
Let’s say you’re at home, seated on the couch in front of his new plasma TV, and have a few hours to kill. You begin to search for something on television, and find a program where people are eating a mixture of worms and beetles, for the opportunity to earn $ 50 000. On channel after channel programs that you see truckers driving through treacherous snowy roads of Alaska, or people who tell others what not to wear, or a crab fisherman facing a huge storm. When, exactly, reality shows have become so popular on TV in the U.S. and Brazil? And finally, as people develop these ideas – and to what extent these programs are truly real?
The reality TV shows have their origins in the remote gambling programs on radio and in programs for freshmen, and passed by programs that use hidden cameras and television series in documentary style. The genus now includes dramas without script, sagas of total reform of a person or house, attacks on celebrities, programs that promote changes in lifestyle, finding boyfriends and girlfriends, and every kind of competition you can imagine (and some unimaginable ). In the 2007 season, the big TV networks and cable in the United States offered more than 12 reality shows in their prime times. At any hour of the night, you can watch “The Biggest Loser,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Real World,” “I Love New York”, “Beauty and the Geek,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Ultimate Fighter,” “The Bachelor,” “Run’s House” or “Project Runway” – to name just a few examples of the genre.
By definition, reality shows are, in essence, programs without a script that does not employ actors and focus on images of real events or situations. This type of program often employs a presenter to tell the story or set the stage for the dramas that happen. Unlike programs such as scripted series, novels and newspapers, the reality shows do not rely on writers and actors, and much of the process is led by a team of producers and publishers. Because of this, the format can be quite expensive in terms of production – and that is why in the U.S. TV networks are rushing to raise their number of reality shows, before the writers’ strike of Writers Guild of America .
The aspect that defines the reality show is probably the way they are written. Whether they happen in real locations with real people (like a documentary), are recorded in the studio audience involved with the program or use hidden cameras, reality shows depend on what the cameras capture everything as it happens. In this article, learn about what are the reality shows today, when they became so popular and if they are indeed so “real” as they claim. But first, let’s see how it all began.







