The end of reality?

Perhaps a moderately overdramatic title, but I bet it made you look. I am infact referring to Reality TV. A genre of TV that has single handily overhauled prime time TV. Ten years ago, shows with the inclusion of ‘ordinary’ (and I use the term in a non-famous sense; not in the sense that they are all there in the head) people were very few and far between. However, a night without a reality TV show is now as rare as an episode of Top Gear where Clarkson doesn’t poke fun at Richard Hammond’s height.

There is good reason to this however. With a near endless catalogue of formats that reality TV can inhabit, there is much scope for producers to continually put different shows on the production line. Combined with the fact that they are predominantly low budget and that the shows makers can often use everyday people/fleeting celebrities as the contestants, it has been seen as a winning formula.

Shows such as The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, Who wants to be a millionaire and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here have all been overwhelming successes. Successions of talented, lovable or amusing people have created TV gold. They have been the creators of iconic moments that are unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon. Names such as Leona Lewis or Susan Boyle conjure up thoughts of when they performed and grew before our eyes. As the viewing public we grew attached, each holding onto the ideal that in some tiny, small way, we were as integral to their successes as the judges or shows themselves! Equally I challenge anybody to mention I’m A Celebrity and their first thought not immediately taking them to the fish eye or Kangaroo testicle eating bush tucker trial.

Yet it is when you delve deeper into the ocean of washed up reality shows that you can see the unfortunate truth that it is a genre that has been exploited to the point of no return. Nationally commissioned shows such as Farmer Wants A Wife (2008), Boot Camp (2001) and The Littlest Groom (2004) have all graced our screens... and disappeared equally as swiftly as they arrived. I fear that whilst such shows won’t be remembered, they are all a contribution to the greater truth behind the Reality TV genre – that it is low brow, depleted and predominantly poor.

This is an admission that pains me to admit, as I more so than most am an avid follower of a large quantity of reality shows. But I feel it can’t be argued that the golden age of Reality TV has passed. Aside from Britain’s Got Talent, I can’t think of a single reality show that is held in the same esteem by a reality indulgent nation as it once was. Shows such as I’m a Celebrity and Big Brother are visual presentations of what I’m saying as truth. The past couple of series of I’m a Celebrity have been drab and average. Not since the Katie and Peter series has it been at its peak (a bold admission given my detestation of the pair).

An even starker showing is that of Big Brother. Once the flagship reality show, it was adored by millions and able to turn even the most irritating individual into an overnight superstar. It was even more than just a TV show; it was a culturally imprinted ideology. It was a reflection of all walks of life. As captivating as it was shocking, revelations within the house had direct effects on the social values of the real world. All from a little house in Elstree. Yet, much like reality genre itself, time soon caught up on Big Brother. Its ratings began to dwindle and it was announced last year that the forthcoming summer’s house will be the last - something that did not come as a shock to the viewing public given a sequence of sub-standard series.

However in a great show of almost defiance and in an attempt to show ‘yes we’re going, but we will be missed’; the series of Celebrity Big Brother just gone provided one last hoorah for in my opinion not just Big Brother, but also the Reality genre as a whole. It showed that when it gets it right, it is unbeatable TV. Vinnie Jones, Stephen Baldwin and Sisqo were just a few of the contestants that created the sceptical. Yet it was the eventual winner Alex Reid that encapsulated the central ideal of the past decade’s worth of Reality TV in his mere matter of weeks in the house. A thick, normal but harmless guy endeared himself to the public and in doing so placed himself in the Big Brother Hall of fame.

Unfortunately, it is clear to all that this was infact a one off last showing of a depleted genre. It is clear to all that the truly great reality shows of the past decade are reaching their sell by date. Sceptics will argue ‘well the X factor still does incredible’ – maybe so, but when Rage against the Machine beat the most watched show in the UK’s winner to the Christmas #1 spot you see the true scope of the X Factors current (and hollow) success.

Finally tonight’s prime time TV show... ‘So you think you can dance?’

Enjoyable? Maybe so.

Likely to live on in your memory come tomorrow morning? I very much doubt it...

So here’s to you reality TV, your stay on our screens has been a fun one, but in the words of a certain Davina McCall –

You have been evicted.