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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Get Real

Spanish Translation

By Kathryn R. Hoffman

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Is reality TV here to stay, or is it just a fad?

Read kids' letters about reality TV

American Idol's Simon Cowell gladly tells singers that they are "awful."

When word of a new reality show called The Real Beverly Hillbillies reached Dustin Combs's English class, he says that many of his students thought the same thing: "Not again!" The seniors at Knott County Central High School in Hindman, Kentucky, weren't simply fed up with the number of reality programs on TV. Many folks in their rural area are concerned that CBS wants to profit from old hillbilly stereotypes that they have struggled to overcome.

Last fall, the television network sent casting agents to several states in the rural Appalachian Mountain region, including Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. They were looking for a poor family willing to give up its privacy and move into a mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Modeled after the hit 1960s comedy The Beverly Hillbillies, the reality remake would also be played for laughs. But this time, viewers would be laughing at real people.

"My fear is that we will once again be depicted as backwoods and uneducated," Knott High student Amber Huff told TFK. Amber, 18, and her classmates sent letters of protest to CBS in New York City. Since then, the public outcry has increased, with U.S. congressmen, college students and local leaders asking CBS to stop the "hick hunt."

Greed is all in The Family:Relatives compete for $1 million on this show. Servants are the judges.

TROUBLING TREND

If The Real Hillbillies ever makes it to TV, it will swim in a flood of reality shows. Of kids' Top 10 shows this season, six are reality TV--unscripted shows built around "real" people, not actors. This summer, more than 20 new or updated reality shows will air on the major networks, the most ever. In all, almost half of the evening programs could be reality-based.

This will come as good news for millions of fans who watch their reality favorites each week. Peter Johnson, 12, of Palo Alto, California, told TFK Kid Reporter Noah Sneider that reality shows "seem so real. All their emotions and actions are totally realistic." Miriam Brafman, 12, likes "that you never know what's going to happen." American Idol fan Sarah Conlon, 11, of New York City, says the auditions are "really funny. I also like to vote."

TV executives are banking on such shows as American Idol, Fear Factor and Survivor to attract young viewers. The shows are inexpensive to make, because there are no pricey actors. Also, while comedies and dramas have highly paid writing staffs, fewer writers work on reality shows.

Fear Factor's fans should get a cash prize for watching contestants eat bugs, dangle from cables and squirm among snakes.

But just how real are these unscripted shows? Many, like Survivor and The Real World are clearly edited by producers to give ample airtime to participants' bickering and bellyaching. "They're really not reality at all," says Clay Calvert, communications professor at Penn State University. "They are manufactured, contrived game shows."

When the cameras roll, such shows tend to focus on people at their backstabbing, blubbering worst. One thing "morally questionable" about reality TV is "its focus on human behavior at its meanest," says Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at New York University.

Kids notice this too. "They don't always treat each other right," admits Survivor fan Derek Bevin, 10, of New York City.

WHY WE WATCH

So why are the shows so appealing? "Part of our fascination is speculation: 'What would I do in that person's shoes?'" says Calvert. "Another is that we can make fun of them and think of ourselves as better people." Calvert also points out that reality shows, with their mix of strong personalities, are set up to create drama. "We love to root for the good guys and against the bad guys."

Some media experts worry that there are just too many shows sending negative messages. Programs focused on humiliation, betrayal and greed are on the air instead of new comedies or family dramas.

Meanwhile Amber Huff and her friends say that reality TV could be improved by a big dose of, well, reality. "Educating others about our rural communities would be positive," she says, "if we were portrayed accurately."

Vote in our poll!
Is reality TV here to stay, or is it just a fad?

Read kids' letters about reality TV

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