Reality TV’s cheapness came from ununionized amateurs surrendering editorial control

Evidence

Networks loved the genre for its cost-effectiveness: The producers didn’t have to hire unionized writers. Most reality TV stars were amateurs who needed only minimal payouts. They also signed contracts that granted producers the right to manipulate their words and actions for drama. Viewers, critic Emily Nussbaum observed, were “offered something authentic, buried inside something fake.” Audiences saw themselves among the “real” people in “real” situations. From amateur singers on American Idol to ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances on Survivor, reality TV reflected the viewers’ aspirations and anxieties. “More than any other cultural product,” Nussbaum wrote, reality TV “functioned as a mirror of the people who watched [it].” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 235

Categorization

• XREF: Reality TV as a ‘mirror of the people who watched it’ connects to Marx’s omnivore-monoculture thesis — the genre reflects rather than challenges its audience.