18
votes
The golden age of US reality TV might be changing, possibly declining
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- Title
- The Hollywood production collapse's latest victim: Why the reality TV bubble finally burst
- Published
- Aug 5 2024
- Word count
- 909 words
The article misses the main reason for this 'decline' in my opinion, which is just the incredible competition from online media like facebook, tiktok, instagram, and youtube. People aren't consuming less reality tv than they were twenty years ago, if anything they're watching even more. It's just that the 'reality tv' they're watching is in the form of youtube shorts and tiktok videos and stuff in their facebook feeds. The creators on those social media sites cater to the same niches as the reality shows of the past, but pretty much without any production cost or barrier to entry, hence a massive flooding of the market, making old-school reality tv shows not viable any more.
You want to watch attractive people live glamorous lives? You want to watch someone with a very rare and debilitating illness go about their day-to-day? You want to watch someone from a very specific region or background or career? You want to watch people argue with each other about nonsense for hours on end? Wanna see someone do something disgusting for money? Want to feel second-hand embarrassment at someone doing something silly in public? Want to feel better about yourself by watching dumb people do dumb things? The internet provides all those things and more at a rate that tv producers can't possibly match, and all for free. Pick any reality tv show that was popular twenty years ago and there are probably dozens (if not hundreds or even thousands) of content creators making similar content just less structured and less gameshow-y.
Yeah I would say stuff like TikTok is the reason more old fashioned media has continued to decline. You can watch different TikTok accounts do dumb stuff on their own and then they have essentially cross-over episodes with other TikTokers. They become ”friends” and then start talking shit about each other etc etc. You have other TikTokers that explain all the drama. There’s a whole ecosystem for this nonsense, that doesn’t even require the attention span necessary for a thirty minute episode of something.
It goes back before TikTok and YouTube shorts. Popular YT fodder like Good Mythical Morning and Linus Tech Tips have been the face of reality TV for Zoomers and many Millennials for over a decade.
I should note, I'm not a reality TV fan. Never have been.
I watched the first season of the original Real World on MTV; it was alright, but I drifted away from it and never thought of coming back. And then kind of had to watch the first season of Survivor when some friends of mine who I hung out with a lot decided they were really into it; sort of liked it until I realized they weren't actually having a contest about survival or survival stuff, but instead just small group interpersonal politics stabbing each other in the back.
So I have no horse in the race with reality TV; it either has an audience or it doesn't. It's not my bag, but lots of people decided it was for a long time.
However, I found some things being said elsewhere on this article a bit interesting. Aside from the obvious, which is the industry is contracting and even low budget reality TV is going to see less production funding accordingly.
One thread of thought says that where reality TV contestants used to be more or less ordinary average people (and then hilarity would ensue, or be edited to seem to ensue), increasingly in recent years the folks being cast such shows are more of the "influencer/Youtuber/Internet-Personality" types. Either someone who's already doing that, or someone who specifically auditions and pleads to get cast so they could then use that platform to launch themselves online. People seemed to think this was too artificial, too greedy, for them to be interested in watching, and might explain why viewership is declining.
Another thread of thought seemed to be forming around how the reality shows are even less about "reality" than they used to be (despite how they've always been scripted in the edit from the very beginning) and are more heavily focusing on imposed antics than they used to. That the shows have dialed up the drama past the point where some fans of the format have started to check out.
I just found those ideas interesting, even if I don't find reality TV interesting. Thought I'd throw it up here, see what anyone has to say.
I'm honestly really glad. I haven't been a fan of reality TV since the first season of American Idol. I honestly really hope this means that it's going to go away soon, and we won't have to deal with manufactured drama anymore.
The thing is, I wouldn't mind most reality TV if it wasn't about interpersonal drama and was instead about the house renovation, or how to do xyz. even cooking competitions would be fun if they weren't all about how to backstab your neighbor harder or making fun of people and their skills.
It's why I switched 100% to YT videos that are educational about all the same things with no drama.
This is my pet peeve. I used to love shows like Monster Garage, where they spent a bunch of time SHOWING us how they solved the problem.
Now most mechanic reality shows are just interpersonal drama and random hijinks. And then the whole crew goes racing/bowling/whatevering and they don't show us the damn build!
Renovation shows are similar. They spend a ton of time with whatever sob story made them choose the family and then quickly show the end result. I'm watching it because I want to see the damn build, not the drama.
Like you said, YouTube has replaced my need for seeing professionals build crap. People like Laura Kampf and Simone Giertz let us see the whole process, warts and failures and all. Zero drama. (Except for Giertz's brain tumor, but even that was like two videos total.)
This is exactly why I love The Great British Bake Off. It’s a friendly competition. People finishing early offer to help. Everyone’s encouraging and supportive of each other. They usually end up friends, sometimes good friends, after the show ends. It’s so wholesome!
