I am always amazed at how reality shows has woven themselves into our lives. Its a curious set of circumstances which have combined and collided to bring us to where the social impact of reality TV programming can be felt in every strata of our lives.
In the beginning, there was of course PBS's "An American Family." The was done in the 1970's. It followed an average, upper middle-class family, the Louds. Lance, the eldest son came out as openly gay on the show. He is credited with becoming the first gay character on television. As the show progressed, we saw the break-up and finally the divorce of the Louds. There has been subsequent follow up shows, which chronicled Lance Loud's fight with addiction, HIV and finally death. This was America's first taste at what has become a wildly popular format for television programming.
We can safely assume An American Family was the catalyst for the ground breaking MTV show, "The Real World." I have watched every single episode of The Real World for 27 years. I guess you could say I was a reality junky long before it was popular to be so. The all to familiar tag line, "This is a true story of seven strangers picked to live in house, work together and have their lives taped...to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real", has become one of the most widely known tag lines of all times.
The Real World had been hailed as tackling such difficult and sensitive issues as racial, sexuality, AIDS and substance abuse issues as was being encountered by MTV's core audience, 20 somethings. It has since been very discredited as being just a platform for immature and irresponsible behavior. I tend to think the shows beginning was good. It really did show how seven complete strangers coming from seven different social, economic and ethnic backgrounds lived when thrown into a fish bowl and taped. At some point it became to formulaic and now we see seven barely legal young adults who drink far to much and just cavort in front of a camera for the simple reason of being the most outrageous on the cast.
While most believe that Andy Cohen is the founder or creator of The Real Housewives franchises, he is not. Scott Dunlop was the original creator of the first housewives show, The Real Housewives of Orange County. I don't think its a stretch to see how An American Family, The Real World didn't factor into Scott Dunlop creating a show chronicling the lavish lifestyles of beautiful women living behind the gates in a very upscale town in California. It certainly fits into the reality/documentary format/genre.
What this show has done, as well as, the other housewife franchises, is to ignite the publics preoccupation with what the rich and beautiful are doing. What started out as entertaining and light has evolved into a very dark and dangerous format for programming.
We have seen the "reality format" from start to finish. Each time it is used it pervades our social consciousness, and becomes larger than its last incarnation. We can see from the plethora of reality shows such as Honey Boo Boo, Duck Dynasty and others that television producers now recognize the public's taste for all things reality.
Reality celebs that have been created by this genre are beginning to show the signs of wear and tear. Such notables as Kim Richards, who alcoholism and alleged drug abuse spiraled out of control during the filming of her show, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Taylor Armstrong is yet another fine example of how reality show programming is destroying those who are involved. The death of Russell Armstrong is a directly connected to his wife being on the show and bashing him and his financial problems. I really don't think Russell would have killed himself for any other reason than his entire downfall was being captured by the film crew of Bravo TV.
Not long ago we saw the addition of The Real Housewives of DC to Bravo's franchises. We watched in object horror as Michaele Salahi and her husband Tareq crashed a White House dinner under the careful gaze of the camera's from Bravo. I believe this is a direct result for the show not being renewed for another season. I am sure the other cast mates would also say their lives have been negatively impacted by what transpired on the show.
In a way, the reality/documentary format/genre is still the same as when it originated. It begins as ground breaking. It serves to educate and entertain the public. At some point though, it begins its inevitable decent into darkness. The players involved ultimately become nothing more than characters of themselves. There is "planned or scripted" drama. Events are re-enacted for the sole purpose of getting it correctly for the cameras. People get hurt, lives are ruptured and the public is faced with watching a train wreck.
I remember how adorable Jon and Kate Plus 8 was when it first started airing. Lets not forget how badly that show and family ended. Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. I think we are seeing the reality genre begin to fade. As the years march on, the people on these shows have morphed into human oddities and I believe, actually buy the hype that surrounds them.
In two to five years I don't think we will see as many of these reality shows as we do now. I think people are already beginning to think twice about joining an already existing show or embarking on a new one. No one likes to be the but of a joke so I don't see Bravo or other stations continuing to spend millions to keep these types of shows in production. Consumers have been besieged by reality programming. As with anything in life, too much of a good thing is well....just too much.
While revenues are up, viewership is decreasing. Revenues are always behind what viewers want. Its a game of catching up. With the increase of social media, fads are hitting faster and fading even quicker. The time of reality TV programming is drawing to a close. Its just the reality of it.
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