Assignment 1-4: Weekly Written Analysis 1

Reality Television Shows
According to Wikipedia the definition for a reality show is a type of program that is said to be produced with everyday people instead of professional actors and without a traditional script. What draws the audience is the absolute sensationalism and drama between the characters participating in different situations (Wikipedia, 2010). Those situations include a wide range of topics such as dating, cooking, home makeover, millionaire wives, losing weight, catching criminals, revealing unfaithful love partners, swapping wives, unruly children, unruly pets, ghosts, modeling, fashion design, dancing, singing, racing, being fired, and people with way too many children.
Reality shows are made in several different styles. The “fly on the wall” is a type of voyeuristic view of the every day activities inside a residence or job. A “docudrama” is a pre-planned situation show that resembles a soap opera, and the “cinema verte” style uses specialized camera and sound techniques and sometimes uses the camera to provoke the participants. (Wikipedia, 2010).
The obsession with Reality TV shows is has exploded and is still growing. Reality TV Magazine gives updates for over 200 reality shows daily (Reality TV Magazine, 2010), and there are more reality shows in the works including “America’s Next American”. (Seriously??)
Ratings and viewership for this genre are astonishing. According to an article in News-Leader.com, for the week of March 22-28, the top reality shows and their viewership statistics are: “American Idol” 24.21 million viewers, (Tuesday), “American Idol” 24.11 million (Wednesday), “Dancing with the Stars” 24.19 million, “Undercover Boss” 16.72 million, and “Amazing Race” had 12.21 million viewers (Moore, 2010)
Although there is controversy about the unreal environments, questionable editing, and blatant staging, reality television shows will be around for a while, even if the Salahis will be featured on “The real Housewives of D.C.”.

References
Moore, F. (2010). Hoops and reality shows help CBS win ratings week. The Associated Press [On-line article]. Available: http://www.news-leader.com/article20100401/ENTERTAINMENT10/4010337/1005/RSS04
Wikipedia, (2010) Retrieved April 1, 2010 from the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_television.
Reality TV Magazine, (2010) Retrieved April 1, 2010 from the website http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/
Real Television, (2010) Retrieved April 1, 2010 from the website http://www.realtelevision.net/?topic=simple_life