Grid Effect

According to some poll via the BBC, of all the vile reality television personalities, Simon Cowell is the most heinous. Which is saying something, but I’m pretty certain a list with this same premise was recently built, but it didn’t have song and dance judges included in the field. Which brings me to the question, what exactly qualifies as “reality television”? Is it just unscripted? The entertainers are either unpaid or competing for a prize? Because as far as we can tell, American Idol is nothing more than a glorified talent show.

There is little interaction between the contestants, there isn’t any sort of day-to-day portrayal of how anyone lives, and even if there was, it would have a negligible impact on the final result.  Basically it is people singing pop songs, then lowly observers casting votes as to whom they preferred.  As far as I can tell, that’s more of a game show than a reality show.

I suppose you could make the same claim about Survivor, in that they are competing for a grand prize and no one would be there otherwise. One, I think the second point is debatable. And two, the fact that they are interacting and amongst the same group of strangers for thirty-nine days and are forced to deal with all the baggage that comes along with that, makes it a reality series. They’re basically coworkers with similar goals, just on a limited time table.

If you didn't know, this woman was obviously on Wife Swap

But American Idol earns the title because, as far as I can tell, it is devoid of actors or professional entertainers (sans the judges and host). Which is an insanely vague qualifier. What exactly makes American Idol reality television and not Jeopardy? The fact it comes in seasons? Its mass appeal or it’s on in prime time? None of these reasons exactly scream “reality” to me.

Basically it’s a genre that it seems everyone has a different definition for. If you were to ask us, it must include the following guidelines:

-Daily and virtually unavoidable interaction between contestants/participants.

-Unscripted depiction of events over a series of time. This can include competitive events for a monetary or emotional reward.

-Limited sustenance and an abundance of alcohol so everyone is completely miserable.

-Borderline or full blown mentally unstable participants that make up at least 35% of the cast.

-A corporate commitment to making its show’s voluntary cast look as foolish as possible.

Throw these five components together, add some cameras, a satellite or cable feed and whatnot, and baby, you’ve got yourself a reality series goin’!

We might be back with something else before the day is through. If not, we’ll be back on Monday with a Generation Kill review. Also, Mad Men’s second season debuts on Sunday night at 10pm est. We’ll be par for the course with dramatic series once again, reviewing each episode the week day before the following episode airs, so expect that a week from today.