Fifteen Minutes

There have been many TV shows I have watched in my time that have gone from bad to better, and many more that went from bad to worse.  It's rare however, that some shows go from good to bad.  When it happens it's usually a series that was fictional and the writers changed.  That was until recently when increasingly I have observed this trend in reality television.

The premise of most reality TV shows is to capture just that - reality.  The problem is that many of these shows seem to be particularly susceptible to this fall from good to bad.  The reason I think this is the case is because often the qualifier for entry to these shows has no set definition.  By that I mean most of these shows don't require the "contestants" to have any notable experience or any requirement other than a desire to be on the show.

When you have a show that sets out initially to show reality when it is as yet unknown, they find people who are real and authentic.  If we use Big Brother as an example the very early seasons had people who were unknown, and they took part in a show that was as yet unknown, who showed an interest in the premise of the show, not influenced by how many people would see the show.  Then as seasons progressed and the show became more popular, the widespread nature and appeal grew to a point where most people applying to the show had no interest in the premise whatsoever and simply had a desire to be famous.  They would be on TV for their fifteen minutes and they would try and milk that for all it was worth.

The problem with this is that the quality of the programme and its entertainment value declines, yet because the popularity continues to rise it causes a positive feedback loop which continues until a critical point is reached when the quality of the programme and the entertainment value is so low that it collapses and people abandon it entirely.  This has been happening more and more with reality TV shows.  A similar process happens with TV shows that start out as niche targeting a specific audience which then grow until they alter the premise of those shows to the point where they become generic and they eventually lose momentum - something which I have long predicted for shows like the Big Bang Theory which started out with a premise that is now almost non-existent.

There are a few shows which I hope will not succumb to these trends but I fear ultimately they will.  I've become more aware when watching shows that focus on a particular skill or talent, that the contestants as seasons progress become progressively worse at those, and increasingly rely on personality and theatrics to garner a following to gain fame rather than pursue the premise of the show at all.