Turning Reality into TV: An Analysis of Reality Television

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“Americans spend 1/3 of their free time watching television and of that, 67% are reality shows” (“Shocking Statistics“). This means that reality television is one of the most viewed genres of TV. Reality TV has been around for many years, possibly longer than you would expect. The first documented reality show was Candid Camera, it aired in 1947 (Lackman 357). However, reality TV’s extreme popularity did not begin to skyrocket until the late 1990’s. Today reality TV is popular all over the world. People from all different countries are a part of the making of it as well as part of the large number of viewers. Reality TV is a genre of TV based on real people and real situations. The causes of reality TV goes way back to Alan Funt’s Candid Camera because it began a completely new world of ideas for reality-based shows. People everywhere were coming up with interesting things to bring to the TV screen as a result of Candid Camera.
A key cause for the popularity of reality television was the creation of Candid Camera. In 1947, a new television show caught people’s attention. It started as a radio show titled Candid Radio but as its popularity soared, it became a television program by the name of Candid Camera. It first aired on NBC and the viewers loved it (McGee). According to Ron Lackman in The Encyclopedia of 20th Century American TV, Candid Camera was “a show consisting of hidden cameras in unexpected places In order to capture baffling situations” (Lackman 357). This kind of show was a brand new concept for America and it was earning a good reputation (McGee). Alan Funt, the creator of candid camera, soon retired in 1948 but passed the show down to his son, Peter Funt. The show continued to grow more poplar and it appeared that ...

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...with friends or at your job, you will probably hear about them, they even talk about them on the news. Reality TV represents our countries changing taste in TV entertainment. Some reality shows are sending the wrong message to it’s viewers in my opinion. Although I believe many of the reality shows being aired today are pointless and kind of annoying I do think there are some that are worth watching every now and then such as the ones that have topics your interested in like cooking , music and health. I also think it is pretty interesting to learn about the making of reality TV shows and the lives of those involved in them. Overall, I believe learning about this topic gives you a bit of insight on America’s entertainment culture and even a little bit about how some types of television work. I think it is important to learn about what is popular in the world today.

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