I remember the beginning of this wave of reality television. I’m not talking about “The Real World.” I mean when “Survivor” premiered. I mean when “American Idol” was hosted by a guy named Dunkleman. The shows began as summer fill-in options and quickly turned into viable, hugely popular prime-time shows. It wasn’t soon after that copies hit the television. Now more than 10 years later, reality television is more synonymous with scripted commentaries on indulgent American culture. Kardashians and housewives (aren’t they basically the same people?) are the faces of reality television. But I’m not here to talk about them. I’m here to talk about network reality TV and how to restore its former glory.
Ratings are down from its heyday, but I am still a huge fan of “Survivor.” The show has allowed the concept to grow organically with players who learn from the mistakes of previous contestants. They throw in new twists all the time with hidden immunity idols, returning players, etc. but the formula of two tribes, two challenges and a tribal council each episode allow fans to strategize at home. The shows that count on votes or opinions of judges aren’t as simple. “The Celebrity Apprentice,” for example, is laughable when considering it’s billed as a competition show. It’s Donald Trump’s individual opinion. Reality fans have long dealt with the annoying insinuation that their shows are rigged in order to keep dramatic players around to stir things up. Well that’s exactly what Trump does. If you don’t believe me, look no farther than Gary Busey and his two seasons on the show.
Since Simon Cowell began the giant game of musical chairs the singing competitions are playing; we now see that the competitors on each of these shows are actually less important than we thought. If the judges stink, nobody is watching. Did you know that “American Idol” season 11 winner Phillip Phillips’ song “Home” is the best-selling single of any “Idol” contestant ever? Yet his season of the show didn’t pull in the ratings of previous seasons because audiences had grown tired of Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. Two of them then left and this year’s disaster of Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban joined Jackson behind the strategically placed Coca Cola glasses. Ratings went from bad to worse.
But across networks we saw two competitors emerge. Cowell’s “X Factor” has underperformed because it has a similar look to “Idol.” The format is actually pretty different, but there are judges behind a table. Now NBC did something different. Remove the table, claim the competition is blind to everything except a singer’s talent and insert four unique, popular and outspoken coaches (not judges) and you have “The Voice.” America was fooled by the gimmick of the blind auditions. We were drawn in and stayed tuned in because Blake Shelton is funny, Adam Levine is sarcastic, CeeLo is crazy and Christina Aguilera is annoying. At least those are my opinions.
But with all of these fan voted competition shows you get frustrating upsets. “American Idol” has made a habit of blaming America when a favorite falls short. But it’s the nature of the format. If your favorite stinks that night, you rally to their cause. If they kill it, you assume they’re safe. In-house competitions like “Survivor” or “The Biggest Loser” isolate contestants and give them a larger stake in their own destiny. The most annoying person in the world could drop a ton of weight or win a string of immunity challenges and take home the final prize on those shows. When Ryan Seacrest tells us it’s up to us to save our favorite singer, he’s wrong. It’s up to them. Frankly I would suggest the judges make the final calls, but they have proven so unreliable on most of these shows, it would quickly turn into the Trump scenario where they keep certain people around to boost ratings.
So what is the solution? I can’t list out these flaws without offering answers, can I? Well, I guess not. The first resolution is to find chemistry on the judging panels. We don’t want the biggest stars. We need knowledgeable people who the audience can trust when making their informed voting decisions. Simon Cowell, Usher, Nigel Lythgoe from “So You think You Can Dance,” these are the tough judges who would rip apart their favorites if it came down to it. Defer to knowledge over fame during this casting. I would rather hear Randy Jackson’s advice over Britney Spears any day. He actually has something to say, dog. Lastly, I’m going to pull a Seacrest and tell you that it’s up to us, America. Don’t casually watch all of the competition shows. They’ll over-saturate you and make you bitter reality show fans. Vary the topics of such shows. Find that balance in your TV calendar. My singing show is “The Voice.” My fish out of water situation show is “Survivor.” I throw in some skill based competitions like “The Ultimate Fighter” and “Top Shot.” And the off-season “So You Think You Can Dance” occupies the summer. That seems like a lot when you write it down, but most of them run at different points in the year so it doesn’t occupy a terrible amount of time.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think the formulaic competition shows still have the jump on the Kardashians and Housewives. Maybe if those shows added an elimination element, they’d be more reasonable to watch. “This week your votes decide which Kardashian gets eliminated from the family.” I think I’ll stick with my well organized television schedule instead.
