Standing Tall

This article originally appeared in the MIPCOM ’09 issue.

Shows portraying real people in unscripted situations have been around since the advent of television. First there was Allen Funt’s Candid Camera, which premiered in 1948 and has been called “the granddaddy of the reality-TV genre.” Talent searches followed in the early ’50s, with The Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. And in subsequent decades, reality shows got up close and personal, featuring ordinary individuals who were tossed under the microscope. By the time the new millennium hit, reality had truly taken over the TV landscape, with behemoths like Survivor and Idol spawning copycats and spin-offs to the point of saturation.
What was starting to look like a boom-and-bust trend earlier this decade managed to prove its staying power. Not only has reality TV’s popularity continued to grow, but the definition of the genre itself has expanded to include everything from docu-series and biographies to variety shows and competitions.
“The reality genre has become so broad and encompasses so many different subgenres that it’s hard to pin it down to one moment of birth,” says Rob Sharenow, the senior VP of nonfiction and alternative programming for A&E Network. “The types of reality programming we do, like Intervention and The First 48, which are verité-style documentaries, have very little in common with more formatted or [competition] shows like Survivor or The Bachelor. At A&E, we call our shows ‘real-life series’ because they are about real people in real situations without manipulation or casting.”

THE POWER OF OBSERVATION
Indeed, what remains the lifeblood of all reality series is the real people at their core. In the case of the Gosselins, the brood at the center of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8, the family’s real-life drama turned into big ratings. The season-five premiere shattered TLC ratings records as more than 9.8 million viewers tuned in. “Observational series such as Jon & Kate Plus 8 appeal to a wide audience because viewers relate to ordinary people, yet there is also something extraordinary about their lives,” says Marieclaire Odell, the senior VP of programming for Discovery Networks International.
A number of other series from the Discovery Communications portfolio have this central focus on everyday people with extraordinary appeal, such as Deadliest Catch, American Chopper and Whale Wars.  “Viewers are fascinated by people, and one thing these titles have in common is that they focus on people with incredible passion for what they do,” explains Odell. “It’s also about knowledge. These are experts in their chosen fields, and through entertaining and observational formats, they are sharing that knowledge with viewers. That resonates with audiences around the globe, because great story­telling is universal.”
Beyond Distribution has a range of titles looking at real people who are pursuing their passions, such as The Paper and Big City Broker. Beyond also provides series spotlighting more dangerous and extreme professions, such as Jetstream and Combat School. “While they are real people doing real jobs, the jobs may be ones that the average person couldn’t or wouldn’t do (jet-fighter pilot, health inspector…) and there’s a basic curiosity about other people’s lives,” says Yvonne Body, the head of co-­productions and acquisitions for Beyond Distribution. “They give you in-depth access to worlds you wouldn’t otherwise experience.”
Chasing down tornados, diving into shark-infested waters or bringing deadly fugitives to justice are not professions for everyone. Viewing these dangerous tasks from the comfort of the couch is a different story. The success that FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has found with the Original Productions catalogue, which focuses on the perilous efforts of everyday heroes, demonstrates the appeal these subjects have worldwide.
“The Original Productions catalogue of titles has a real ‘blue-collar’ heroics feel that has proven very popular internationally,” says David Ellender, the CEO of FME. “They’re engaging because they are about real people doing real jobs and having real adventures.”
Sales have been “very healthy” across the Original slate, Ellender declares. So healthy that FremantleMedia bought a 75-percent stake in Original Productions earlier this year.  “Black Gold in particular has proven very popular, and we’ve sold it throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Verminators is another big seller, with sales to 108 countries, and America’s Port has sold to 106 countries.”
FME has had such a solid track record with the catalogue that it’s launching three new Original Productions titles at MIPCOM: Swords: Life on the Line, Tornado Road and Shark U.

STAR POWER
The series Steven Seagal: Lawman is one of many celebrity-based reality offerings from AETN International. These star-powered shows still document an authentic aspect of the human experience, but their subjects have the added appeal of a famous face. “Celebrity-based nonfiction will never really go out of style, it just evolves over time,” says A&E’s Sharenow. “For many years Biography was one of A&E’s core franchises, so much so that it even spawned its own network. I think many of the celebrity-based reality series you see today, like Gene Simmons Family Jewels, are just an extension of that tradition.”
Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) has capitalized on the public’s fascination with celebrities by supplying a number of observational series centered on Hollywood starlets.
“Our celebrity reality is fantastic for us,” says Jene Elzie, the VP of international sales and strategic planning at CIMG. “Everything from Girls of the Playboy Mansion, which continues to deliver year after year, to Pamela Anderson’s reality show, Pam: Girl on the Loose, to series like Living Lohan and Denise Richards: It’s Complicated. We just keep finding a lot of success with these shows. Then we also have shows with celebrities that have grown organically for us, like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.” The success of Keeping Up with the Kardashians has given CIMG high hopes for the spin-off Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami, which it will be launching at MIPCOM.
Elzie says a large part of celeb-reality’s global popularity comes from the ability to connect with the characters on the screen. “I think it’s an endless fascination with people who are not like us, and realizing that they are actually like us,” she explains. “You see people who are really fascinating, and you’re pulling back the curtain and seeing what these peoples’ lives are like. They deal with heartaches, drama, family fights and money issues. We’re always there to see it too.”
For ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the crossover of celebrity and competition has proved to be a winning combination. The format I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, which has been hugely successful in prime time in the U.K., Germany and India, premiered this summer in the U.S. on NBC. “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! continues to go global,” says Remy Blumenfeld, the director of global formats for ITV Studios. Demand has also been strong for ITV Studios’ competition series, even without the addition of celebrities.
“We’re extremely excited by the prospects of our new format Four Weddings, a fly-on-the-wall/competition hybrid we’re confident will have strong international appeal,” says Blumenfeld. The format premiered in the U.K. on LIVING.
Many reality series cross over into format territory. For FremantleMedia, some of its best-selling titles are reality-format hybrids. Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia, explains, “Reality has different meanings in different countries. For me, Idols, The X Factor and Got Talent are cross-genre reality shows. They start as what the British would call ‘reality,’ and then they go into the studio. Even when they’re in the studio, there’s still a lot of reality in them, which is why they succeed.”
The innate fascination with the lives of others is certain to keep reality shows on broadcasters’ schedules around the world for many years to come. As CIMG’s Elzie notes, “I don’t know if we’re ever going to really stop believing that truth is in fact stranger than fiction. As long as you have a fresh angle, and somebody or some couple or group of people that is engaging, then it’s always original.”