Have you watched Glow Up or the Great British Pottery Throwdown? Both have very similar vibes
I’ll give those a try! How entertaining do you think they would be for someone with much less general interest in the subjects of make up and pottery? I’m not sure how much of my love for GBBO is boosted is my personal interest in cooking/baking.
Glow up alternates between "normal" or fashion makeup and much more wild makeup art. I don't like makeup from a fashion standpoint but I find the show fascinating. They usually do an episode where they have to do TV medical prosthetics and make up (wounds and scars and things) which is fun
Pottery throwdown is like GBBO where while I like the broad concept, idk anything about the specifics (especially when GBBO gets into the real obscure stuff). Both have similar supportive vibes with minimal reality TV drama. I think they're fun and do a good job of the explaining basic stuff
Alright, I’m sold. We’ve been looking for more cozy shows to watch after long days and these sound perfect.
My wife and I loved The Great British Bake off but didn't enjoy the change in host after Mary Berry left and the two color commentators (I think that's what you would call them) changed as well.
We did like Britain's Best Home Cook as it had that similar people there to win but also support each other as needed and not being so competitive that they were unpleasant.
The newest season seems a bit more return to form. I miss Mary Berry still but they seem to have toned down the stupid challenges and the new co-host is a delight.
I do miss Mel and Sue though
I would love BGGO even more if people didn't get eliminated each week. it makes me really sad because they do get eliminated!
Have you watched School of Chocolate? The losers each week get 1 on 1 time with Amaury Guichon (who's "School" it is)
No, but that sounds cool.
It's on Netflix I think!
Alone is by far my favorite reality TV show. At it's heart, it is a competition for who can stay out in the wilderness by themselves for the longest, but the participants don't actually interact with each other. They just film themselves while they find food, build shelter, and just try to live alone as long as possible.
It's fascinating to watch people and how they deal with the mental strain. Many of the contestants are pretty open about the toll the entire thing takes on them. I find it quite refreshing from a lot of other, more contrived, reality competitions.
I totally get you. Have you heard of our lord and saviour, HGTV? :P
The thing that bugs me about reality TV the most is that it's so incredibly surreal. They are edited with the idea of keeping people interested even when they are interrupted by what feels like hundreds of ad breaks, which means that they're constantly doing the most manic cutting and there are tons of recycled clips for recaps after every commercial break. I swear, they are trying to make ADHD simulators.
I wish that more English speaking people would watch Terrace House. In my opinion, they've made the perfect reality TV program. It's slow, it's mundane, but it's probably the most "real" feeling reality TV show I've ever seen. There are interview segments, but they are very short and fairly rare. The talent are never shown interacting with the producers or crew, and while some of them have very loud personalities, they are loud by Japanese standards, so at least from my perspective nobody ever seems to come off as a jackass - and even when they are being jerks, they are treated like real people and they make an effort to understand why they act the way they do. They don't have narrators, either - they have a panel of commentators (much like Japanese variety TV shows) who are fairly conservatively cut into the show, and their commentary is actually helpful for trying to understanding what's going on in the subjects' heads.
lol I loved HGTV! until they decided to only air the same 6 shows over and over again, some of which were competition shows with manfactured drama!
I wish they would go back to old school Food Network, Cooking Channel, and HGTV in the days before they decided to repeat the same things over and over.
Do they? I honestly haven't watched broadcast TV with any regularity for the better part of the last decade.
I don't generally watch broadcast TV anymore unless I'm traveling or at my in-law's house. Every time I get a chance to look at the TV guide, it's all the same stuff over and over. It's annoying. :/
People aren't bored with "Reality TV", we're bored with a) American-style shows where everyone is cutthroat and playing to win no matter the cost and b) low-effort reality where they just grab a bunch of not too bright people, optionally get them drunk and film EVERYTHING they do for two weeks.
I've been on somewhat of a binge of South Korean reality/competition shows from Netflix, latest being The Devil's Plan. It's just 12 smart people solving puzzles while living in the same area for a week. But because they're not American, there are no "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win" -people, making it a lot more complex and interesting to watch.
I've also watched every season of Survivor (both Australian and American versions, it's a guilty pleasure don't judge me) and I think the last few memorable seasons were the ones where the "Good guy" got really far just by being nice and pretty good at the competitions. I can't remember a single competitor from the last 10 or so seasons.
Partially it's because the players have literally grown up watching Survivor (the show is 25 years old ffs), but I think the casting isn't as good anymore they're playing it too safe or trying too hard to make the cast have as many different personalities and identities as possible.
If you like the Devil's Plan, 'The Genius' is another gameshow along similar lines and is absolutely incredible imo. It's a bit tough to find but if you can, the Korean version is well worth a watch!
I realise re-reading your comment that if you've been on a binge you've almost certainly watched Genius already :D But I'll leave the comment up for others and just in case you haven't
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