Page 449 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| Real ty Telev s on

Wants to Marry a Multi-millionaire?, derided by critics as a new low in television. The pro-
gram was essentially a beauty contest in which 50 women competed for a marriage proposal
from a millionaire whose identity was only revealed at the end of the contest. Another FOX
product that sparked outrage was Who’s Your Daddy?, cancelled after its first episode. An
adopted woman faced 25 men, each of whom claimed to be her biological father. Her objec-
tive was to discern this person via interviews. If she did so, both would win prize money, but
if she picked the incorrect man, he would take the prize. The use of torture-like challenges
(such as those in Fear Factor) has caused consternation among critics and audiences. The
Chair and The Chamber premiered within a week of each other in 2002, and each depicted
contestants undergoing extreme environmental disturbances testing their endurance of ex-
ternal stimuli for money. A few years later, a humorous version of this format found expres-
sion in Distraction, a quiz show that gave contestants easy questions while they underwent
painful or humiliating tests (clothespins on the face, getting pummeled by food items, put in
a box with insects). In the United Kingdom, however, torture took on a more serious political
tone with 2005’s controversial The Guantanamo Guidebook, which re-created interrogation
scenes from Camp X-Ray. Finally, Welcome to the Neighborhood was a game show in which
white conservative suburban residents judged which of the competing families was to win a
dream house in their cul-de-sac. Among the family applicants: Hispanic, pagan, gay, African
American, tattooed, and Korean. The show’s trailers and promotional material were so in-
cendiary that the series never made it to the air.

EConomiCs

The 1980s saw a number of economic developments that set the stage for
the rise of reality TV. The growth of cable and satellite technology created more
video outlets for programming. At the same time, production costs were in-
creasing (especially for directors, professional writers, and celebrity actors). To
increase profits, networks and production companies cut back on labor costs. In
response, a wave of strikes by numerous entertainment industry unions threw
the industry into crisis. In 1988, a 22-week writers’ strike delayed the opening
of the fall season. Meanwhile, programming that did not rely on professional
writers remained unscathed. In addition, the astronomical success of Ameri-
ca’s Funniest Home Videos in the early 1990s proved that nonscripted, cheap,
audience-supplied content could be popular and profitable. Reality TV emerged,
then, partially as a cost-cutting strategy.
Ten years later, reality TV proved that it could create blockbusters as well.
Survivor creator Mark Burnett devised marketing and production strategies that
transformed the economics of television. Television’s basic pre-Survivor business
model involved a network investing in a production company’s program from
the outset, taking most of the risk in hopes of big returns in future advertising.
Burnett’s model was this: he would pre-sell sponsorship of the program (e.g.,
getting Doritos to pay to place its product as one of the contestant’s rewards),
taking on more of the risk at the beginning. Then, because the network invested
little at the beginning, he was able to keep much more of any future ad revenue.