Weakest Link, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, The Bee-Bop-a-dee, Dog Eat Dog, Greed, Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, and Fear Factor also lie in a gray area: like traditional game shows, the action usually takes place in enclosed TV studio over a short period of time; however, they have higher production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or high cash prizes) than traditional shows. In addition, there is more interaction between contestants and hosts, and in some cases (The Weakest Link, Dog Eat Dog, Fear Factor, Greed, 1 vs. 100, and in a very limited manner, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire) reality-style contestant competition and/or elimination as well. These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, lead many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella. Weakest Link UK Version Weakest Link (formerly titled The Weakest Link) is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000. ... Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (also called simply Millionaire for short) is a television game show which offers very large cash prizes for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. ... Ulrika Jonsson, host Dog Eat Dog was a reality British game show on the BBC hosted by Ulrika Jonsson, which ran from 2001 to 2003. ... Greed (or Greed: The Series) was a short-lived American television game show where a team of contestants answered a series of multiple-choice trivia questions for a potential prize of up to $2 million (later $4 million during the five Super Greed episodes). ... Linda de Mol hosts the original version of Deal or No Deal, entitled Miljoenenjacht Deal or No Deal is a television game show format owned by Endemol, a Netherlands-based production company known for creating such shows as Big Brother and Fear Factor. ... US logo of . ... Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. ...

There are various hybrids, like the worldwide-syndicated Star Academy, which combines the Big Brother and Pop Idol formats, The Biggest Loser, which combines competition with the self-improvement format, and American Inventor, which uses the Pop Idol format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as Making the Band and Project Greenlight, devote the first part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing that person or group of people working at what it was they were selected to do. Location of different versions of Star Academy Star Academy is a highly successful television show format produced by Endemol, that has been broadcasted in over 50 countries. ... The Biggest Loser is an NBC reality television show that began broadcasting on October 19, 2004. ... American Inventor is a reality television series based on a search for Americas best inventor. ... Making the Band is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each iteration focusing on a specific music act. ... Project Greenlight is a contest and documentary series focusing on amateur filmmaking. ...

There are some popular subsets of the competition-based format:

Dating-based competition

Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing the hand of a group of suitors. Over the course of either a single episode or an entire season, suitors are eliminated until only the contestant and the final suitor remains. The Bachelor is the best-known member of this category. Individual-episode examples include Next, Room Raiders,Date My Mom, and My Own. For the 1999 movie The Bachelor starring Chris ODonnell, see The Bachelor (film). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Room Raiders is a dating/reality series on MTV. On the show, three single men or women have their rooms inspected, or raided by another single man or woman (usually a member of the opposite sex, but some episodes are gay-themed). ... Date My Mom is a television dating show airing on the music channel MTV. An 18-24-year-old male, or gay male/lesbian female, goes on 3 separate dates with 3 moms who try to convince them to pick their son or daughter to date. ... Category: ...

Job search

In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants were pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based around that skill, and are judged, and then kept or removed, by a single expert or a panel of experts. The show is invariably presented as a job search of some kind, in which the prize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. Examples include The Apprentice (which judges business skills), America's Next Top Model (for modeling), American Idol (for singers), Hell's Kitchen (for chefs), Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, and Project Runway (for clothing design). For other uses, see The Apprentice (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the current season, see American Idol (season 6). ... Hells Kitchen (also known as Clinton) is a neighborhood of New York City that includes the area between 34th Street and 57th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River. ... Who Wants to Be a Superhero? is a reality show hosted by Stan Lee. ... Project Runway is an American reality television series on the Bravo network that focuses on fashion design. ...

