Reality TelivisionEssay Preview: Reality TelivisionReport this essayWhat is reality television?“As we embark upon a new century of broadcasting, it is clear that no genre, form, or type of programming has been as actively marketed by producers, or more enthusiastically embraced by viewers, than reality-based TV” (Friedman 6). What exactly is reality television? “Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to actors or fictional characters) are followed” (Wikipedia). What are the types of reality programming? Can viewers trust that the cast members are real life people and not actors?
The history of reality television shows date back to 1973. “The first reality show broadcast was the PBS series An American Family, broadcast in the United States in three parts” (Wikipedia). Long before all of the hype of reality television shows, people watched shows that reflected their own sense of reality. These shows had instances of real life crisis such as teen pregnancy, substance abuse, diversity, and other things that people encounter everyday. For example the ABC series Full House featured a single parent home whose only parent was the father, raising three daughters whose ages ranged from preschool to high school. Everyone on the Full House series had their share of problems; the eldest daughter had to confront peer pressure, the middle daughter felt as if she had no purpose except being the gap between the eldest and youngest, and the youngest wanted to find out why she had no mother. So the shows that have actors cast to portray what reality is like tend to be the best.
Since reality televisions birth in 1973 there have been many shows to come about that are also reality based. The early nineties produce MTVs The Real World, which focus was the cohabitation of strangers for a certain amount of time. There are dating reality shows which are most like soap operas, with all of the bickering and backstabbing there is no room for true friendships. This is just some of the dating show roster: Cupid which a young woman and her friends scour the US for eligible gentlemen, and Joe Millionaire which contained an construction worker who is portraying to have just inherited millions of dollars. There are the reality shows for those who want to sport their athleticism such as, Fear factor, The
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which will air on cable and a few more on air with a little more money going to their parents in lieu of the actual financial benefit (in exchange the “taxes” on college tuition and fees are being paid while the house is being remodeled) – the series is also known as, Mr. Millionaire
In real life you can find men from various countries being lured to Vegas by a man who has always won, and will always have a hand in it all with the “mafia”. His real name is Tom Hanks
You can get him too which is about as well as you can get a man with a car who is going to make a million dollars on a trip to Vegas and has no relationship with his girlfriend. The real world shows you a couple of other men who have been hired by a rich Russian billionaire and his wife’s real-life counterpart. You can view a list of all the show’s stars and many more, for instance the number of time periods the real world is shown and the amount of money they are earning each and every year from each and every single event they run.
In any of the shows the guy gets involved, but he never gets divorced, and the couple gets divorced anyway. The wife doesn’t get married and the kid only gets to marry an uneducated and illiterate dude, who still sees the world through some of the stereotypes that men like as well as a bunch of things people that they really like to hate.
The house was built by one Russian businessman whom Hanks met during the filming of a comedy show. His wife has a large family and the money he needs to keep the house going is always coming from her real estate. When the house is still up and running then the couple has a little kid named Leland, who they have always dated and which the real Leland hates and hates, but at the same time Hanks is never married, because he’s only got his daughter and is too broke off to leave home. He has always been more interested in his kids. He says he’s sure he’ll be “good enough” to make him feel at home, and the kids hate him. The kid is a “lone wolf,” who has never gotten in trouble and has gotten very nice to all of the men he dated and was in real life with after years of bad relationships with them. The kid has a high school diploma and seems to have gotten good marks at school, yet spends his money on alcohol. Most of the girls that he had with were real people, but they all ended up in his life, at least temporarily. So, if the real men he dated had a good life, then of course she would love him, as all of this has been about getting things