How have game shows influenced reality TV?
The most popular form of reality television today involve winners and losers, and a nice bundle of millions at the end. Reality tv has embraced the game show format and extended its general idea. We see Survivor, the most obvious comparison with a game show, forcing all kinds of tasks on its contestants, the only way to differentiate it with a regular game show is its setting and duration. I shall explore this idea further now.
Gamedocs (as they are referred to) began with The Spelling Bee in 1938 but the first commercially broadcast show was Truth or Consequences in 1941 (Wikipedia, 2011). The latter originally began as a radio show before moving to television. These early shows utilized the concept of everyday contestants using intellectual skill to win prizes, however Truth or Consequences began to involve many stunts. Who’s Line is it Anyway, which New York Times has revealed to be Britain’s most successful export in thirty years (Hills, 2005), is a show that elaborates the “everyday contestant” idea. We see that possible contestants are introduced and randomly chosen, then Chris Tarrant (the British host) spends at least 5 minutes asking questions, which he continually refers back to throughout their moment of fame. There are constant shots of family members in the audience, and the “Phone A Friend” tool helps to position the contestant as just a regular viewer, like you and me. It always used to annoy me, this constant chatter, but I can see now that it is actually a clever ploy to encourage this notion.
Game shows often took an intellectual stance over the silly. This was changed in 1946 with People Are Funny, which contestants won prizes for how funny they were. This idea has been used in several “impromptu” shows like Who’s Line Is It Anyway. However, this is a common facet of reality television, where there is the underlying assumption that all is adlibbed and spontaneous (Mittell 2004 p. 37).
Game shows have also begun to take a rather negative position towards the contestants. We can see this with The Weakest Link, which was first broadcast in 2000 in Britain (Wikipedia, 2011). The host is notoriously mean and is known for making fun of the contestants. After each round, there are questions/answers and general banter. Contestants are forced to work together but then to separate, and often many play dirty. The prize money is much smaller on this show, giving a greater number of possible contestants for each screening. This idea of dividing the contestants can be seen in Big Brother, Temptation Island and the like.
Today, many reality shows push the extremities for contestants. This is an idea that began in Japanese game shows (Couldry, 2004) such as Gaki no Tsukai! This show often forced situations such as kissing strangers and other crazy stunts, which was later picked up in shows like Survivor, but most notably taken further in Fear Factor and Distraction. Couldry (2004) writes “the myth that in the face of extreme physical challenges, especially those requiring team collaboration (however artificially constructed), an important aspect of human reality is shown”.
To conclude, we can see that game shows have influenced and are still an important part of reality television today. This is interesting as reality tv does not interest me in the slightest, but I always have time for intellectual game shows. It is interesting that they follow the same structure and concept, and to see that the genre is intertwined. The evolution of game shows from the standard question/answer format, to the silly and the obscene, and now to extreme life situations is a staggering rise. We can see that reality television – no matter what form it takes – is really just an extension of the game show.
REFERENCE LIST
Couldry, N (2004). Reality TV, or the Secret Theater of Neoliberalism. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 30:1 (January–March 2008), p. 1.
Hill, A. (2005) The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge
Mittel, J (2004). Reflections on reality relevision (p.94). Routeledge: New York.
Truth or Consequences, October 8, 2011. Retrieved 18 October, 2011 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences
Weakest Link, October 8, 200. Retrieved 18 October, 2011 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weakest_Link
Helen you are right about the fact that game shows have highly influenced reality tv. Most of the shows on tv are game shows and though they may be called reality shows but actually they are highly influenced by game shows. Audience have also developed interest in watching game shows, infact they are more interested in watching games shows rather than reality tv.
ReplyDeleteI get really distracted by the term 'reality tv'. To me, reality tv is Keeping Up With the Kardashians and The Hills. I never think to include game shows - to me they are subgenre all on their own. I agree, audiences prefer to watch game shows however in recent years reality tv (what I call R.T.) has really taken off. What is the reason for this? To be honest, i cant think of anything worse then sitting through more than half an hour of the E channel (where they mostly seem to screen) however i love quiz shows. I think i prefer the appeal of game shows because there is a chance for my own interaction i.e i can sit at home and answer the questions (and imagine myself winning the prize ... if i ever had the balls to enter!) whereas reality television now - even though borrowing game show formula - are onesided.
ReplyDeleteExcellent response Helen - I especially like your concluding paragraph. Your comment above also raises some interesing issues.
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