Sports

These programs create a sporting competition among participants who are athletes attempting to establish their name in that sport. The Club, in 2002, was one of the first shows to immerse sport with reality TV, based around a fabricated club competing against real clubs in the sport of Australian rules football; the audience helped select which players played each week by voting for their favourites. The Big Break was a reality show in which aspiring golf players competed against one another and were eliminated. The Contender, a boxing show, unfortunately became the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after being eliminated from the show. In The Ultimate Fighter participants has voluntarily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competitive pressure. The Club was a short-lived Australian reality television show about an Australian rules football sporting side called the Hammerheads which featured on the Seven Network in 2002. ... The Big Men Fly - high marking is a key skill and spectator attribute of Aussie Rules Precise field and goal kicking using the oval shaped ball is the most important skill in Aussie Rules Footy Australian rules football, also known as Australian football, Aussie rules, or simply football or footy... The Big Break is The Golf Channels reality television program. ... Greg Norman on the 18th tee at St Andrews. ... For other uses of this term, see Contender. ... Professional boxing bout featuring Ricardo Domínguez (left) versus Rafael Ortíz Boxing, called pugilism (from Latin), prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing) or the sweet science[1] is a sport and martial art in which two participants of similar weight fight each other with their fists in a series... The Ultimate Fighter is a reality television series and mixed martial arts competition, originating from United States, and produced by Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. ...

In sports shows, sometimes just getting on the show can get a contestant the job. The owner of UFC declared that the final match of the first season of Ultimate Fighter was so good, both contestants were offered a contract. Many of the losers from WWE's Tough Enough and Diva Search shows / segments have wound up being picked up by the company.

Self-improvement/makeover

Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving some part of their lives. The British show Changing Rooms, which began in 1996 (later remade in the U.S. as Trading Spaces) was the first such show. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season (as in The Swan and Celebrity Fit Club), but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode. Despite differences in the content, the format is usually the same: first the show introduces the subject or subjects in their natural environment, and shows us the less-than-ideal conditions they are currently in. Then the subject(s) meet with a group of experts, who give the subject(s) instructions on how to improve things; they offer aid and encouragement along the way. Finally, the subject(s) are placed back in their environment and they, along with their friends and family and the experts, appraise the changes that have occurred. Examples of self-improvement or makeover shows include, besides the previously-mentioned ones, The Biggest Loser (which covers weight loss), Extreme Makeover (entire physical appearance), Queer Eye For The Straight Guy (style and grooming), Supernanny (child-rearing), and Made (attaining difficult goals), Beauty and the Geek (8 academically challenged beauties and 8 socially awkward geeks pair up to help each other overcome their weaknesses). Changing Rooms is a British Entertainment television programme. ... Trading Spaces is an hour-long television reality program on the cable channel The Learning Channel. ... Swan can mean: For the bird, see Swan. ... Celebrity Fit Club is a reality television series which follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. ... The Biggest Loser is an NBC reality television show that began broadcasting on October 19, 2004. ... Extreme Makeover was a television program from ABC in which individuals volunteer to receive an extensive makeover in Hollywood. ... Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is an hour-long American Emmy award-winning television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit (at least by the standards of cable TV) and one of the most talked-about... Supernanny is a British reality television program that has been broadcast or slightly adapted in other countries. ... Made is a television series on MTV about self-improvement. ... For the UK version of the show, see Beauty and the Geek (UK TV series). ...

Similarly, Pimp My Ride, Overhaulin', and Trick My Truck show vehicles being rebuilt. Pimp My Ride is a TV show produced by MTV. Each episode consists of taking one car in poor condition and restoring it, as well as customizing it. ... This Oldsmobile 4-4-2 was featured on Overhaulin season 2 episode 3. ... Trick My Truck is a television program on Country Music Television (CMT). ...

As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more conventional formats. The show This Old House, which began in 1979, for example, shows people renovating a house; media critic Jeff Jarvis has speculated that it is "the original reality TV show." [3] This Old House is a television program on the American public broadcast network PBS that follows remodeling projects of houses over a number of weeks. ... For the song by The Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Jeff Jarvis (born 1954) is an American journalist. ...

Dating shows

Some shows, such as Blind Date, show people going out on dates with no element of competition. Antecedents may be found in The Dating Game from the 1960s. A blind date is a date between two people who have never met and typically know little or nothing about each other. ... The Dating Game was an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s. ...

Talk shows

Though the traditional format of a "talk show" is that of a host interviewing a featured guest or discussing a chosen topic with a guest or panel of guests, the advent of Trash TV shows has often made people group the entire category in with reality television. Programs like Ricki Lake, The Jerry Springer Show and others generally recruit(ed) everyday guests by advertising a potential topic that producers were working on for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous and are chosen in the interest of creating on screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, this (allegedly) real depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format, is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming. A WNYW-TV full screen segment intro from 2005. ... Ricki Lake was a daytime talk show hosted by U.S. actress Ricki Lake. ... The Jerry Springer Show (first aired September 20, 1991) is an internationally known television tabloid talk show, hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician. ...

