Reality Television

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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.

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And I’m Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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A man jumps across a broken bridge. Under him, there is a pool of brown water. On the other side, there is a long rope hanging above the water. Will he be able to climb the rope? Nearby, a crowd cheers him on. He is a contestant on the Japanese reality television program Sasuke. If he falls, the man will lose, and leave in shame. But if he continues on, he could achieve something few people have before. Only three other people in the world have completed every part of this competition. He will be a hero.

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Sasuke is a popular reality television program. Around the world there are thousands of reality television programs. Over a billion people watch them every week. All of the programs follow the same basic idea. They show real people in strange situations. But why are reality television programs so popular? Why do people watch them? Are they really real? Today’s Spotlight is on reality television.

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There are many different kinds of reality television programs. Some reality television programs follow wealthy women through their strange lives. Some show people competing to cook the best food. Some try to make a man and a woman fall in love. Others show people in situations that are not usually found in ‘real’ life.

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Big Brother is a reality television program from the Netherlands. In it, people watch what happens when a group of strangers live together. The people have never met before. But for the program, they live together for three months. And they cannot leave the house? Many other countries have their own version of the program Big Brother. The program follows the same general rules in every place. But parts of it change to make it better for one culture or another.

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But not all reality programs are meaningful in every country. National Firewood Night was a show produced in Norway. It was about cutting, storing, and drying wood. The program was 12 hours long! Almost 20 percent of Norway’s population watched the program. In other countries, people may not be very interested in how to cut wood. But Norway is a very cold place. And many people burn wood to heat their homes. The program was about the importance and meaning of making wood fires in Norway – a country of wood cutters. Derek Miller is an author who lives in Norway. In an interview with the New York Times, he said:

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“The sense of creating warmth, to share ideas, to share food, to share silence, is a very big part of what it is to be Norwegian.”

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But across countries and cultures, reality television is very popular. And there are a lot of different programs available. One reason for this is that reality television programs are easy to make. A traditional television program tells a written story. Each program requires writers, actors set designers and many other people to create it. It takes many months to make. Making reality television is still a creative process.  But each program requires fewer people and less time to produce. And many of these programs run for years without much change. Often, they are the same except for the people involved.

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Reality television also costs less money to make then scripted – or written – television. Professional writers and actors are expensive. But reality programs do not need either. And the people involved will often accept less money than professionals who work in television.

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But the people on reality television are often a big reason why people watch programs. These people are not acting out a part. They are regular normal people. They are just being themselves. But reality programs often put people in strange situations. Sometimes these situations change the way people act.  To see how a person changes is very interesting. But it also lets the people watching wonder how they would react. Watching reality programs lets people imagine they are in them!

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One of the reasons reality programs are so successful is because they are about real, normal life. But many people do not believe that they tell the truth. They hear stories from people who have competed in reality television. They say some of the results are not true. Or that the programs show people differently than they are. So, how real is reality television?

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Tory Devolld is an editor and producer for many reality programs. In an interview with the television website The A.V. Club, he explained that there are two stories in every reality television program. The first is the simple idea that the program is based on. A good example is a cooing show, where ten people compete to start their own business. The second is the story of what happens to those people. It is the story of how they relate to each other. For this second story, producers need a lot of film footage. They film for many months. The producers then decide what will be on television. This means that they can choose how to show what happened. Devolls says:

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“Like with any news story, it is about choosing what film to use. You choose what to throw away. You also choose what events to change. Timing of when things happen is a big thing in Reality TV. Over four months, you are trying to find six or eight scenes that relate to each other. You make a program out of that.”

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The word “real” may not be the best way to describe reality television. But for many people who watch reality programs, how truly real they are does not matter. These programs are just good television. Lynette Rice is a reporter for the magazine Entertainment Weekly. She says:

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“Reality programs remain more popular than ever because no one makes anything better. A lot of traditional television is just not as entertaining. No one has created a program that makes me laugh harder than I do at ‘The Bacvhelor’. So I will keep watching every time.”

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Are there reality television programs in your country? What programs do you like to watch? Tell us what you think! You can leave a comment on our website. Or email us at radio@radioenglish.net. And find us on Facebook at facebook.com/spotlightradio.

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The writer of this programme was Dan Christmann. The producer was Bruce Gulland. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this programme and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called ‘Reality Television’.

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You can also get our programmes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official ‘Spotlight English’ app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight programme.

Goodbye.

Question:

How real is reality television? Are there reality television programs in your country? What programs do you like to watch?