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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Reality Alert by Chamitha Kuruppu
The reality-TV bug that hit Asia is now invading Sri Lanka. Local broadcasters are rushing to woo viewers with competition-driven shows based on Western hits. The local channels are now giving an opportunity for average viewers to taste popular international shows such as the Apprentice and American Idol.
Unlike in Western countries, wich are the place of their birth, locals stand against these reality shows. Imagine the social reaction in a country like Sri Lanka when they actually see what reality shows are all about. Imagine the pressure on participants and the dramatic results, when ordinary people are pitched into extraordinary situations. There is no doubt that viewers are tired enough with the dreary carefully scripted shows and welcome a touch of reality through localised versions of Western programs that pit ordinary people against each other in contests of brain and brawn. Many claim that rivalry-driven reality shows reflect the negative aspects of human nature, such as competition and greed.
Critics of the genre have claimed that the term is a misnomer, as many reality TV shows put the participants in exotic locations and abnormal situations, thus not promoting a sense of "reality."
The first reality show in the modern sense was probably the PBS series An American Family. In 1973, 12 parts of An American Family, that dealt with a nuclear family going through a divorce, were broadcasted in the United States. The show was controversial in its time and highly criticised by the media. The show was notably parodied by Albert Brooks' first film, Real Life. 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. Both shows attracted their share of controversy. According to the Wikipedia the series that is perhaps most responsible for inspiring the recent interest in reality television is COPS, which first aired in March of 1989 and created a popular base for such programming. The show was followed by MTV's The Real World. This was one of the first reality programs to gain mainstream popularity. The emergence of Big Brother in Europe and Survivor in the USA nearly five years ago made a plethora of game-based reality TV shows that kept growing. According to experts the low production values associated with reality television, this type of productions are being popular among television networks with profit maximisation goals. There are various types of reality television shows. According to Wikipedia, in some, 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 cinema verit,. COPS is a notable example of the genre. Other programs place contestants in competitions or artificial living environments such as Survivor. Often "plots" are constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap operas. Experts in the field recommend that reality television's success 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, travelling on extraordinary dates to Napa Valley and Vail, Colorado. The converse of principle is a recently emerged subset, in which extraordinary people (celebrities) are surrounded by ordinary circumstances. Examples include The Anna Nicole Show, The Osbournes, and Newlyweds. Another type of reality programming features hidden cameras rolling when random passers-by encounter a staged situation. The reactions of the passers-by can be funny to watch, but also reveal truths about the human condition. Game shows is another type of reality in which participants are filmed on a nearly-constant basis in an enclosed environment. They compete with each other to win a prize. There is clear difference between these and traditional game shows, which also involve non-actors in unscripted situations. One aspect that makes these shows more like reality television than other game shows is that the viewing public can play an active role in deciding the outcome. Viewers can eliminate participants by way of disapproval voting or voting for the most popular choice to win. Big Brother is a classic example. The show which still has incarnations in many countries around the world. The Wikipedia notes that the series takes its name from the all-seeing authority figure in George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty Four, in which two-way television screens are fitted in every room, so that people's actions are monitored at all times. Controversy has risen over shows like the UK's Pop Idol, The American Idol and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire which are popular among many other countries, are truly reality game shows or simply modern incarnations of traditional game show or talent show formats. Relationship reality shows are another popular type of reality Tv shows. The show is about contestants choosing the hand of a group of suitors. Over the course of the season, the suitors are eliminated one by one until the end, when only the contestant and the final suitor remains. The Bachelor would also fall into this category. Reality sport shows recruit athletes to engage in sport competitions during the show. In most cases the featured sport is an individual sport as opposed to a team sport, since the goal is to produce individual winner or winners (depending on the number of divisions such as weight classes) at the end of the season. One match usually takes place in each episode, eliminating the loser. The Contender features boxing, while The Ultimate Fighter showcases mixed martial arts. However, according to international reports Westerners are now losing interest in reality shows. The Will a reality show on CBS about a real-life family squabbling over an inheritance become one of a handful of series in television history to be cancelled after only one broadcast. Reality shows might not be aspiring to Westerners any more, but these cheap and controversial programmes are invading Asia and becoming popular among profit oriented local television networks. |
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| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
Want to earn quick money? All you got to do is to
be a reality star. If you are the lucky winner, you will be a millionaire
overnight -- you will be popular and be on television too. 
There is no doubt that these shows top the ratings and the air time
hits the peak. But the question remains how ethical it is to force
ordinary people to become overnight heroes of the small screen for money
and fame. 
In simple terms, reality television is a type of television programming
that is unscripted, documenting actual events over fiction, and featuring
ordinary people. According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia although the genre
has been featured since the early years of television, the current
explosion of popularity dates from circa 2000 (particularly from
Survivor). 
The popular Nielsen Media Research records that reality shows account
for about 56% of all of American TV shows (both in cable and broadcast),
and also accounts to about 69% of all of the world TV shows (in cable and
in broadcast). 