Hidden cameras

Another type of reality programming features hidden cameras rolling when random passersby encounter a staged situation. Candid Camera, which first aired on television in 1948, pioneered the format. Modern variants of this type of production include Just Kidding!, Punk'd and Trigger Happy TV. The series Scare Tactics is another recent program in which the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them. A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. ... Candid Camera is a long-running television series, created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially appeared on radio as Candid Microphone in the 1940s, then screened in the United States in the 1950s, with local versions produced around the world. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Punkd is an American hidden camera practical joke television series on MTV, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher, which first aired in 2003. ... Trigger Happy TV is a British hidden camera television show, created, produced by and starring Dom Joly, originally aired on the British television channel Channel 4. ... Scare Tactics is a reality show on the Sci-Fi Channel. ...

Hoaxes

In hoax reality shows, the entire show is a prank played on one or more of the cast members, who think they are appearing in a legitimate reality show; the rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. Like hidden camera shows, these shows are about pulling pranks on people, although in these shows the hoax is more elaborate (lasting an entire season), the particpants here know they are appearing in a TV show (it is the true nature of the show that is kept secret from them), and the cameras are out in the open. Also, the point of such shows often is to parody the conventions of the reality TV genre. The first such show was 2003's The Joe Schmo Show; other examples are My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss (modelled after The Apprentice), My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, Space Cadets (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into space) and Invasion Iowa (in which a town was convinced that William Shatner was filming a movie there). The Joe Schmo Show is a reality TV show (actually a parody of reality game shows) on the American cable network Spike TV that began airing in September 2003. ... My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss was a television show on the Fox Network in 2004-2005, similar to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance. ... My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance was a one shot television reality show on the Fox Network during the 2003-2004 season. ... Space Cadets was a British television programme made by Zeppotron (a division of Endemol UK) for Channel 4. ... Invasion Iowa is a television mini-series that aired on Spike TV beginning on March 29, 2005 and on ITV4 beginning on 3 November 2005. ... William Bill Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Canadian actor, who gained fame for his starring role as Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ...

Other shows, though not entirely hoax shows, have offered misleading information to some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples include Boy Meets Boy and Joe Millionaire. Boy meets Boy was a somewhat controversial American television reality show that ran on the Bravo cable television network in 2003. ... Evan Marriott with the two finalists: Sarah Kozer (left) and Zora Andrich (right). ...

Analysis and criticism

Part of reality television's appeal is due to its ability to place ordinary people in extraordinary situations. For example, on the ABC show, The Bachelor, an eligible male dates a dozen women simultaneously, traveling on extraordinary dates to scenic locales. Reality television also has the potential to turn its participants into national celebrities, outwardly in talent and performance programs such as Pop Idol, though frequently Survivor and Big Brother participants also reach some degree of celebrity. For the 1999 movie The Bachelor starring Chris ODonnell, see The Bachelor (film). ...

Is "reality" a misnomer?

Some commentators have said that the name "reality television" is an inaccurate description for several styles of program included in the genre. In competition-based programs such as Big Brother and Survivor, and other special-living-environment shows like The Real World, the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricated world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the participants, and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama." [4] Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960), a British-born, naturalized citizen of the United States, is a US TV producer known for pioneering reality television as a genre. ...

Even in docusoap series following people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, able to portray certain participants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronology and selective presentation of events. Some participants have stated afterwards that they altered their behavior to appear more crazy or emotional in order to get more camera time.

Several former reality show participants have spoken publicly about their experiences and the strategies used on reality shows. Irene McGee from The Real World Seattle has done public speaking tours about the negative and misleading aspects of reality TV. In 2004, VH1 aired a program called "Reality TV Secrets Revealed" [5] that detailed various misleading tricks of reality TV producers. It was revealed that programs The Restaurant and Survivor had at times recreated incidents that had actually occurred but were not properly recorded by cameras to the required technical standard, or had not been recorded at all. In order to get the footage, the event was restaged for the cameras. Other shows (most notably Joe Millionaire) combined audio and video from different times, or different sets of footage, to make it look like participants were doing something they were not. Irene McGee is a media ethics activist, San Francisco State University graduate student and radio DJ, best known for her stint on MTVs reality television series The Real World. ... The Seattle Season of The Real World first aired on MTV in 1998. ... VH1 (VH-1: Video Hits One until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV. VH1 and sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division... The Restaurant is a reality television miniseries that broadcast on NBC in 2003, with a second season broadcasting in 2004. ... Survivor is a popular reality television game show produced in many countries throughout the world. ... Evan Marriott with the two finalists: Sarah Kozer (left) and Zora Andrich (right). ...

