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The Future of Reality TV

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By: NMK Created on: July 7th, 2003
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Reality TV represents a revolution in popular culture. Discuss.

NMK event report from February 2002. By Kiran Chahal

If you were to take a glance at the huge success generated by shows such as Big Brother and Survivor you might think that we were entering an entertainment revolution. Global viewing figures suggest that ‘reality television’ is ready to take over our television sets. The cause of these recent developments are many and varied: changing audience expectations; new technologies; and how far producers are willing to go in their attempt to sustain and increase viewing figures. Whatever its success or causes, ‘Reality TV’ is an idea that also alarms many people, who object to it as a voyeuristic, mindless and an often harmful form of entertainment. How far can producers go before ‘reality TV’ becomes a normalised and integrated part of life where we can access it at will from our work stations, mobile phones, TV sets and many other receiver devices? This NMK seminar held at BAFTA sought to disentangle the conflicting ideas and shed some light on the future of the phenomenon.

Gary Carter of Endemol, a key figure in the global distribution of Big Brother and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, is passionate about his vision of reality TV and why the market is ripe to receive more and more of it. Gary insists that reality TV is a response to change. This change exists in the market/audience, technology and within the people who make the TV shows. No longer do we exist in an environment where a public broadcasting agenda takes precedence over the commercial world. Gary divided up TV audiences into three generations, with the second now controlling and making our TV entertainment. According to his analysis, Gary believes that audiences now demand a great deal more than in the past. Expectations have grown so much that viewers now expect a degree of control over their programming that has gone as far as exercising control over the final outcome of a show. TV producers now have interactivity and the convergence of new technologies at their disposal to facilitate this expectation, and part of Big Brother’s huge success is attributed to this.

In terms of technology, Gary believes that everyone can be a part of this ‘revolution’. Rapid change in society has meant that people can access information and entertainment almost anywhere. Being a media-literate society means that this is an expected part of everyday life, and the ability to be seen anywhere and by almost anyone is now a reality. Further to this, fame is now assured on the basis of this coverage and regardless of talent. Being famous is now an ultimate goal in itself. Gary proposed the idea that people are marketing themselves as brands. Being seen equates to being famous, and being on a set for eight weeks amongst strangers can now assure you fame ‘for at least 15 minutes’. It might be an exaggeration to say that we are witnessing a revolution, but in terms of conventional TV we are definitely experiencing a sea-change. Reality TV sees normal members of the public appearing in hugely successful TV programmes. Many contestants have gone on to carve out careers based on the fame generated by the programmes. These programmes are always non-scripted and generally take place in a non-studio environment. Audiences are not demanding linear programming, instead they want the unexpected. As Gary says ‘the more predictable a message the less information that it contains’. Another instance of change is that this programming is available in a multi-platform format. Television is no longer the primary form of transmission, instead it has become a mere medium of transmission and it shares this value with many other such devices.

This analysis owes itself to Gary’s vision and experience of reality TV. He has had the opportunity to work on the global licensing of Big Brother and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and he has first hand experience of the audience’s thirst for reality TV programming. Others are not as convinced of this revolution, including fellow panellists Professor Brian Winston from the University of Westminster and Monkey Kingdom’s Will Macdonald. Brian refuted the claim that we are in the middle of a huge change in audience expectations. Although he appreciated Gary’s analysis he didn’t believe that there had been a seismic shift in society in terms of their expectations, and he didn’t agree that people expected a spectacle every time they turned on their TV sets.

Will found it hard to analyse the effects of the content that is being produced at the moment, but similarly didn’t believe that we are experiencing a revolution. He suggested that the time may come when we have gone beyond the two dimensional image. Until then he didn’t think that the effect would go beyond the box, and that any impact generated was due to the fact that we were seeing a lot more of reality programming, rather than the content being such a radical departure from convention. Ideas aren’t changing to the extent of them being extreme, and the concept of reality TV is purely another idea for making TV shows. If the idea is good enough it can be transferred to different mediums and exploited in different ways.

In response to this rather less flamboyant description of reality TV, Gary re-iterated that we have witnessed a change in society. He has seen the impact of shows like Big Brother and is convinced that there has been a fundamental shift in attitudes. He does not necessarily attribute this shift to the shows, but he is certain that audiences are turning away from what he calls a ‘produced reality’. Stephen Jeffery-Poulter picked up on Gary’s point regarding less produced material, arguing that that reality TV was anything but. Participants are carefully selected for the shows and the drama unfolds only after hours of editing. Ultimately, the success of reality TV could be attributed to this high level of production control.

Will also picked up on this point about the degree of control exercised by the TV producers. In addition to safe-guarding the interests of the show, a certain degree of protection is also afforded to the individual taking part in the show, as all are required to sign release forms. Regardless of this Gary believed that viewers wanted to exercise their own degree of control. The ultimate in control is to give the viewers the decision to choose the outcome of a show by voting. Gary saw this as evidence of the gradual move from audience push to pull.

It is questionable whether these trends are pointing to a revolution, it could be that they are merely changes in viewing habits in response to a new TV show format. If we were to consider this as a revolution we need to be certain that it is replacing an older order of things. Instead of being so dramatic about these changes we could look at in a different way. We should consider judging reality TV as an innovation and addition to what already exists rather than a phenomenon that will be replacing the norms that we are used to as a society.

It is difficult to predict the future of reality TV and where the success will come from. Many people fear that shows could go too far in the name of reality entertainment. Extreme shows are already being broadcast across the globe in the US and Japan. The panel all agreed that this is not necessarily the right road to success. They couldn’t offer the definitive answer, but instead suggested that good ideas normally guarantee success. The danger of reality TV is that these ideas might go too far, but as Will put it, it is difficult to moralise too much because we should remember that this is after all the game of TV.

This event was produced by NMK and Stephen Jeffery-Poulter in association with BAFTA and Business Link for London.

Presented in association with

UK Online for Business, www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk

Business Link for London, www.bl4london.com

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