james2025a

I noticed that there are a lot of threads about reality TV, so i thought i would open it up for discussion here. The TV scheduling in recent ears has gone from bad to worse. The whole idea of reality TV has been milked more than anything i have ever seen....and it is still continuing. I admit that out of all the shows there are actually some that have some genuine appeal and a good idea behind them. I personally like The Amazing Race, The Dealiest Catch, The Apprentice, and even a couple of others...but even they are losing it after repeating the same old tired format season after season, bringing nothing new to the table. I think the worst offender has to be MTV. A channel that a long time ago i used to enjoy watching because of the music videos it once played...now dedicated to some of the worst attrocities to ever be put before a viewing audience. My Super Sweet 16 being a prime example. The last thing i want to do is watch some spoilt brat having ludicrous amounts of money being spent on them. With the amount of poverty in the world i find it a disgrace that MTV produces trash like this and the next minute has programs trying to bring awareness to poverty (of course with some big hot shot Hollywood celeb hosting....and trying to look like they give damn). MTV tries too hard to be politically correct and makes sure that it has programs designed to entertain hetros, gays, lesbians, all minority groups.....they will probably develop programming designated to hit the murderer and rapist demographics eventaully.

So my question is this.....when does everyone think the reality bubble will burst...will it ever truly burst or will we have to suffer more of then same for the rest of our lives? Does anyone think that any reality show has actually advanced the medium?

PixyJunket

If it costs $1 to make and they make $2 off of it, it will continue, regardless of quality.

BDLOU

I don't know your age but I doubt you would be watching MTV to see videos for the top hits of today. The shows that MTV airs are mostly what their target audience wants to see. In addition, they are cheap to produce. Simple as that.

Chew

It's cheap to produce and everybody wants to be the next Idol hit.

If you think reality television is overtaking programming, do what I do: change the channel. There's plenty else to watch.

Groucho

The "Reality Bubble", as you call it, burst a couple years ago. There are still a lot of reality shows, but it's declined quite a bit and scripted series have made a comeback.

Silt

Don't knock MTV! That show called Next, when it features lesbians, is hot!

I like reality TV. Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother are all favorites of mine along with Wife Swap(or whichever one comes on after MNF). They certainly beat the more of the same you get with today's sitcoms, which typically fail to make me laugh even though someone is mashing the laughter track button 5 times a minute. Realty TV, shows with year long story arcs (24, Veronica Mars, BSG), news, and sports is all I watch anymore.

Many hate reality TV, but I think it's here to stay. It's cheap to produce and many are ratings monsters....but hey, if reality TV isn't your thing...well your thing is just a remote click away.

tonyc3742

I hate "reality" tv. Unfortunately for me, I do think it's here to say, though I hope/think it will not be as widespread as it is today and a few years ago.

But yeah...it's cheap and profitable and usually quick to make...and there's certainly no shortage of people who are willing to humiliate or embarrass themselves for their fifteen seconds of fame.

When this one is on TV

I'll watch.

For videos, I watch VH1 Classic.

Regarding murderer and rapist reality shows--there was either a 'behind the scenes' reality show, or a documentary, that focused on a music group...behind bars. One of the guys was a convicted murderer. The victim's family was quite upset that here's this guy who was convicted of murdering their relative, and he's on TV getting his band famous.

Jimmy James

I think that really only applies to broadcast TV. Reality is still chugging along quite well on the cable nets that helped create the trend (like MTV).

clckworang

Yes, reality TV is still rampant on cable shows. But why not? It's cheap to produce and usually gets decent ratings, which is very important when viewers are getting more and more choices.

I don't have a big reality TV problem. I watch some and don't watch others. Every so often, we get one of these "Reality TV is bad" threads, and I'll say the same thing now that I have said other times.

Much like any other genre, there are great reality programs and bad ones. There have been moments in reality programs that have affected me just as much as anything I've seen on conventional television. But there are just as many clunky dramas and probably even more bad sitcoms. So, why don't we start a thread every so often about trying to get sitcoms off the air?

I don't get the animosity toward reality programs. I'm not saying this directly to the original poster, but I do think that a lot of the hate of reality TV comes from people who like to sound elitist and knock down certain things, usually never having watched what they are knocking or only watching the worst possible examples. I had a friend who was that way and then she actually sat down and watched some good reality programs and now she is hooked.

I don't begrudge someone if they don't like it. Just turn the channel as someone else said. And I definitely think the genre is here to stay.