Some shows have faced speculation that the participants themselves are involved in fakery, acting out storylines that were planned in advance by producers. The show The Hills is one notable example; one TV critic wrote that the show's "situations and dialogue come straight from a page." [6] On the show Hell's Kitchen, it has been speculated that the customers eating meals prepared by the contestants are in fact paid actors. [7] Nevertheless, there has been no direct evidence presented yet that any such program has been scripted or "rigged," as with the 1950s television quiz show scandals. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Hells Kitchen (US) is the name of a cooking-based reality show. ... The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were the result of the revelation that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the producers to arrange the outcome of a supposed competition. ...

Political impact

Reality television's global success has been, in the eyes of some analysts, an important political phenomenon. In some authoritarian countries, reality television voting represents the first time many citizens have voted in any free and fair wide-scale elections. In addition, the frankness of the settings on some reality shows present situations that were formerly taboo in certain orthodox cultures, like the pan-Arab version of Big Brother, which shows men and women living together. [8] Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV." [9] Similarly, in China, after the finale of the 2005 season of Super Girl (the local version of Pop Idol) drew an audience of around 400 million people, and 8 million text message votes, the state-run English-language newspaper Beijing Today ran the front-page headline "Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?" [10] The government has threatened to censor the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness". [11]. The term authoritarian is used to describe an organization or a state which enforces strong and sometimes oppressive measures against the population, generally without attempts at gaining the consent of the population. ... Map of Arab League states in dark green with non-Arab areas in light green and Somalia and Djibouti in striped green due to their Arab League membership but non-Arab population. ... The original Big Brother logo Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where for around three months, a number of contestants (normally fewer than fifteen at any one time) try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house. ... The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative political magazine published 48 times per year. ... A scheme of the game This article is about the singing contest, see Supergirl for the comic superhero. ... This article is about the British television series. ... A received SMS being announced on a Nokia phone. ...

Other

In Australia, following an alleged sexual assault shown live on the web streamed version of Big Brother Australia, there was a political and media backlash that prompted the Australian Government to commission a report on the incident. Big Brother (Australia) is a reality show shown on on the Ten Network in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. ... Big Brother (Australia) is a reality show shown on on the Ten Network in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. ...

Popularity and ratings

Network executives have expressed concern in the media that reality-television programming is limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndication, although it remains lucrative for short-term profits. This concern has been shown to be misguided as DVDs for reality shows have sold briskly. Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, The Amazing Race, Project Runway and America's Next Top Model have all ranked in the top DVDs sold on Amazon.com. DVDs of The Simple Life have outranked scripted shows like The O.C. and Desperate Housewives. Additionally, many reality shows have been successfully syndicated, including (among others) The Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model, The Real World and, beginning in September 2006, American Idol Rewind. Moreover, COPS has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales and DVD. A FOX staple since 1989, "COPS" is currently (2006) in its 19th season, having well outlasted scripted police shows like NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues. DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... The Amazing Race is an American multiple Emmy Award-winning reality game show normally broadcast in one-hour episodes in which teams of two or four race around the world in competition with other teams. ... Project Runway is an American reality television series on the Bravo network that focuses on fashion design. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Amazon. ... The Simple Life is the name of a reality television series originally broadcast on Fox in 2003. ... The O.C. is an American comedy-drama television series that originally aired on FOX in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. ... Desperate Housewives is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American television series of the dramedy genre, created by Marc Cherry, that began airing on October 3, 2004 on ABC. // The show takes place on Wisteria Lane in the fictional suburban town of Fairview, Eagle State, United States. ... The Amazing Race is an American multiple Emmy Award-winning reality game show normally broadcast in one-hour episodes in which teams of two or four race around the world in competition with other teams. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally executive produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray and produced and directed by George Verschoor. ... American Idol Rewind is a television series for syndication, that premiered on September 30, 2006. ... NYPD Blue was a long-running American television police drama set in New York City. ... Hill Street Blues was a serial police drama that first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. ...

