Reality shows

Reality television is a genre of television shows that are characterized by unscripted events going on in certain conditions. Reality shows are not something new in the history of television – even fifty years ago there were programs featuring ordinary people and with no definite plot (like talent search or some kinds of interviews). But in our days reality television is experiencing its new birth. Starting from 2000 such new shows like Survivor, The Big Brother, American Idol have been so successful among all audiences, especially among teenagers, that they have literally changed the industry. They appeared to be most rated on American television for whole seasons and gained millions of new admirers all over the world – for example the show Survivor was sold to other countries that wanted to watch it original, or the license was sold to the television companies that wanted to make the same Survivor but with new characters, often chosen among celebrities. Other types of reality shows are made exclusively with celebrities starring (the Osbournes).

There are now many subtypes of such shows on TV. At first they simply depicted the lives of ordinary people (who then surely became famous) under certain circumstances. The fun was just to watch these people who were just like you and were put in unusual circumstances (like the lack of food or a certain task they had to do). Then new variations appeared like gaming, elimination shows, self improvement, makeover, renovation, dating and many others.