MTV's reality: The "reality" of reality televison

It's no secret that reality television isn't real, the public has come to accept that what they see isn't as uncensored or un-produced as it's intended to be. When reality TV first came on the scene it was the hottest thing since sliced bread, in some ways it still is. The show Cops brought everyday criminals into our homes, American Idol gets more votes than the presidential election, these shows are crazy popular and dominate the air waves.

MTV was a pioneer in the reality television market, with shows like The Real World, Road Rules, Luguna Beach, The Osbournes, just to name a few. Some of those listed above obey the unwritten reality TV law that says that, reality TV should be REAL. What does that mean? That means cameras should simply record what ever the subject is, not write out scenes or story lines.

If you notice all MTV reality shows have writing credits at the end of them. This doesn't literally mean that someone writes a script for the "reality stars" to read, it means the story is either written prior to filming or after (editing can drastically affect the story line). A good writer and editor could probably come up with 3 good story lines, for each episode, all with the same footage. To me, this takes away from the excitement of reality, if the stories are essentially being created whats real about that?

There are a few shows I'd like to highlight that seriously go against the LAWS of reality TV. The Hills is probably the biggest perpetrator, followed by Luguna Beach. It's important to note that these shows are produced by the same people/company, in fact, Liz Gately or Barnum Murray(sp) have a hand in almost every reality show that MTV airs. If you pay attention to an episode of "the hills" you'll notice every episode has the same format. The show is built around conversations with 2-4 people. Its obvious(to me) that the producers and writers design plots, tell the "actors" to talk about A, B and C and then film it. I think this format is most evident in the scenes with Heidi and Spencer; they both always act the same way(sarcasm, fake smiles, Spencer persuading Heidi, etc)

What MTV is missing from a lot of their reality shows is the third dimension. At this point the stars of "the hills" particularly Lauren Conrad, Brody, Spencer and Heidi are basically C list stars. Check the tabloids, TMZ.com they're all over that. They do interviews(for money), they profit off the show (directly and indirectly), why don't we see this though!? Because MTV takes away the 3rds dimension , they want to make it seem like the girls are normal, everyday people that only go out and gossip about boys. Notice how nothing ever interrupts the scene, interruptions would serve as the 3rd dimension.

In fairness, not all networks follow this same format of reality. Networks like Bravo and A&E have great programming that comes closer to reality then MTV or VH1 (viacom companies). To be fair to MTV they have their own shows that are less produced but fact is, none of those shows last very long.

So why write this article? Mostly because I was watching "the hills" and noticed how the show has become so produced the continuity of the shots are actually off (meaning they shoot things twice from different angles and they don't "match") and also because most of the reality shows on MTV are actually getting old. The shows that are in their 4th or 5th season are starting to get too repetitive for my taste and soon I wont be able to watch them.

I would write more but I have to do my homework before the real world and luguna beach,

iHUSTLE aka popGURU 1.0012313222