In late 2004-early 2005, the genre's popularity seemed to be waning in America, with long-running reality shows such as The Apprentice scoring lower-than-expected ratings. The Will became one of a handful of series in television history to be cancelled after only one broadcast. However, this may have been only a temporary blip in the genre's popularity: the finale of VH1's Flavor of Love drew 6 million viewers in 2006, making it the highest-rated show in the history of that network. Similarly, UPN's number one-rated show in 2006 was the reality show America's Next Top Model. And in March 2006, a fifth-season episode of American Idol drew some of the show's best ratings yet, overshadowing even important events such as the 2006 Winter Olympics, NBA Playoffs, March Madness, and the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... For other uses, see The Apprentice (disambiguation). ... The Will was a reality television series on CBS that lasted only one episode, aired in early 2005. ... Sometimes a television series is successful, and goes on to become well-known. ... Flavor of Love is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. ... For the current season, see American Idol (season 6). ... Neve and Gliz, the 2006 Olympics mascots, on display in Turin The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. ... The NBA Playoffs are four rounds of competition between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association. ... Disambiguation: March Madness comes from the phrase Mad as a March Hare. In England, the phrase March Madness may refer to wasteful spending at the end of a budget year. ... The NHL unveiled a new logo for the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. ...

Currently there are at least two television channels devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in the United States, and Zone Reality in the UK. Fox Reality is a reality TV network on U.S. cable and satellite. ... Zone Reality (formerly Reality TV) is a European reality television channel. ...

According to the Learning and Skills Council, one in seven teenagers hopes to gain fame by appearing on reality television.^[1] The Learning and Skills Council is an Executive Agency of the Department for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom and is responsible for planning and funding further education (post-16 education and training other than higher education) in England. ...

Predictors in popular culture

A number of works beginning in the 1940s anticipated elements of reality television that would later appear. These harbingers tended to be set in a dystopian future, with subjects being recorded against their will, and they often involved violence. A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia[1], kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. ...

• 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.)
• "The Prize of Peril" [12] (1958) was a short story by science-fiction author Robert Sheckley about a television show in which a contestant volunteers to be hunted for a week by trained killers, with a large cash prize if he survives. It was adapted in 1970 as the German TV movie Das Millionenspiel [13], and again in 1983 as the French movie Le Prix du Danger.

Spock and McCoy await their turn in the limelight in the Star Trek episode Bread and Circuses.

• Survivor (1965), a science fiction story by Walter F. Moudy, 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 the tactics, the soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths.
• Bread and Circuses (1968) was an episode of the TV show Star Trek in which the crew visits a planet resembling the Roman Empire, but with 20th century technology. The planet's "Empire TV" features regular gladiatorial games, with the announcer urging viewers at home to vote for their favorites, stating, "This is your program. You pick the winner." The show included several jabs at real-world television, such as a praetorian threatening, "You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!"
• The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968) was a BBC television play in which a dissident in a dictatorship is forced onto a secluded island and taped for a reality show in order to keep the masses entertained.
• The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe (1974), a novel by D.G. Compton (also published as The Unsleeping Eye), was about a woman dying of cancer whose last days are recorded without her knowledge for a television show. It was later adapted as the 1980 French movie "La Mort en Direct" [14] (released in the USA as "Deathwatch").
• Network (1976) was a film predictive of a number of trends in broadcast television, including reality programming. One subplot featured network executives negotiating with an urban terrorist group for the production of a weekly series, each episode of which was to feature an act of terrorism.
• Shock Treatment (1981), the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, places the action in a town that has been entirely transformed into a TV studio.
• The Running Man (1982) was a book by Stephen King depicting a game show in which a contestant flees around the world from "hunters" trying to chase him down and kill him; it has been speculated that the book was inspired by Robert Sheckley's The Prize of Peril. The book was loosely adapted as a 1987 movie of the same name (see entry for both). The movie removed most of the reality-TV element of the book: its competition now took place entirely within a large TV studio, and more closely resembled an athletic competition (though a deadly one).
• Vengeance on Varos (1985) was an episode of the TV show Doctor Who in which the population of a planet watches the torture and executions of those who oppose the government on live television. The planet's political system is based on the leaders themselves facing disintegration if the population votes 'no' to their propositions. This episode is often credited as the origins of "voting someone off".

