Television

Grim reality

Nov 4th 2004 From The Economist print edition

America’s appetite for reality television is flagging

“THE Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best” will make its debut on America’s Fox network next week, featuring a British tycoon, Sir Richard Branson, trying to make as successful a reality-TV show as an American mogul, Donald Trump, star of “The Apprentice”. A contestant will get dumped in each episode; the winner will get $1m and a job. The timing is not auspicious for Sir Richard. Reality TV has faltered in the American ratings recently, with viewing down for “The Benefactor”, “The Bachelor” and even “The Apprentice”. New shows, such as “The Next Great Champ” and “The Last Comic Standing”, have done so badly that they have been relegated to cable networks.

Too many shows of obviously inferior quality have pricked reality’s bubble, says David Poltrack, head of research and planning at the CBS network. According to CBS’s audience research, people are especially fed up with the glut of copycat programmes that schedulers have rushed on to the air following the genre’s spectacular success over the past few years. That will make it hard for any new reality show—good or bad—to get a strong start, he says. It also bodes ill for Fox’s forthcoming dedicated reality-TV cable channel—especially as there are two of them already.

So is the genre over? Network executives and advertisers agree that the strongest and most original shows will survive—CBS’s “Survivor”, for instance, remains popular—although they will no longer be able to count on any me-too programme succeeding. Reality TV is still far cheaper to make than drama. Advertisers like its younger audiences.

There is little sign of fatigue outside America. Familiar formats are making their way across Europe. In Britain, ratings are high for ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”, Channel 4’s “Big Brother” and Channel 5’s “The Farm”, in which a celebrity female contestant recently shocked viewers by manually extracting semen from a pig. British telly may in future make fewer reality shows, but (chiefly) only if the publicly funded BBC decides to emphasise “public-service” fare in a bid to persuade the government to renew its subsidy.

Reality TV’s pause in America is allowing scripted drama to bounce back, to the relief of professional actors and scribes who complain of being under-employed. The hit of America’s autumn season is “Desperate Housewives”, a highly-sexed fictional version of suburban life. Yet reality’s techniques are influencing even scripted programmes, says Alan Boyd of Fremantle Media. ABC’s new drama, “Lost”, for instance, about passengers surviving a plane crash, looks rather like “Survivor”. “The Office”, a British comedy that has received critical acclaim in America too, looks much like reality TV with a script.

“叛逆的亿万富翁：Branson追求最好”将于下周在美国福克斯广播网闪亮登场，讲述一位英国大亨Richard Branson爵士试图像美国要人、“The Apprentice”(学徒)节目明星Donald Trump在纪实电视方面大获全胜。每一节会有一个竞争者被炒;胜者将会得到100万元和一份工作。对Richard爵士来说现在并非良辰吉时。真实秀电视最近在美国收视排行勉强维持，不仅有“The Benefactor”和 “The Bachelor”，即使“The Apprentice”也不例外。新近的节目，比如“The Next Great Champ” 和 “The Last Comic Standing”，表现更差，只好转手给有线广播网。

CBS广播网研究与计划总监David Poltrack说，太多明显质量差的节目刺破了真实秀电视的泡沫。根据CBS观众调查，人们尤其受够了充斥屏幕的类似的节目，在过去几年里，编播人员仓促推出许多类型化了的场面浩大的成功故事。他说，那将使得任何新的真人秀类节目，无论好坏，都举步维艰。同时这也预示着Fox即将专著于真人秀电视的有线频道将会面临的麻烦，尤其是在已经存在两个的情况下。

这就意味着这一类型节目的结束吗?网络管理者和广告商们一致表示，最强劲最具独创性的节目会幸免于难的，比如CBS的“Survivor”依旧受欢迎，尽管他们已不能再依靠人云亦云的节目取胜了。真实秀电视依然比制作戏剧便宜的多。而广告商则更喜欢较年轻的观众群。

几乎没有迹象表明美国以外也有类似的疲软现象。亲切的形式使其在欧洲大行其道。在英国，排名较高的有：ITV的“I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”，Channel 4的“Big Brother”以及Channel 5的“The Farm”等，最近一位女明星竞技者更是在“The Farm”中用手得到了一头猪的精液，令观众极受震撼。英国电视将来可能会制作越来越少的真实秀节目，但是(首要地)只有依靠公共投资的BBC决定在力促政府补充津贴时着重强调“公共服务”费用才行。

真实秀电视在美国的停滞给了改编戏剧卷土重来的机会，这也安慰了那些抱怨大材小用的专业演员和作家们。今秋美国成功上演的“Desperate Housewives”就是一个非常强调“性”的郊外生活的虚构版本。然而，纪实的手法甚至于正在对改编节目施以影响，Fremantle Media的Alan Boyd这样认为。以ABC的新剧，关于乘客在飞机失事中求生的“Lost”(迷失)为例，看起来就更像“Survivor”。英国喜剧“The Office”在美国也受到了交口称赞，也是看起来像极了有剧本的真实秀电视节目。