Since the late 1990’s reality game shows
have been quite popular among viewers. The first reality game show was Big
Brother in the Netherlands which was then sold to other TV networks around the
world. Another game show that has been around since the beginning of reality
game show and still going today is Survivor.
Games show can be seen to be fake or
unrealistic, one example is Survivor; when the season starts it follows sixteen
contestants over three days which then is cut down and edited so that these three
days can fit into a one hour TV slot. Meaning that the viewers are possibly
only seeing 5% of what actually happen. Usually that 5% which is watched by the
viewer will be what the creator wants it to be, to create a more compelling
story to keep the viewer watching. This includes portraying certain people in
certain lights for example someone who complains a lot is shown as if they
complain constantly. This builds up a love to hate relationship with the
contestant. Hill (2005) observed that that the highest rated episodes in games
shows were the ones which contestants faced emotional situations or the contestants
became romantic couples.
Another problem with reality game shows
are their lack of variety. Shows like Survivor change every season however the
changes are minor like a change in location and new contestants however new
contestants sometimes doesn’t mean new characters as Hill (2005) states contestants
‘learn how to behave from previous series’ and will copy former contestants
style of play to further themselves in the game.
I like your comment about how you said reality game shows and their "lack of variety". One of the perfect examples of this is Gordon Ramnsey's Hell's Kitchen. That show has been running for many years now and nothing has changed since the first season. The music, presentation and tasks are all the same. The final is always the same too where they have to cook at the same restaurant. This is a contrast to a show like Top Chef where they cook in different locations for each episode and tasks vary each week.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Idol is like that for me. I stopped watching after the first season because it's just the same kind of thing over, and over, and over. And it doesn't matter if it's new people. They're all doing the same thing haha
DeleteFear factor was something that interested me past that they do such a things that people don't normally to do...such as eating snails...they weren't doing same thinks over and over like american idol
ReplyDelete