Comments on: Pop culture phones home http://cultureby.com/2008/08/reality-program.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:43:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Seamus McCauley http://cultureby.com/2008/08/reality-program.html/comment-page-1#comment-1433 Seamus McCauley Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:50:54 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=235#comment-1433 The main problem I find with reality TV is that it offers so brutally sanitised a subset of reality that it's difficult to learn very much about our actual culture from it. Take the UK's RT cause celebre Big Brother. Every year it seems someone is thrown off the show for being racist (or at least for saying something that the programme makers apparently think is possibly racist). The learning from which, I think, is not that racism is unacceptable but that it is so widespread and commonplace amongst the general population that the contestants keep doing it on live TV even in the face of the knowledge that to do so invites more-or-less certain eviction. And yet an allegedly "reality" TV show cannot admit this. A version of reality with no racism is, of course, preferable to one rife with it: but it is manifest from the programme that this is not the reality we have, merely the one that is broadcast to us. (One might argue this is the only way in which reality TV is not real and everything else broadcast is an accurate reflection of British culture. It's possible of course, but I'm inclined to assume mediocrity.) The main problem I find with reality TV is that it offers so brutally sanitised a subset of reality that it’s difficult to learn very much about our actual culture from it. Take the UK’s RT cause celebre Big Brother. Every year it seems someone is thrown off the show for being racist (or at least for saying something that the programme makers apparently think is possibly racist).

The learning from which, I think, is not that racism is unacceptable but that it is so widespread and commonplace amongst the general population that the contestants keep doing it on live TV even in the face of the knowledge that to do so invites more-or-less certain eviction. And yet an allegedly “reality” TV show cannot admit this.

A version of reality with no racism is, of course, preferable to one rife with it: but it is manifest from the programme that this is not the reality we have, merely the one that is broadcast to us. (One might argue this is the only way in which reality TV is not real and everything else broadcast is an accurate reflection of British culture. It’s possible of course, but I’m inclined to assume mediocrity.)

]]> By: pat crane http://cultureby.com/2008/08/reality-program.html/comment-page-1#comment-1432 pat crane Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:46:54 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=235#comment-1432 KEVIN: I'm another fan of Kitchen Nightmares. I think it should be required watching for would-be consultants in MBA school! Ramsay does an unbelievable job of diagnosis, communication, rebuilding..... while having to deal with human psychology at its greatest and worst. Chris Elliott did great takeoff on KN on the Letterman show a while back -- went in to fix Le Bernardin in NYC! KEVIN: I’m another fan of Kitchen Nightmares. I think it should be required watching for would-be consultants in MBA school! Ramsay does an unbelievable job of diagnosis, communication, rebuilding….. while having to deal with human psychology at its greatest and worst. Chris Elliott did great takeoff on KN on the Letterman show a while back — went in to fix Le Bernardin in NYC!

]]> By: Independent George http://cultureby.com/2008/08/reality-program.html/comment-page-1#comment-1431 Independent George Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:11:34 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=235#comment-1431 Virginia Postrel noted your comment that Reality programming also serves as a way for a divergent culture to stay in touch, but I'm afraid I don't agree. I can't help but notice that reality programming itself has diverged into highly specialized niches. Take, for example, Bravo's 'Top Chef' and Food Network's, er, 'The Next Food Network Star'. On the surface, one might easily file them both under the (already specialized) category of 'competitive food reality show', but they in fact compete for entirely different audiences. Top Chef is about seasoned, professional artisans working at the peak of their abilities, and targets upper-income professionals, probably childless, with the disposable income to seek out the high-end restaurants of the contestants & guest judges, and shop at the stores selling the expensive ingredients & equipment plugged on the show. TNFNS (my apologies for the abbreviation, which I generally find as irritating as convenient), by contrast, features home chefs easily accessible to a broader audience; it's specifically meant to be replicated by middle-income home cooks with families. Interestingly enough, I believe Top Chef actually actually draws higher ratings despite the much more specialized target demographic (confirming, perhaps, the Long Tail; anecdotally, I note that Top Chef fans are much more devoted to the show than TNFNS viewers). Virginia Postrel noted your comment that Reality programming also serves as a way for a divergent culture to stay in touch, but I’m afraid I don’t agree. I can’t help but notice that reality programming itself has diverged into highly specialized niches. Take, for example, Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’ and Food Network’s, er, ‘The Next Food Network Star’. On the surface, one might easily file them both under the (already specialized) category of ‘competitive food reality show’, but they in fact compete for entirely different audiences.

Top Chef is about seasoned, professional artisans working at the peak of their abilities, and targets upper-income professionals, probably childless, with the disposable income to seek out the high-end restaurants of the contestants & guest judges, and shop at the stores selling the expensive ingredients & equipment plugged on the show. TNFNS (my apologies for the abbreviation, which I generally find as irritating as convenient), by contrast, features home chefs easily accessible to a broader audience; it’s specifically meant to be replicated by middle-income home cooks with families.

Interestingly enough, I believe Top Chef actually actually draws higher ratings despite the much more specialized target demographic (confirming, perhaps, the Long Tail; anecdotally, I note that Top Chef fans are much more devoted to the show than TNFNS viewers).

]]> By: Kevin Marks http://cultureby.com/2008/08/reality-program.html/comment-page-1#comment-1430 Kevin Marks Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:34:30 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=235#comment-1430 Hell's Kitchen is a debased version of the splendid Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which BBC America repeat continually. In these, Ramsey has a week to fix broken restaurants, and while he may swear at people, he is communicating a deep knowledge of his craft. This fits my Greek God theory of US Reality TV; UK Reality TV tends to be more like a stern parent - see 'You Are What You Eat' and 'How Clean is Your House?' for more examples. Greek God theory: http://epeus.blogspot.com/2005/01/strange-view-of-reality.html Hell’s Kitchen is a debased version of the splendid Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, which BBC America repeat continually. In these, Ramsey has a week to fix broken restaurants, and while he may swear at people, he is communicating a deep knowledge of his craft.
This fits my Greek God theory of US Reality TV; UK Reality TV tends to be more like a stern parent – see ‘You Are What You Eat’ and ‘How Clean is Your House?’ for more examples.

Greek God theory:

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2005/01/strange-view-of-reality.html

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