Tuesday 19 May 2009

Reality TV needs sub-genres

I think we need to start sub-categorising reality TV to distinguish one show from another. So You Think You Can Dance and Australian Idol are in a different class to Big Brother, and all three of them are different to The Biggest Loser. BB is voyeur TV, the reality equivalent of a soap opera and just as substantial. Dance and Idol are more along the lines of game shows, the main distinguishing factor being the live-in nature and voting. As for Loser, it's probably a step below that, where the competition is not about skill but character and achievement. I'd call it "competition TV" in the same league as arena game shows. Then there's "documentary TV" like The Recruits where there's no competition at all, but it has the "real people" factor.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The Wikipedia reality TV page states that documentaries are not typically considered reality TV.
PPS - I wonder if that's only certain kinds of documentary.

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