Reality TV defined by Hill.

How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.

Hill (2005, p. 420) comments, “The most traditional industry term for reality TV is factual entertainment.” He continues to explain that the genre combines factual programming with factual-entertainment, forming a hybrid genre sometimes referred to as popular factual, a term Hill describes as the linking of popular audiences with a variety of factual television genres and formats. Reality TV historically was defined under a small umbrella general or specialist factual programming. However due to the changing nature of factual programming networks such as the BBC resolved to adjust their structure to reflect the evolution of reality television to be what Hill (2000, p. 42) describes as being a “more flexible and fast moving system.” Out of this adjustment we have the emergence of a clearer and more distinctive Popular factual television, which Hills (2000, p. 42) says in theory can “come from any category within factual and learning.” 

There is a debate between television scholars around the true nature of Reality TV. Hill (as cited in Bondejerg, 1996) says this discussion highlights the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction. It is suggested tabloid journalism has influenced the range of genre described as reality TV, described as infotainment and human interest documentaries. The discussion brings to light that reality TV is now moving away from being about what genre it is? To be more about how reality is treated, and how that boundary between fact and fiction is treated.  In the docudrama Cathy come home, these lines a crisscrossed frequently through the film, where you’re not always certain of what is real and what has been dramatized, however the end product is effective you, are left with no doubt to the authenticity of the film and its message.   

Resources

• ·      Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.