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 DONALD TRUMP ...producer, star of NBC's 'The Apprentice" |
Will the reality trend just
run its course naturally?
of TheColumnists.com
Reality TV. Channel after channel offers us a palate
of non-scripted programs like "Survivor,"
"Fear Factor," "American Idol," "The
Apprentice," "The Bachelor," and "The Simple
Life." The weekly Nielsen ratings tell the tale--viewers
are turning these shows on week after week.
A look at a recent week's Nielsen ratings report shows seven
reality-type shows in the Top 20. Granted, longtime top-rated
shows like "CSI" and "ER" were in the top
10, but "American Idol" was No. 1.
A look at the next 20 shows for that week had longtime dramas
"JAG," "Judging Amy," "24," "The
West Wing" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"--along
with a sprinkling of lower-tier reality shows.
Does this ever-increasing number of reality shows mean the death
of TV dramas and comedies? Probably not. But reality TV
will likely be around for a while longer. And why not? The shows
draw a huge audience and network production costs are small,
compared to the high six and seven figures for many dramas and
comedies airing today.
On the downside, reality TV programs have little to no
rerun value for the networks. Right now networks can make up
a large part of the cost of comedies and dramas--especially if
they are hits--by selling them into syndication. Those nightly
reruns of "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond"
on your local channels, usually in the 7 to 8 p.m. timeslots,
bring in big bucks.
So, what are we to make of the current reality TV craze? It's
probably cyclical. Remember the summer of 1999 when ABC launched
the prime time "The Millionaire" quiz show hosted by
Regis Philbin? The show was so wildly popular that ABC started
scheduling it four nights a week in prime time. At the time,
ABC had few hit programs, few prospects for hit programs for
that fall season, so loading up on "Millionaire" episodes
seemed like a good idea. Of course, fame is fleeting and viewers
are fickle--and eventually viewers were turned off by way too
many nights of the "The Millionaire."
Again, fame is fleeting and viewers are fickle. To this day,
nearly five years later, ABC is still trying to right its
ship with original (scripted) programming and has gone back to
the formula that made it the top network a couple of decades
ago--comedies, comedies and more comedies.
The lesson to be learned is that too much of anything--no matter
how good--eventually loses its appeal to viewers. A look at the
last half-century of yearly Nielsen ratings bears out this point.
And it shows the cyclical nature of the business. For the
1954 to 1955 season, the Top 10-rated shows for the year
were: 1. "I Love Lucy." 2. "The Jackie Gleason
Show." 3. "Dragnet." 4. "You Bet Your Life."
5. "The Toast of the Town." 6. "Disneyland."
7. "The Jack Benny Show." 8. "The George Gobel
Show." 9. "Ford Theatre." 10. "December Bride."
What attracted the viewer's
interest then were variety shows, family comedies and a couple
of anthology series.
Skip ahead to the 1964-65 season and the Top 10 shows were: 1.
"Bonanza." 2. "Bewitched." 3. "Gomer
Pyle, U.S.M.C." 4. "The Andy Griffith Show." 5.
"The
Fugitive." 6. "The Red Skeleton Hour." 7. "The
Dick Van Dyke Show." 8. "The
Lucy Show." 9. "Peyton Place II." 10. "Combat."
Variety shows were dying out, with only "The Red Skelton
Hour" among top-rated shows.
Moving to the 1984-85 season, the top shows were: 1. "Dynasty."
2. "Dallas." 3. "The Cosby Show." 4. "60
Minutes" 5. "Family Ties." 6. "The A-Team."
7. "Simon & Simon." 8. "Murder, She Wrote."
9. "Knots Landing." 10. (Tie) "Falcon Crest"
and "Crazy Like a Fox."
Prime-time soaps were tops
among viewers, and gone were the anthology series and variety
shows, with comedies taking a back seat to the soap craze.
Undoubtedly, when the 2003-2004 season ends in May, there will
be a number
of reality shows among the season's final Top 10. But in 10 years,
things will be different. And if I were a betting person, I'd
say it won't be reality TV leading the pack.
©2004 by Donna J. Plesh. The photo of Donald Trump is courtesy
NBC.com.
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