Reality television is often disregarded when the conversation of quality television is brought up, and although in a plainly traditional sense of the term I would tend to agree, that reality Television provides a level of entertainment and community that other programs fail to come close to.
We are currently enjoying the ‘golden age’ of television, with notable programs such as The Sopranos and The Wire changing the very way in which television as a medium was perceived, gone were the days of light entertainment with weak writing and cheap production values, because it seemed as though television would undergo a radical transformation as the 21st century raged on. Whilst this was mostly true, with quality programming consistently being made across many channels and with various audiences in mind, seen in such programs as Mad Men and Mr Robot.
In the era of quality television many shows that were typically reserved for public television channels moved over to paid channels and subscriptions, due to this one genre quickly rose to consistently be in the primetime timeslot, in America especially this ‘doubled from 20 percent in 2001 to a staggering 40 percent in 2013’(Misha Kavka (2018 p.6). This genre of course, being reality television. Whilst I don’t often watch shows such as MAFS or Love Island I do however, love to watch old episodes and clips of shows such as Kitchen Nightmares, Hotel Hell and Shark Tank because of the pure entertainment value, the programs never attempt to be high art because the producers know what works best for the viewership of the programs.
The impact of reality tv continues to echo across ‘online in forums, can be seen through web comments, blogs, vlogs and various social media platforms’. (Deller, Ruth A, (2019) p 153.) long after their original airing. What this ultimately proves is that reality television's lasting legacy is in the social aspect that these shows provide in a different way to those of more traditional aforementioned programming.
Deller, Ruth A, (2019) Extract: 'Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media' Download 'Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media' in Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World (Emerald Publishing).
Misha Kavka (2018) ‘Reality TV: Its contents and discontents’, Download ‘Reality TV: Its contents and discontents’,Critical Quarterly 60(4): 5-18; DOI: 10.1111/criq.12442