Nineteen Eighty-Four (commonly written as 1984) is a dystopian novel by the English writer George Orwell, published in 1949. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was a British author and journalist. ... Big Brother as portrayed in the BBCs 1954 production of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... The original Big Brother logo Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where for around three months, a number of contestants (normally fewer than fifteen at any one time) try to win a cash prize by avoiding periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house. ... Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American Jewish author. ... Le Prix du Danger is a 1983 French science fiction movie, directed by Yves Boisset. ... Image File history File links Empire_TV.jpg Summary A praetorian in the studios of Empire TV in Roddenberrys Bread and Circuses.SHIT Licensing This image is a screenshot of a copyrighted television program or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by the company... Image File history File links Empire_TV.jpg Summary A praetorian in the studios of Empire TV in Roddenberrys Bread and Circuses.SHIT Licensing This image is a screenshot of a copyrighted television program or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by the company... The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... Bread and Circuses is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, broadcast on March 15, 1968. ... Bread and Circuses is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, broadcast on March 15, 1968. ... The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Pollice Verso (With a Turned Thumb), an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, is a well known history painters researched conception of a gladiatorial combat. ... The Praetorian Guard (sometimes Prætorian Guard) (in Latin: praetoriani) comprised a special force of bodyguards used by Roman emperors. ... The Live-Life Show, the horrific public entertainment depicted in The Year of the Sex Olympics. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... David Guy Compton (b. ... Network is a 1976 satirical film about a fictional television network named Union Broadcasting System (UBS) and its struggle with poor TV ratings. ... Shock Treatment was the less successful and critically panned follow-up to the classic cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS). ... The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) (first released in the United Kingdom on 14 August 1975) is a cult-science fiction-comedy-horror musical film directed by Jim Sharman from a screenplay by Sharman and Richard OBrien. ... The Running Man (1982) is a science fiction novel by Stephen King, written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. ... Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his enormously popular horror novels. ... Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American Jewish author. ... Vengeance on Varos is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from January 19 to January 26, 1985. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ...

Pop culture references

Some scripted works have used reality television as a plot device:

• Real Life (1979) is a comedic film about the creation of a show similar to An American Family gone horribly wrong.
• Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves (1994) [15] is a Quebecois film about a man who signs up to star in a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show. It was later remade as Edtv (1999).
• The Truman Show (1998) is a film about a man who discovers that his entire life is being staged and filmed for a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show.
• Series 7: The Contenders (2001) is a film about a reality show in which contestants have to kill each other to win.
• Tomb of the Werewolf (2004) is a film about a man searching for treasure while being followed by a reality show film crew, but he encounters a werewolf and a vampire instead.
• Bad Wolf (2005) is an episode of the TV show Doctor Who in which the characters find themselves trapped in various real-life reality television shows.
• The Comeback (2005) satirizes the indignity of reality TV by presenting itself as "raw footage" of a new reality show documenting the attempted comeback of has-been star Valerie Cherish.
• American Dreamz (2006) is a film set partially on an American Idol-like show.

In addition, a number of scripted television shows have taken the form of documentary-type reality TV shows, in "mockumentary" style. The first such show was the BBC series Operation Good Guys, which premiered in 1997. Other examples include People Like Us, Trailer Park Boys, The Office, Drawn Together and Reno 911!. Real Life is a 1979 comedy film. ... In Canadian English, a Québécois (IPA: ) is a native or resident of the province of Quebec, Canada, especially a French-speaking one. ... EDtv is a movie directed by Ron Howard released in 1999. ... The Truman Show is a 1998 movie directed by Peter Weir, written by Andrew Niccol, and starring Jim Carrey. ... Tomb of the Werewolf is a 2004 horror film that is the twelveth in a long series about the werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky, played by Paul Naschy. ... A werewolf (also lycanthrope or wolfman) in folklore is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. ... Vampires (or vampyres) are mythological or folkloric creatures believed to be the reanimated corpses of human beings who subsist on human or animal blood. ... Bad Wolf is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on June 11, 2005. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... The Comeback is the term used to describe the AFC Wild Card game of January 3, 1993, between the Buffalo Bills, and the Houston Oilers. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the current season, see American Idol (season 6). ... Mockumentary, a portmanteau of mock documentary (also fictional documentary or false documentary), is a film and TV genre, or a single work of the genre. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... Operation Good Guys (OGG) is a 1997 British mockumentary, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about an elite police units bid to snare one of Britains most powerful crime lords. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... People Like Us is a British comedy programme, a spoof on-location documentary (or mockumentary) written by John Morton, and starring Chris Langham as Roy Mallard, an inept interviewer. ... Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian mockumentary television series focusing on the misadventures of ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, which is located near Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. ... The Office is the name of two television comedy shows created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. ... Drawn Together is an American animated television series on Comedy Central created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and first aired on October 27, 2004. ... Reno 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central which debuted in 2003. ...

