The glory days of reality TV shows have passed, but it is still a phenomenon that we need to consider. Since its first arrival in modern TV, reality TV shows have become a constant staple for many of us. It is based on a common concept of taking real life and showing it on the TV. The concept is both simple and genius. With its simplicity and charm, a good reality TV program could take a hold of our life with its crazy and dramatic depictions of people’s lives. Many people are completely attracted by realty TV and in fact, many weekly parties revolve around watching favourite reality shows.
There are many influential reality shows and Survivor is one of the most popular. It drops a group of contestant a remote place. They are allowed to fight, deceive and manipulate one another to remain on the show. Each week, contestants will vote a member that should be removed from the show. Ultimately, the last person who could “survive” the show will get a million dollars. This simple concept has been quite addictive and it is considered as the most popular reality TV show of all time. The Real World was first aired in MTV and eventually syndicated by other major TV networks. The concept is similar to Survivor, where a group of people gather together. However, instead of in the middle of the jungle, these people stay in one house. On both series, we would only sit and watch the whole drama unfolds.
American Idol is a music-focused reality TV show and it is essentially a competitive content that is intended to seek the next superstar in the music industry. The show is massively popular and it already has a cult-like following. It is not only interesting to see how contestants perform; we also see comments and reactions of the judges. Viewers are able to contribute by sending the votes and contestants with the fewest votes are removed from the show each week. The Amazing Race is a popular competitive show and it is quite unique. About twelve couples will travel around the world and compete in various crazy challenges.
The Bachelor is a romance-related reality TV show and it is about a group of women who want to find their true love. A desirable bachelor will meet 25 single women and like other shows, one will be eliminated each week, until there’s only one left. The ultimate goal is to see the bachelor chooses the last woman standing and they’ll live happily ever after. These reality shows have brought appeal to many people and some of them have created new celebrities. Many contestants often seek fame and money, but certainly, there’s much more money to be made by creating these shows for the audience.
At the moment, reality TV shows continue to grow and they will more and more people around the world. It would be interesting to see how the genre will greatly influences the society. Every time we turn on the TV, it is more likely that we will see a reality TV show than not, even in channels like History and Discovery.