Solo4114
Master Member
There's also another factor to consider. Reality shows are ridiculously cheap to make. Almost no creative energy - even when scripted.
A reality show doesn't have to be that popular to remain viable.
This. They can throw these things together fast and cheap and so it's a volume model. If one out of every 5 finds an audience it's a win. And although many are total crap, some can be pretty compelling. My favorite one right now is Naked and Afraid. Sure the people are not likely to perish and the show provides enough to keep the episode moving, but these people really SUFFER, it's like what Survivor was the first few seasons where people wasted away from lack of food.
I also consider reality TV to be "the great flood" of tv.
It came along and cleaned the slate for networks.
As bad as reality TV is, it came along at the same time that tv also got REALLY good. We now have episodic masterpieces like mad men and breaking bad. We have netflix making gritty superhero shows that would have never happened in the days before reality tv
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To piggy-back on this, reality TV is, in my opinion, the profit-engine that allows the higher prestige, better-made television shows to be made at all. We live in the era of "peak TV" where there is -- let's be clear -- a TON of great television out there. The thing is, hour-long scripted dramas and half-hour single-camera comedies require a good bit of cash to produce. For the genres that I tend to like, they also require a fair bit of f/x and CGI, so that adds even further to their expense.
Yet, in the era of "peak TV," not all of them have amazing ratings, partially because the audience is so diffuse. So how do they survive? Well, you hit on a reality show or a contest show or whathaveyou. Something that makes money, which then allows you to take that money and spend it on a good show.
I agree that reality TV sucks in and of itself. I lament the fall of the networks that used to be oriented around knowledge (e.g. TLC, Discovery, The History Channel) which have now basically become nothing but reality TV platforms for crap I don't care about at all and which has next to nothing to do with their brand. But reality TV in general helps drive profits at studios, which allows for better shows to be run.