"Reality" TV programming.

political analyst

As far as I know, there were no "reality" TV shows 20 years ago, e.g. Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity...


My points are:

Why are so many people in the UK and Ireland watching these shows these days? (Examples of Irish reality shows are Ireland's Fittest Family and Operation Transformation)

Why have people's TV-viewing preferences become dumbed down? (From what I've read, I gather that the quality of TV programming was more high-brow until the late 1990s).

The Parish priest

I wouldn't read anything into Ireland's Fittest Family and Operation Transformation getting big ratings, another repeat of reeling in the years would get similar ratings, RTE One can do no wrong from 7pm till Midnight, no matter what ****e or repeat they show it will be top rated.. I think Operation Transformation is ridiculously stale now tho, it should have been dropped about 5 years ago.

JohnFalstaff

political analyst wrote: »

As far as I know, there were no "reality" TV shows 20 years ago, e.g. Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity...


My points are:

Why are so many people in the UK and Ireland watching these shows these days? (Examples of Irish reality shows are Ireland's Fittest Family and Operation Transformation)

Why have people's TV-viewing preferences become dumbed down? (From what I've read, I gather that the quality of TV programming was more high-brow until the late 1990s).

I'd tend to see modern television programmes, and modern audiences, as more sophisticated than they were in the past. Especially when it comes to something like TV drama with the advent of HBO, Netflix et al.

There has always been good and bad TV, the modern era is no different. Who could forget Kevin Keegan falling off his bike in BBC's 'Superstars' (made in 1976):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4OzPrskdqU

dublinman1990

The market for Reality TV over the years has been quite saturated now OP with such an large volume of formats available for audiences that would cater for any age group or demographic. Online TV like Netflix or Amazon have dented reality TV's dominance now because online TV is apprarently making much better stuff now than ever for their own audiences.

I am not against people who prefer online TV against a Reality TV audience because they may have found something better online that may suit their own preference. I will say that the TV market for Irish people now is more fragmented now than ever & may be more fragmented into the future.

I would say more competition to the Reality TV genre is good for TV now. Most areas of Reality TV now is mind-numbing rubbish. I can't understand the process behind it all tbh. I would need to be paid a huge amount of money from broadcasters if I considered to watch Jersey Shore, Geordie Shore, Tallafornia type rubbish. The amount of overhyped nonsense from a certain amount of formats can be very big & overbearing for audiences to get through. I don't understand it myself tbh.

How Reality TV is to evolve for the future is hard for me to say because some major formats that had started off years ago with huge audiences & are now beginning to die off because the novelty of having them is just not there anymore. They may have some Reality TV shows made years ago that have gone extinct because there is no demand for them to be revived for future audiences. That may not be a bad thing in itself because broadcasters might have other avenues to explore providing different styles of TV where possible.

Although we may have a much younger audience now who may want to see this stuff being continued into the future.

There is also the task now for broadcasters that if they replaced a well known Reality TV format that has lasted for a very long time; it may become harder for them to replace an older format that will guaranteed to become a repeat success. It is easier for them though to import the style of a reality series because it may be successful in other countries.

The broadcasters who could engage in this market would be those who are looking to make a quick amount of money from commercial advertising & large demand from TV audiences to make improvements to programmes with these programmes or have ability to make other programmes for their audiences.

political analyst

Does "Room to Improve" (ironic title) qualify as a "reality" show? It used to be half-an-hour long but it had its length doubled. Talk about overkill!

Alcoheda

It's cheap, there's no shortage of desperate fools and crackpots and you don't even have to pay them.
No shortage either of sh1te list celebrities to present the shows who are only slightly less desperate for attention than the contestants. Add in a crew of mostly unpaid interns to do sound/video/makeup and you're good to go.

It's safe, as in, if something does well in England you can just rename it and stock it with Irish contestants.
It was so dirt cheap in the first place that it's almost risk free.

You owe nothing to the contestants so you can manipulate what ever content they generate for your own reasons without having to worry about insulting or misrepresenting them. It's not like you need to build a working relationship with them as they'll go back to being nobodies when the show is finished and after the news rags lost interest.
Plenty more plebs where they came form.

There's lots of scope for corporate interests. Plenty of opportunity for product placement and name dropping.
You can even present your corporate paymasters as benevolent beings who are concerned with "Raising awareness" of obesity or embarrassing body issues or some other such nonsense.
Not to mention the revenue generated by the morons who text in to vote at €2 a pop.

In almost all cases It requires absolutely no talent and very little original thought.