Reality films

Several reality-TV-style films have been produced; these films differ from conventional documentaries in that they create new, sometimes artificial, situations instead of simply trying to document life as it is. Allen Funt, a pioneer in conventional reality television with Candid Camera, was also a pioneer in the "reality film" genre with the hidden camera movie What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? in 1970. The TV show Jackass spawned two films: Jackass: The Movie in 2001 and Jackass: Number Two in 2006. A similar Finnish show, Extreme Duudsonit, was adapted for the film The Dudesons Movie [16] in 2006. The producers of The Real World created The Real Cancun in 2003. Games People Play: New York [17] was released in 2004; it was possibly the first reality-TV-style film without a basis in a television series. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... Allen Funt (September 16, 1914 _ September 5, 1999) is an American celebrity best known as creator and host of Candid Camera from 1951-1954 and 1960_1966 on CBS. He began the show on radio as Candid Microphone on ABC radio. ... What Do You Say To A Naked Lady is a candid documentary made in 1970 directed by Allen Funt. ... Jackass is an American television series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, ridiculous, and self-injuring stunts and pranks. ... Jackass: The Movie Jackass: The Movie directed by Jeff Tremaine was released on October 25, 2002 with the tagline Do not attempt this at home. ... The Real Cancun is a 2003 American documentary film released on April 25, 2003 in the U.S. Inspired by the reality television genre, this film followed the lives of 16 Americans from March 13, 2003 to March 23, as they celebrated spring break in Cancun, Mexico and experienced romantic... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of reality television programs
• Bunim/Murray Productions
• Endemol
• John Langley

List of reality television series, by general type, listed with the date of their premiere. ... Bunim/Murray Productions is a reality television production company responsible for the reality TV programs The Real World, Road Rules, Making the Band, Love Cruise, Starting Over and The Simple Life. ... The official Endemol logo depicting an eye. ... John Langley, director, writer, and producer of television and film, is best known as the creator and executive producer of the long-running television show COPS, which premiered on FOX in March 1989. ...

Further reading

• How To Create A Reality Show
• Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26152-X.
• Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette, eds. (2004). Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5688-3
• Nichols, Bill (1994). Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34064-0.
• Godard, Ellis (2004). "Reel Life: The Social Geometry of Reality Shows". pages 73-96 in Survivor Lessons, edited by Matthew J. Smith and Andrew F. Wood. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc.
• Lord of the fly-on-the-walls - Observer article: Paul Watson's UK & Australian docusoaps
• Big Brother - Why Bother? - Graham Barnfield's Spiked commentary
• Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boogaard, NRC Handelsblad, September 28, 1996 (Dutch) - about Nummer 28 being the inspiration for The Real World

In 1993 Graham Barnfield began writing on cultural politics in the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... NRC Handelsblad is a Dutch evening newspaper. ...

References

1. ^ "Jaded", The Economist, 2007-01-27, pp. 57. (in English)

2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Reality Rehash Blog - Blog about all things Reality
• Reality TV Forum - Free friendly forum for members to discuss the shows.
• Unreality TV - UK reality TV site - news, gossip and community
• Reality TV Magazine - Blog focusing exclusively on American reality TV shows and stars
• Reality Blurred: the reality TV news digest - Daily summaries of American reality TV news and gossip
• Television Without Pity - Recaps of many American reality TV shows
• RealityBlogs.com - A blog about watching reality TV
• TVLOSERS.com - A site with blogs, contests, message boards, all focusing on American Idol and reality TV