Popularity of Television Reality

Television reality came into the prominence during the early 1990s and is genre of television programming that has the capacity to document real-life situations. Moreover, television reality shows are becoming much popular and the people cannot resistant watching a reality show (Keane & Zhang, 2017). The purpose of this essay is to determine the significant reasons for the popularity of the reality shows.

One of the prominent reasons for the popularity of television shows is that it has become part of daily life of people and often it has become the household commodity. It is therefore hard to avoid on the daily basis. People find reality show as relatable and family friendly. It has become popular in context with the culture and has provided hours of entertainment for the whole family (Lei, 2019). Also, it creates a willingness to be successful when they see other people happy and successful on television. It also creates the tendency when people can avoid problems through seeing the sufferings of others as own worries become insignificant. An example of family reality show can be seen from American Idol in which creates the competitive spirit. People use voting power to support the contestants in the show. Also, by doing this, people make their dreams alive as they can decide on who will sing next day.

The second reason of popularity of reality shows is that it can create idealism and makes the viewers adopt the lifestyle of celebrities through the media exposure. People sit and fantasize themselves as celebrities. There are social norms attached to it as reality shows makes the people fit into the modern lifestyle. The reality shows such as “The Real World” has got a lot of popularity due to the airing of 32 seasons and it had multiple spin-offs. Additionally, there are reality shows which develop the popular culture such as “Survivor” and “Jersey Shore”. In this way people build the plastic characters which they see on TV and develop a love for the luxurious lifestyle. This has becoming popular in adults in which people buy expensive and fashionable clothes trying to imitate their ideals (Lane, 2019). These shows are often regarded as the popular motivational ones which can encourage people to create a difference in life. It also generates the tendency of the people to attain stardom and living their dream life.

Another reason for the increase in the popularity of the reality shows is the desire of the people to intrude and see the private and embarrassing moments which is driven by voyeuristic desire. Apart from this, there are reality shows that portray women as idealizing the beauty and slimness (Kadam, Saraf, Dewadkar, & Chate , 2017). This gives an impression to the people who value to beauty. This can be seen from the example of popular reality show America’s Next Top Model which encourages women to participate in the modelling agreement. These kinds of shows are popular amongst the people and often people make it an everyday habit to watch each and every episode.  Besides, drama is what makes people stick to the reality shows as it creates curiosity for the people to know about the personal life of others.

In conclusion, it can be said that reality shows are popular because of the personal habits and interests of the people wherein the reality shows create the willingness to participate and make enjoyment. Some of the reality shows show empathy and sympathy for the other people. This is correlated with family’s participation in watching the TV reality shows.   

References

Kadam, T., Saraf, G., Dewadkar, V., & Chate , P. (2017). TV Show Popularity Prediction using Sentiment Analysis in Social Network. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(11).

Keane, M., & Zhang, J. (2017). Where are we going? Parent–child television reality programmes in China. Media, Culture & Society, 39(5), 630-643.

Lane, T. (2019). Get her off my screen: taste-based discrimination in a high-stakes popularity contest. Oxford Economic Papers, 71(2), 548-563.

Lei, W. (2019). Encountering Chinese Modernity: The Emerging Popularity of Chinese Television Drama in East Africa. Stichproben. Vienna Journal of African Studies, 36, 27-50.