Defining 'Reality Television'

How does Hill define reality TV? 

Hill summarizes that there isn’t “one definition” of reality TV, but the shows contributing to the genre share things in common, and thus all fall into the umbrella term of “Reality TV.” The genre has it’s roots in documentary programming, talk shows, leisure and instructional shows, game shows, and soap opera, and is kind of a hybrid love-child of the lot of them, as well as a few others.

It is not uncommon for Reality TV to make use of handycam, and “diary cam” confessionals, such as those seen in shows like Big Brother, as well as hidden/candid camera, as if to give the effect that you are able to look in on the lives of others who are not aware they are being filmed and thus must be going about their lives in an unstaged, unscripted fashion. Hill also makes the point that Reality TV doesn’t use professional actors, (unless it’s like a celebrity edition of something like Survivor or whatever. Assuming they have those), or scripts. In fact, you’re not supposed to think of them as actors, to give the illusion they’re just normal people, in a slightly abnormal (depending on the show) setting, just going about their day, who happen to be being filmed for entertainment.

I know that in the show, Jersey Shore, which tries so hard to make you believe it isn’t staged/scripted, the housemates were placed under strict rules, such as that they were never allowed to look at the cameras, or interact with the crew. The cameras were not hidden, but the cast had to act as if they were on candid camera. No cellphones, television, or computers were allowed, their only connection to their family and friends outside of the setting was a tapped phone, and they were not allowed to leave the house or company of the crew unless given permission (It’s really no wonder at all that the show is just a house full of drunks, they weren’t allowed to do much else). While the show may not have been scripted exactly, it was certainly staged.

Reality TV works on the audience’s suspension of belief, and the assumption that the television would never lie to them. Hill states that ‘reality’ programming has “blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction,” and I honestly agree with that. Reality TV depicts false realities, and could be say is just as fictional as any soap opera, from ring-side, spectator seats, whether it be with handycam, video confessional, ignored film crews, or hidden cameras, giving the viewer the sense they are genuinely observing an uncensored, unscripted, honest life unfold before them.

References:

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. 

Oxon: Routledge.