The definition of Reality TV

How does Hill define reality TV?

Hill (2005) defines reality TV as “a range of popular factual programming." To make it 'look like' a real programme, they use techniques such as "non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillances footage, and hand-held cameras, seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera." It makes you think that you are involved in the real event. Although, there are from real people there are still scripts and narratives, there are articiailty in it. Hills says, "Audiences judge the 'reality' of reality programmes according to a fact/fiction continuum, with at the end of the continuum infotainment or docu-soaps, and at the other end formatted reality gameshows." 

Reality TV has a variety of choices. There are food/cooking/cuisine reality television shows such as Cake Boss, Hell’s Kitchen, Man vs Food, Food Network Star, and Top Chef.  One of my favourite reality show is Hell's Kitchen where the main chef being critical to wannabe-chefs. The main chef has to be in angry mode and scary because that is his character in the show.  Also, there are audition shows like American got talent and dancing 9 which shows talent in singing and dancing from the real people, not celebrity. 

There are examples of early reality TV such as The Real World, Cops and Docusoaps. 

Docusoaps are about real people not celebrity, 

The Real World is a show on MTV and it deals about immature behaviours.

Cops are emergency-service reality TV. Cops used hand-held shaking techniques.

To conclude, I agree with the Hills' idea that it is hard to define the reality TV genre. Hills says, "There is no definition of reality programming, but many, competing definition what has come to be called reality genre. This is because is made up of a number of distinctive and historically based television genres, such as lifestyle, or documentary." The reality TV is becoming the important genre as time goes by. 

Reference

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV:

Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon:Routledge.

Category:Food reality television series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_reality_television_series