Reality TV: Popular because it's real or because it's manufactured?

June 9, 11:17 AMBoston TV ExaminerMichael Langston Moore

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    Heidi and Spencer on "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"

In the wake of the Spencer and Heidi controversy on NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,” and the surprisingly solid ratings the show pulls in, the question must be asked—do we watch because it’s real or because we know it’s fake?

Movies and scripted television are a different animal. Viewers know going into a film that, despite how exhilarating or thought-provoking an experience on the big screen can be—we know the truth. No matter how thrilling it is to see Christian Bale channel “The Dark Knight” or how emotionally connected one feels to Mickey Rourke’s “The Wrestler,” audiences always know that what they are seeing is ultimately make-believe. It’s scripted. It’s all pretend—with a set of actors, directors, producers, gaffers and interns attempting to do their best to make the dream world feel like the real world.

But “The Real World,” and reality TV as a whole, is different. Or at least it’s supposed to be. What originally began in 1948 with ABC's “Candid Camera” has morphed into a landscape full of shows like “I Love New York,” “Scott Baio is 45...and Single,” and “I Love Money.”

It’s not as if the current state of reality television hasn’t provided memorable moments, however. Everything from Sue Hawk’s speech on the very first “Survivor” to Pumpkin spitting on New York on “The Flavor of Love,” there have been times when watching a reality show was just as entertaining as watching a classic Jim Carrey comedy.

In a television world where producers purposefully cast contestants that will clash, and the contestants themselves are content with getting any publicity at all to boost their own career ambitions—has the genre lost the very thing that made it special: reality?

Are we really to believe that Spencer and Heidi (“The Hills”) were ever in genuine danger on NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!?” Do we really think that, despite the CW’s attempts to recreate the horrific torture games of the “Saw” films, that their Fall reality program “13: The Fear Is Real” ever placed their young contestants in any genuine danger? And aren’t we just a bit skeptical that, despite the candor of Jon and Kate (“Jon and Kate Plus Eight”), that their public spats and infidelity rumors could ultimately all be for press and ratings?

That’s not to say that there’s no reality in “reality television.” Contestants on “Big Brother” are often deprived of food on the house arrest-like summer series. Singers on “American Idol” can no doubt be highly talented and the rigors of living on an island—even for a TV show like “Survivor,” are real.

But on Spike TV’s reality spoof “Joe Schmo,” the mirror was finally taken off the contestants and placed onto the viewers. The premise was simple—have contestants do outrageous stunts and challenges for the chance to win $100,000. Seems typical, but there was one caveat—every contestant was an actor, with the exception of one poor soul: Matt Kennedy Gould. Matt thinks it’s all real while everyone else, including viewers at home, are in on the joke.

Originally airing in 2003, “Joe Schmo” made its audience both laugh at guinea pig Matt while also sympathizing with him. As a television viewer, you knew that Matt believed wholeheartedly that the faux show “The Lap of Luxury” was real. And in a television genre in which many contestants are strategically phony on reality shows, it was a refreshing yet ironic change to see a genuine contestant playing it straight on a fixed game show.

In a TV genre full of contrived fights, romances, and evictions, it’s quite possible that “Joe Schmo” was the most genuine program in this decade long experiment known as of reality television.