Reality TV love it or leave it
1.the first reality TV show in the world was called Expedition and it was shown in sweden in 1997. Half the population of the country watched the final episode and a new kind of TV programme was born. Two years later in Holland, the first series of Big Brother was filmed. Again, it was a fantastic success and the final programme was watched by 15 million people. There are now over 70 countries around the world which have had Big Brother, Survivor or something very similar on their TV screens. The ordinary people who take part in the programme are know by millions of people in their own countries and reality TV has become big, big Business.
2.For the TV producers, reality TV is a dream come true because many of the programmes cost nothing to make. At some point, the television viewers are asked to telephone the programme –to vote or to apply to take part in the show. It is the cost of these telephone calls that pays for the shows. One of the most popular shows is The X Factor (the programme is called different things in different countries). In the show, a group of attractive young people are made into pop stars. TV viewers vote for their favourite person on the show. The winner makes a record, his or her pictures are published on the covers of magazines, millions of copies of the record are sold and then … they are quickly forgotten.
3.But not everyone is happy about reality TV. In portugal, two TV channels got into trouble because they showed too much of the private lives of the people in shows. In france, reality TV is called ‘rubbish TV’ and the satudios of loft story (Big Brother) were attacked three times in one week. In Greece, Big Brother was described as ‘an insult to human rights and civilization’. But despite the problems, reality TV continues to do well in countries and it will be here for some time to come.
Big Brother, India