The history of reality TV…Where did this ridiculously fan crazed phenomena begin? I thought for this week’s blog it would be interesting to find out where the reality based TV all began.
According to “Behind the Scenes of Reality TV,” it is believed that it all started with a show called “An American Family.” This show first aired on PBS on Thursday January 11, 1973. This was the moment that changed television history forever. It was a 12-hour documentary series on PBS which reveled seven months in the day-to-day lives of the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California. An audience of 10 million viewers watched this real life drama that challenged conventional views of middle class American family life, its depiction of marital tensions that led to divorce, an elder son's gay lifestyle and the changing values of American families, it not only opened the door for other reality TV. This series proved to be a groundbreaking turning point that forever changed American television programming and led the way to more complex family portraits. TV Guide magazine acknowledged An American Family as the first reality television series and named it among "The 50 Greatest Shows of All Time."
Although An American Family was considered the first reality TV show, the real craze was supposedly started by the hit TV show COPS. COPS first aired on Fox in March 1989 and has been filmed in over 140 cities across the US. This hit series followed arrests of over 2,000 suspects. This docu-reality series has become one of the longest- running primetime entertainment program ever, as it is currently celebrating it 20th year. After the success of this hit reality show. It was clear that reality TV was becoming unleashed.
Soon after COPS, came MTV’s Real World in 1992. Then in 2002, CBS’s reality hit Survivor hit the air.
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I really don't see what the attraction to reality TV is. I'd rather watch paint dry I think. But everyone is entitled to their preferences and some of it can be interesting at points in time. It's great how you've been disecting the complexity and the elements and history of it. I look forward to reading more about it throughout the semester. (My brothers favorite show is cops. I think he'd go crazy without it.)
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ReplyDeleteI sometimes don't understand the craze behind reality television. I claim to not like reality T.V., but I realize that would be a lie. The type of reality T.V. I don't like is the MTV and Vh1 shows that have something to the extent of "Opportunity of Love" in their title. Those are the annoying ones! However, I watch Cops, game shows, Cold Case Files, Intervention, Dog, the Bounty Hunter, etc.
ReplyDeleteI like those shows because they show more than contestants' pathetic attempts at gaining fame, money, or "love." They actually show real life events that at least make the scripting behind the show less obvious than those on MTV.
I had no idea that reality television dated back to the 70’s!! I thought that this was a fad of today’s modern days and I was interested to hear about how the reality era started. I remember sitting down after supper with my dad and watching the hit television series COPS. If nothing else this was all it took to decide at a young age to keep my nose out of trouble. There’s nothing like a good show like that to demonstrate how hard reality really works. It ceases to amaze me how something like some ones everyday life can have such a huge impact on Television.
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