Reality Television Shows

Common people in television continued at a smaller scale such as in tabloid shows, but in 1979 NBC aired Real People and thus the home actor was born. The stars of Real People were mostly performers who would do things like eating dirt and other various bizarre acts. The difference that Real People had from other shows starring non-actors was that it was totally produced by amateurs using home video equipment. For the first time average Americans became the producers of a television show. The problem with Real People was that the performances were just that and not the random occurrences captured on videotape.

1990 saw the emergence of the consumer becoming the producer when ABC aired America’s Funniest Home Videos. The idea actually came from a Japanese show Fun With Ken and Kato Chan where funny video clips were spliced into the regular program. America’s Funniest Home Videos turned the concept of asking people to send in their funny videos in the hope of winning the grand prize at the end of the season. Similar to a game show or a sports program where the best performer received a large monetary sum, on America’s Funniest Home Videos, anybody could win. The show took off receiving high ratings and almost 100 videos came through the mail for every broadcast within weeks. (Stark p.360) The show capitalized on many interesting home encounters and spawned a whole generation of reality television shows.

Video reality shows became a hot commodity since they were cheap to make and viewers seem to enjoy them, but not all of these shows focussed on the more humorous side of life. Along with the America’s Funniest Home Videos came shows like COPS and Rescue 911 where "real life" drama would unfold in front of one’s eyes. The problem with these shows came from their ideological undertone that became offensive where watching a kid with a bike running into a tree didn’t. COPS, for example, was based on setting up a camera and filming the day to day life of a police officer. The problem came from what the producers decided to show and not show. By having this right, the reality no longer became that. Through editing scenes together certain viewpoints emerged. COPS takes place in an urban setting and for the most part a large percentage of the people appearing on COPS are black. This creates the appearance that crimes are usually committed by young black males, especially when it comes to drugs. However, this is not the case where 76% of drug users are white, while only 12% are black. (Anderson p.10) According to COPS this is not the trend, but by leaving out information the reality of video can be easily altered. Also, the show is toned down to allow for its continuance. If COPS showed police officers in a negative light, then the camera men would no longer be allowed to film the situations. One may wonder what scenes are left out in order to keep the show profitable and on the air.