You have to hand it to the creeps who produce this muck. They really turned television production on it's head.
It brings the stone soup parable to mind.

The Parish Priest.

Does anyone know why RTE give that dr Eva Orsmond one so much airtime to push her personal agendas ?

Sam Russell

The Parish Priest. wrote: »

Does anyone know why RTE give that dr Eva Orsmond one so much airtime to push her personal agendas ?

Because she can dance?

Maybe not.

Stasi 2.0

political analyst wrote: »

From what I've read, I gather that the quality of TV programming was more high-brow until the late 1990s).

Plenty of muck back then too. The overwhelming majority of broadcast TV programming has always been aimed at those with a level of intellect approaching that of the average slug but nowadays the proliferation of channels has made anything more uplifting harder to find as it is spread more thinly across an increacing number of outlets.

Sam Russell

Stasi 2.0 wrote: »

Plenty of muck back then too. The overwhelming majority of broadcast TV programming has always been aimed at those with a level of intellect approaching that of the average slug but nowadays the proliferation of channels has made anything more uplifting harder to find as it is spread more thinly across an increacing number of outlets.

The difference is that they now have the target average slug staring in the programme. Who thought of the format - 'Goggle Box' where I believe the viewer watches some viewers watching some BS programme? Now that is garbage.

[I have never watched it so it might be about something else entirely]

political analyst

Sam Russell wrote: »

The difference is that they now have the target average slug staring in the programme. Who thought of the format - 'Goggle Box' where I believe the viewer watches some viewers watching some BS programme? Now that is garbage.

[I have never watched it so it might be about something else entirely]

I'm aware that Gogglebox involves people who comment on various TV programmes, e.g. soaps, drama, news bulletins. I don't watch it but, from what I know, not all of the programmes that the participants watch are BS.

Elmo

It's really down to popularity. Soaps, sitcoms and Drama where in higher demand from the early part of TV history. Remember up to the 1970s ABC,CBS and NBC had a long running western TV show. In the late 70s until the early 1990s the all has some take on Dallas. From the early 1990s they all stepped up to the likes of ER, X-Files, the practice etc by the early 2000s they were milking franchises of L&O, CSI and dreadful Grey's Anatomy type shows.

English channels were wall to wall soap from 2000 to 2010, Coro St move to 5eps, eastenders to 4, Emmers to 6, the bill, heartbeat, casualty, holy city, holly oaks, crossroads, family affairs, brookside, I mean the list was endless... even Heartbeat Today!

That coupled with the rise of the reality talent show and big brother type show and there celebrity versions. Come Dine With Me, 4 in a bed, and so on

That's not to say TV doesn't make some classics like a Prime Suspect, Love/Hate and The wire. Hill street blues, Strumpet City, Sherlock.

I don't like all the show mentioned above.

Capt'n Midnight

political analyst wrote: »

Why are so many people in the UK and Ireland watching these shows these days? (Examples of Irish reality shows are Ireland's Fittest Family and Operation Transformation)

Why have people's TV-viewing preferences become dumbed down? (From what I've read, I gather that the quality of TV programming was more high-brow until the late 1990s).

And the public wants what the public gets

But I don't get what this society wants
I'm going underground (going underground)
- Paul Weller. - nearly 30 years ago.

It's cheap TV, no script, no rehearsals, could probably even do it without cameramen or editors by using motion detector or sound triggered camera changes.

Besides anyone who doesn't like it can "go underground" and watch hundreds of other live channels, time shift recordings and other media or post on threads about such things.


For a long time the great unwashed didn't have TV or much spending money for advertisers so they weren't catered for as much as now.
http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/rtv-shutting-up-shop-after-40-years-on-main-street-27659027.html

For years RTV (the name derived from Radio and Television Rentals) has been a virtual institution in the town, renting TVs and later videos to people at times when many couldn't afford to buy them outright.

Also thanks to the interweb things like Open University no longer get transmitted late at night. [Rant about BBC3]

BBC4 and Radio 4 still have some interesting stuff though.

political analyst

Elmo wrote: »

English channels were wall to wall soap from 2000 to 2010, Coro St move to 5eps, eastenders to 4, Emmers to 6, the bill, heartbeat, casualty, holy city, holly oaks, crossroads, family affairs, brookside, I mean the list was endless... even Heartbeat Today!

Actually, it was The Royal Today, a modern-day spin-off from The Royal, which itself was a spin-off from Heartbeat.

Hibrasil

REALITY TV is the cheapest form on programming - it does not reflect anything about culture etc...just headbangers headbanging...... simulated voyerism on the box...goodnight!!!:(:(:(:(