DJariya

I keep hearing about how "cheap" alot of these reality shows are. However, I read somewhere that Rock Star INXS costed something like 30 million dollars to produce. The Amazing Race has a 2 million dollar travel budget not counting other production costs.

The crap that looks really cheap is the stuff on MTV and VH1 and E!. Those guys probably use cable access budgets for their reality shows.

clemente

$30 million dollars was the price of about 3 episodes of ER at its apex.

DJariya

The 10-13 million for an episode of ER is mainly a huge licensing fee that NBC has to pay to Warner Brothers, who produces the show.

The actual cost to produce a 1 hour drama ranges between 1.5 to 3 million dollars per episode.

chowderhead

Come on now, keeping Dave Navarro in constant supply of eye liner ain't cheap.
As for the cost, yes it is a gamble because reality shows don't rerun/rebroadcast that well so although they may be cheaper than the average show, there are dangers to having too many reality shows in terms of auxillary profits from DVD sales, syndication, etc.
They do have promotional tie-ins i.e. The entire Apprentice show, GM, chip company, beer company with Survivor, Travelocity, etc with The Amazing Race, Coke, Ford, etc with American Idol.
I think there are quite a bit of reality shows on television but that is what the audience wants right now - that and police procedural shows. There are lots of different types of shows on cable, etc. It is just a matter of turning the channel.

Jimmy James

You don't think most of that $30 million for the INXS show went to licensing for studio, label, and band?

There is surely no way the actual cost of production for a reality show is nearly that high.

critterdvd

Also, if you pay attention it seems like the reality fad is starting to slowly disapate (atleast on broadcast television)... in 2002 there where 3 reality programs for ever 1 drama pilot produced... this year it was 2 to 1 (2 dramas, 1 reality)...

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

maybe during the fall/spring season. but summer is prime reality tv season.

Tazwolff

"Reality TV....why are they still bothering?"

Simple, Americans are stupid and can't get enough Nannymakeoveridol. When I observe people watching these shows they glass over in the eyes and some, but not all, begin to drool.

clckworang

I don't mind it that much. I kinda like having my Big Brother guilty pleasure to fall back on during the summer when there isn't anything else on. But look at the movie theaters. It seems all entertainment outlets, for the most part, check their brains at the door once summer starts.

Groucho

This coming from a guy with a reference to the intellectual 24 in his sig.

BigDan

Yeah, but the point was the licensing fee is not nearly that high for nearly every other show.

It used to be that the licensing fee was less than what it cost to produce the show. The difference would then be made up in syndication. That is less likely the case these days (especially since, with the relaxation of the Fin-Syn rules and the consolodation in the industry, networks or their affiliated studios self-produce more and more shows).

Jimmy James

I'd argue that goes both ways. It surely doesn't cost $30 million a season to make Being Bobby Brown or Blow Out just like it surely doesn't cost $30 million an episode to make 7th Heaven or Crossing Jordan.

clckworang

RockStar INXS might have a higher licensing fee, but I think it should be noted that unlike with other shows, RockStar ended up making money in other ways besides selling ads. All of the performances would go onto a music site. I don't remember which one, I'm sure someone could help me. I don't think it was iTunes, maybe MSN Music. Anyway, there was a time during the show's run and immediately after when songs from RockStar pretty well dominated the charts on that site. That's a lot of extra funds coming through by simply selling singles. I'll bet that was a major consideration when it came time to decide whether to give the show another season.

BigDan

And I'd agree. Generally speaking, the reality show is probably going to cost less per episode, especially a lot of the ones on cable.

On average, it probably is cheaper to produce a reality show, though I would venture to bet that most reality shows on the broadcast networks have less opportunity for ancillary profits, too, driving up the opportunity cost. For example, an episode of your average 1 hour drama may cost $1.5 million, but I'm more likely to be able to rerun a scripted show, so for one 1-hour episode, I can sell advertising space twice. If I'm also the producer of the show, I can potentially sell the show into syndication easier than I can a reality show. And with the explosion of TV on DVD, I would venture to bet that the average scripted show would sell better than the average reality show on DVD and the like.

So, when all the opportunities for profit are added in, paying more for a scripted show might result in higher overall revenues.

The world of cable is different, obviously, especially when it comes to reruns (it sure seems like a single episode of a show like "The Surreal Life" or "The Real World", for example, is played 50 times or so).

So much of reality TV on network seems to be more geared toward game shows, anyway (Survivor, American Idol, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Bachelor, ete.) which presumably lose a lot of appeal once the winner is known making reruns, syndication and whatnot far less attractive.