Reality TV: Is that really all there is on TV now?
The first reality TV series was in 1983 when HBO broadcast An American Family Revisited: The Louds, 10 Years Later. The series would go on to inspire the MTV reality television series The Real World.
In 2003, PBS broadcast the show Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family, shot in 2001, visiting the family again at the invitation of Lance before his death.
When did reality TV first become popular?
I
t seems recent, but precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s.
One well-known hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone June 28, 1947.
A year later, the well-known Candid Camera confronted people with funny, unusual situations and filmed with a hidden camera. The groundbreaking show first aired in 1948, and is often seen as a prototype of reality TV programming.
Now the list goes on. We’ve got American Idol, Survivor, the Kardashians, Big Brother – I could go on, if you want. But one question keeps coming up for me: Where’d the “old-fashioned” scripted series go?
What about the shows that entertained us in our younger years – whether we watched them on Nick-at-Nite or we saw them in the original lineups? Shows like I Dream of Jeannie, The Incredible Hulk, One Day at a Time and Miami Vice? What about Dallas, I Love Lucy or even the old TGIF lineup that started with Full House?
My Two Cents: Let’s talk.
Has reality TV taken over our televisions? Will our kids grow up differently because of today’s programming? Just My 2 Cents: I say we bring back the old shows – what about you?
Okay, you’ve heard my two cents! Now let me have yours – tell me what you think in the comments section, below.
