Exploring the reasons behind the popularity of television that we know isn't reality.
Storified by sarahepfeiffer ·
Fri, Apr 08 2016 04:07:21
Reality tv is widely criticized for being fake, scripted, and simply not reality. However, the majority of the reality shows we watch are technically not scripted. In numerous interviews the creators of shows like The Hills, Jersey Shore, and The Bachelor will insistently tell you that their shows are surely not scripted. But what does it take for producers to attract an audience if they aren’t using a script? Creators, producers, and directors use various tools to manipulate the reality that goes on in their shows. These tools don’t go unnoticed though, and the audience has quickly caught on. Despite a general disbelief in the true reality of these shows, a significant amount of viewers enjoy the shows simply for the characters and the plot, whether or not it’s real. As long as people can connect to or find entertainment from the show, it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not.
The Hills
The Hillsis a reality TV show that aired on MTV from May 2006 until July 2010, including 6 seasons that focused on several young women living Los Angeles. Many people believed that most of the storyline was written rather than actual reality, however the show’s ratings stayed consistently high.
After the show ended, several cast members came forward with clear evidence that the show was not really “reality”. Kristin Cavallari admitted that the show was filmed three days a week but presented on tv as if every day was showed. Each day, three different “days” would be filmed. Producers accomplished this by changing the girls’ hair, makeup and outfits several times while filming. In their schedules, the girls were given a location to go to, a person to meet, and a topic to cover. A particular tactic that the producers used was telling one girl a different outcome goal than the girl she was going to meet, in order to spur on some drama and help the conversation spin off into a more interesting direction. So, a conversation that the girls thought would be pretty straight forward would actually be more dramatic than they thought. This trickery used by the producers might not be scripting, but it definitely doesn’t qualify the show as “reality”.
Even though there was significant belief that the show was fake, people continued to watch. This is significant because it shows that what people cared the most about was not the “reality” of the show, but the characters, the storyline, and the drama. This can also be seen in the way MTV handled the series finale. The finale that MTV first aired seemed to reveal that the show was fake in a dramatic “panning-out” of the camera, showing the cast was actually on a Hollywood set. When the creator was asked to explain the meaning behind this choice, he said “We had joked early on about different ways to do kind of a wink to whether it was real or not”. Due to these complaints in the lack of closure the finale delivered, MTV quickly released an “alternate ending”, in which the set is not revealed. Viewers didn’t care for this “is it real or is it fake?” drama, they just wanted to watch it, scripted or not.
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The HillsThe Hills follows Laguna Beach's Lauren "LC" Conrad as she moves to L.A. to attend college at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. In The Hills, Lauren gets a job as an intern at the popular magazine Teen Vogue. The show focuses on the challenges Lauren faces while she is trying to juggle work, school, and relationships.
TV.com, home to hundreds of thousands of tv show reviews, revealed to us that being a "fake" reality show wasn't a problem for most fans. For example, one reviewer of the show gave it a 9.5/10 and said, “Altogether a great show...so guilty though and so not real”. This viewer paid almost no mind to the fact that the show was “so not real”. In another review, a viewer said “Reality tv is the best! you never know what will actually happen, like, it is really unpredictable. this is one of my favorite tv shows, and everyone should watch it. Like girls all act like this at times, and this show really shows how bratty and snobby (but also nice, and sensitive) girls can be”. This is interesting because, again, there is no outstanding critique of how real the show is. What this viewer liked was that the show depicted the “reality” of friendships between girls, and that it was unpredictable. Maybe this is in fact in the most important part of a reality tv show: not how “real” it is literally, but it’s effectiveness at connecting with the audience and correctly depicting certain relatable aspects of life (like drama with your friends). People love Lauren Conrad whether or not her $75,000 salary is for acting or not!
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The Bachelor
While The Hills is no longer, ABC’s The Bachelor continues to be one of the most widely successful reality TV shows that has ever been produced. The Bachelor is the dating show that set the precedent for the drama and romance in all of the copy-cat shows to follow. Millions of viewers tune in each Monday to watch 26 women fight for the heart of the bachelor. Critics of the show claim that all of the drama we view is scripted but it is better argued that producers utilize various strategies to alter the content of the show without giving the contestants a script.
One of the most common ways producers of The Bachelor change the direction of the show is by building relationships with the women on the show. One past contestant explained that you become just as good of friends with the producers as you do with the other women in the house. She stated that she would go to the producers for advice even though she was aware that they would try to manipulate her thinking. Although they do not force you to do anything, producers are very convincing and suggestive. This tactic works well for producers because of the relationships they build with the contestants.
Once the show has already been filmed, producers have the power to edit the footage they have in any way they would like. This type of editing often leads to one woman being labeled as the “villain edit” or the woman who is make to look rude or outrageous for entertainment purposes (2). This is likely the tactic that producers use that makes people believe that reality TV shows are scripted. They simply take the most dramatic parts of the footage they have, compile it and make a woman seem worse than she is.
Despite the manipulation of content by the producers, audiences seem to really love the show. One viewer stated, “Sure it's partially staged and you don't want to idolize the contestants or take it too seriously, [but] it's just plain fun to watch. The definition of entertainment. We love it”. She rated the show 10/10. This fan admits that while she wants to keep in mind that the plot is not entirely real, it can still be quality entertainment, and the emotion that viewers crave is definitely not lacking.
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Jersey Shore
Producers on Jersey Shore, which takes place in Seaside, New Jersey, following use alcohol as their main tactic to create drama on the show. Intoxicated cast members are more likely to confront their friends, start fights, or fall victim to embarrassing public incidents.
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Jersey Shore is another one of America’s favorite guilty pleasure reality TV shows. It takes place in Seaside Heights, New Jersey where eight housemates spend their summer living together and being filmed by MTV. People find this show entertaining because it’s filled with drama, skimpy clothing, and alcohol, not to mention the amount bronzer and hair gel. Many of the people that watch this show believe that what is on TV is completely fake but, how fake is Jersey Shore?
A significant amount of the drama that happened on the show was at night, usually at clubs and bars such as Karma. When the cast went to Karma there were producers at the club making the girls that Pauly, Mike, and Vinny talked to sign release forms. On top of that, when the cast was at Karma the only way to even get in is to pay an extremely high cover charge. Another example is when one of the cast members are working at the T-shirt shop the production company set up a tent on the boardwalk at which you had to show I.D. proving you are 18 and sign a release form. Also before entering the store production assistants go up to you — multiple times — and gave you instructions on how to "act" for the "reality" show.
As with The Hills and The Bachelor, Jersey Shore fans are not as concerned with the allegations of "fake reality". One fan wrote, “The show is hilarious because it's so stupid, and so close to real life” rated show 9/10. While most our lives probably (and hopefully) don't revolve around binge drinking and fighting with our house mates, there are some pieces of humanity that some fans, like the one above, can grab on to, which ultimately, is the goal of reality tv.
