History of Reality TV Shows

MTV claims with pride that they invented the reality show format with The Real World, which first aired on the network in 1992. Interesting that anyone would want to take the blame (credit) for this particular format of television. But aside from the fact that MTV is now filled, wall to wall, with reality shows, it was not that network that invented the format. Reality shows have been around since the invention of television. One that even predated television was a 1947 radio show called Candid Microphone where pranks were played on unsuspecting victims and their response recorded on a hidden microphone. Bringing the idea to television producer Allen Funt hid a camera as well and began planning physical pranks, such as a phone booth rigged so that a small spray of water shot out of the mouthpiece of the phone. The phone rang an an unsuspecting victim would answer it. During a conversation with Funt on the other end he would pretend to sneeze and then spray the victim who would then complain to Funt that he had sprayed them, regardless of the impossibility of sending spit through a phone line. It was not the pranks that were funny but the different reactions Funt got from the people being pranked. Eventually Candid Camera would lead to other prank reality shows including T.V.'s Bloopers and Practical Jokes, Punked! and Jackass.

Around the same time Allen Funt created Candid Camera television was dominated by reality programming. One of the more popular was the cooking show where a chef would demonstrate in a half hour how to cook an exotic meal, aided by the meal cooked in advance sitting in a separate oven. Julia Child's The French Chef became the most popular of these shows although debuting a good decade later in 1962. Jack LaLanne began his long running exercise show instructing viewers how to keep in shape. While most reality shows were basically instructional, it was the scientist named Don Herbert who went by the name Mr. Wizard who demonstrated to kids how to perform scientific experiments using common household items and liquids found in the kitchen, then explained the science behind what was happening during the experiment. For the longest time reality programming was budgeted to take place in a television studio, but by the 1960's it had moved outdoors. This began with the Disneyland television series in the 50's producing episodes featuring films of nature and continued with specials made by the National Geographic Society. By the 60's there was The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau where the famous ocean explorer would make a series of specials documenting his dives. On a weekly basis there was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom where show co-host Jim Fowler often encountered dangerous animals in the wild, this predating Crocodile Hunter by three decades.

In the '70s PBS continued to expand the boundaries of reality programming with the 12-part series An American Family. Much like The Osbournes three decades later, An American Family had a camera crew following around and documenting the Loud family of California. They were suppose to represent the typical American family and had no previous celebrity status. Unlike later reality shows where producers got involved arranging for the subjects to be involved in activities designed to entertain the viewers An American Family simply followed the Loud's around and chronicled their life as it was, which was not to say it wasn't exciting. During the series one of the son's came out of the closet and admitted he was a homosexual while towards the end of the series the mother filed for a divorce and ordered the husband out of the house, this predating Jon and Kate's messy divorce by 15 years. The 70's was also the decade PBS introduced the still long running This Old House where original hosts and carpenters Bob Vila and Norm Abram repaired a dilapidated run down house in Boston. Planed as only a one shot 13 part series Bob, Norm and other hosts would go on to refurbish dozens of other run down houses as the series remained on television for 30 years.

About the only thing that sets MTV's The Real World apart from these series is that they were intelligent and tended to be educational. But MTV does not even get the credit for creating the first dumb reality show. That goes to Oceanquest which aired on NBC in 1985. A planned expedition by oceanographers that would involve several dives ranging from the south pole to the Caribbean needed to be financed. Looking for investors in the project the crew thought of having the dives filmed and sold as a documentary or possible television series for PBS. NBC agreed to the project with a provision, that they bring along pin up model Shawn Weatherly. Much like shows such as The Simple Life would portray a couple of decades later Oceanquest's entertainment value came from watching the clueless Weatherly interacting with the scientists on the same vessel. Part of the rules was that every time the crew went on a dive that had to bring Shawn along, and on at least two occasions she prematurely returned to the ship in tears, once because some sharks had shown up frightening her, and once during a polar dive because she found the ocean too cold. Despite Shawn Weatherly's obvious underqualifications to be included on a scientific expedition the producers downplayed her inadequacies and edited the show to be as close to a respectable science series as possible. Shawn would go on to be cast in the first season of Baywatch when it was originally on NBC, but her character would be killed off in a shark attack a dozen episodes onto the season when producers were looking for something shocking to boost the ratings.

The 90's was about the time The Real World entered the picture. But while MTV claimed it kicked off the reality show genre in fact the only ones interested in making a knock-off series was MTV who followed it up with Road Rules. In fact reality television went into a decline shortly following The Real World's debut. Even semi-reality style programming like T.V.'s Bloopers and Practical Jokes and Unsolved Mysteries were leaving the airwaves. The closest thing to reality programming debuting outside of MTV was Americas Funniest Home Videos on ABC. The show responsible for bringing back the reality show was itself not actually a reality show. Who Wants to be a Millionaire originated in the U.K. and in 1999 an American version hosted by Regis Philbin aired during the prime time. It became such a huge hit that ABC began airing new episodes four times a week. Other networks rushed into production their own prime time game shows including another import The Weakest Link. Producer mark Bernett pitched an American version of the Swedish game show Expedition Robinson where contestants were marooned on an island and each week voted off one of their own until two were left. Changing the name of this show to Survivor Burnett brought the show to CBS where it became a phenomenon. Since it was shot in reality show style it kicked off a new phenomenon, reality programming that did not necessarily need to have any game show elements.

Survivor was quickly followed by many other reality shows were each week a contestant was voted off. This ranged from Fox's American Idol to NBC's The Apprentice with Donald Trump. Most of these shows were adaptations of already existing foreign shows such as Big Brother, while there were a few original ideas such as The Amazing Race. While celebrity versions of these shows were discussed almost immediately the idea of a celebrity based reality show not involving a game originated with radio host Howard Stern who on many occasions suggested that a camera crew should follow frequent guests Ozzy Osbourne and his family around, the resulting footage which would make a great television show. Someone at MTV heard this and stole the idea along with the Osbournes. This was followed by Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and was soon followed by several other cheaply made reality shows featuring celebrities. The most successful was Fox's The Simple Life which followed Paris Hilton an friend Nicole Richie as they worked on the farm in the first season and traveled across country in a camper attempting to make traveling money doing odd jobs for the second season. Celebrities crossed into game show territory with Dancing With the Stars followed by other less successful celebrity based competition shows. Another variation on the reality show was the prank series. Based on the success of The Bachelor,Joe Millionaire had female contestants competing for the attention of what they though was a rich man but turned out to be a truck driver. The Joe Schmo Show had a single contestant who did not realize that the other contestants were all actors and the show had been rigged. Yet another version of reality television was pure lovable junk. Fear Factor had contestants eating bugs and doing frightening stunts designed to get them to quit prior to the end of the show. More recently ABC's summer show Whipeout has contestants attempting to run through impossible obstacle coursed designed to have them take a violent plunge into the water below.

While clearly reality television has taken over MTV, VH1, MTV2, and nearly all the other once music video channels and has dominated original cable programming it has not really deprived network television of scripted shows as once feared. Networks tend to air them during either the summer months or later in their season after they had canceled most of their underperforming programs. Very few reality shows premier in the fall which is when the balk of the scripted programing has their premieres. While reality programming can be cheaply produced there is little grantee they will get any ratings. After all, television made the move from the reality based programming of the 1940's and 50's to more expensive scripted shows because they got more ratings. Ultimately when producers run out of ideas for new reality shows and when all the minor celebrities have made fools of themselves there will nothing original left to air. Very few reality shows have the shelf life of Survivor. Many fizzle out after a couple of seasons and are long forgotten.