Electronic Highways
Keeping up with reality
If you’re relying on the tube for entertainment these days, chances are your choice of programs includes a multitude of “reality-based” shows. Vicariously surviving the trenches of a topical island or following the ups and downs of a stranger’s diet seems like a relatively normal pastime. While its popularity has soared in the 2000s, the reality genre has been around for decades.
In 1947, the TV series Candid Camera premiered and often is credited as the first reality show. The host, Alan Funt, based the program on a series of theatrical film shorts, titled Candid Microphone. According to Funt, he “switched from sound recording to television because he wanted to go beyond what people merely said, to record what they did—their gestures, facial expressions, confusions and delights.” Click here for a more in-depth look at the history of Candid Camera.
The popularity of comedies like America’s Funniest Home Videos and Punk’d reveal that contemporary audiences still chuckle at the sight of someone’s innocent fumbles. Punk’d is even part of the national vernacular. The Urban Dictionary defines the term as “an expression of surprise and disbelief that is uttered when one is in a situation that is perceived to be ridiculous or beyond belief.” Watching reality shows, whether their focus is on the escapades of the rich and famous or the non-celebrity, is obviously one of our nation’s guiltiest pleasures.
A good place to start for an overview of the history of reality television and insight into its allure, is the blog Web site TV Squad.
Searching the Web for the latest updates on current reality shows can lead to an overwhelming amount of blog entries and sensational news. Reality TV Magazine features not only episode recaps of more than 200 reality TV shows, but serves as a good one stop shop for the latest gossip/news about participants of the programs, including some “plot” spoilers (so beware!).
How real is reality TV? Often members of the shows are referred to as “cast members.” And there is speculation that producers often coerce or goad participants into acting a particular way to create a dramatic or comic effect. To read scholarly essays, such as “Reality TV: Performance, Authenticity and Television Audiences”, search resources like A Companion to Television or use the UB Libraries databases Gale Virtual Reference and Blackwell Reference Online. Additional publications on the topic can be found in Lockwood Library. Browse for titles in the Bison catalog.
You might become trapped in America’s fascination with the “real” stuff.
—Laura Taddeo, University Libraries
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