Say the simple phrase “reality TV” to almost anybody and you spark an instant reaction, whether it’s declaring their love, or, in the overwhelming majority, their absolute disdain for it.
Think back, ask yourselves: how long has reality TV been around for? Most people will say roughly the same thing, about a decade, ever since the first Big Brother. But I am not the only person who sees the resemblance between reality TV and game shows; contestants all vying for a prize, all competing against each other, and we the viewers choose one after learning a snippet of their personality and root for them. Usually the one we support won’t win but we keep tuning in, in the hope that next season our choice will succeed. Looking at it in another way, reality television on a whole is resoundingly like a sporting event. The viewers take the place of spectators, we know the rules, we know the game itself, but it is impossible to predict the outcome. Yet while not allowing us to predict the outcome, it does offer us a unique opportunity. Due to the “red button” culture of this genre of television we are no longer mere couch potatoes – we join in on the creative production. We have gone from being viewers to being part of a shared project.
In my own group of friends the general consensus is to sneer at reality, but these are the same people who do not watch it. For myself, it could possibly be the greatest television genre ever seen. I’ve been addicted since Nasty Nick, and was shocked along with 12.6 million other people when Will Young beat the bookies favourite Gareth Gates to be crowned the winner of Pop Idol. The main draw that keeps me coming back to it time and time again in its numerous forms, is the belief that absolutely anybody and everybody can become a star. In today’s social climate people need to keep that belief. The format, where ordinary people perform for a panel of superstars, whether it’s singing, dancing or performing in general and are in turn voted for by other ordinary people. Well, I find this beautifully egalitarian.
Martyn Rowley
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