There is a reality show produced in the US called Wife Swap. It involves two families that swap their wives/mothers for around two weeks – the first week the poor women have to absorb the goings-on in their new “family”, and the second week they get to instil their own rules and regroup the environment according to their own requirements.
I love this show. These women inherit husbands (not in the biblical sense, but imagine what that would do to the ratings!) and take on a new bunch of children. They get to shift an entire family dynamic over a 14-day period. What really amazes me is that this kind of show was produced even though it involves children from as young as one or two-years-old. How do you explain to little Chuck that his mommy is disappearing and some other freaky female is taking over for two weeks? The kids tend to wonder around looking like rabbits caught in the headlights but I guess the more they react, the happier the producers are; after all, that’s real entertainment.
Contrary to common belief, the international obsession with reality television is not that new. The grandparent of the genre is Candid Camera, which has been on and off television since 1948, almost since the dawn of the medium itself. In the US, CBS experimented with the reality format in the ’50s when they aired Wanted, which outlined the crimes of fugitives and interviewed their relatives and law enforcement officers working on the cases. In 1973 An American Family debuted. This was a somewhat disturbing documentary series where the Loud family opened up their home and lives for seven months. Three hundred hours of footage was shot and although only twelve hours made it to television, 10-million viewers watched the marital break up of Bill and Pat Loud and the coming-out of their son Lance.
Clearly, our partiality to voyeurism hasn’t abated. The explosion of reality television on screens across the western world is just the latest incarnation “The trend mushroomed around 2000/2001, particularly with the advent of Big Brother,” says Carl Fischer, director of local productions at M-Net. “Prior to that there were a couple of shows bubbling that laid the ground for what was at the time a phenomenon. There were also movies like The Truman Show that added to the genre’s rapid growth in popularity.”
Fischer describes a delightfully new-age experiment that took place in the States where several scientists were put into a glass bubble in the Nevada desert. The scientists were tasked with creating a world with a sustainable ecosystem. “Following the experiment the scientists were interviewed. They said creating water, oxygen and food was a challenge but they managed it. However, they said getting on with their fellow humans was a nightmare. Therein was born an entertainment television show.”
Certainly, the creator of Big Brother was thus inspired. For South Africa, this was truly the first big reality show and flighted on M-Net on Sunday evenings. With ARs for Big Brother 1 at around 12.3 and Big Brother 2 at around 11.6 (in the A-income market), the genre looked set to do extremely well. Glen Marques, CEO of M-Net, believes shows of this type work because they pull viewers inextricably into the show. “The big shows like Idols and Big Brother have worked well because they allow viewers to influence the outcome. Viewers feel more empowered, where traditional drama is sometimes a little removed from reality. The public seem to like the idea of ordinary people being given an opportunity to achieve.”
It’s not such a mystery as to why reality television has captured our imagination. “The worst of the genre typically speaks to the voyeur in each of us; the best of the genre shares most of its characteristics with drama,” explains Hannelie Bekker, previously head of programming for SABC 3. “Reality shows offer high stakes, complex characters, an ultimate goal, big obstacles to overcome, trials and tribulations, alliances made and broken, treachery, love, sex (if the producers get really lucky!) – all this structured into a nail-biting narrative. The fact that all of this happens with real people is an added bonus. Add to this high budgets and incredible production values and you can hardly go wrong”
Eddie Manzingana, acting head of programmes for SABC 3, agrees. “The fascination with reality television lies in the opportunity that it presents for audiences to interact with the participants in their most natural, unscripted, unedited (to a large extent) form how people react to sudden situations that often they have not been prepared for brings out the best and the worst of a participant and exposes people at their highest and lowest emotional state. This creates an emotional reaction with audiences, whether it’s positive or negative, and pulls them inextricably into the scenario.”
SABC’s flighting of The Apprentice certainly brought Donald Trump’s phrase “you’re fired” into the South African vernacular. The show did so well that the SABC went ahead with a local version, albeit that Tokyo Sexwale is a bit more gentle than The Donald. “The Apprentice South Africa is doing even better than the foreign series, and is marginally higher on ratings,” says Manzingana. “The decision to do a local version was inspired by, among other reasons, the realisation of the value the show could bring to our nation. This is a show that will change lives forever. The winner is not just coming out with a lump sum of money, as with most other reality shows. He or she will undergo a life changing experience as apprentice to Tokyo Sexwale; that’s an unbelievable opportunity.”
Creating local shows that offer entertainment is a nice-to-have; creating local shows like The Apprentice that combine sustainability and social value is another level altogether. SABC 2 has embraced these factors with their production of Your Hired!, a combination reality gameshow/ classic talent-show, that successfully tackles the serious social problem of unemployment. “You’re Hired! was designed to inspire ordinary South Africans to reach beyond their circumstances,” explains Bessie Tugwana, acting general manager of SABC 2. “The show introduced viewers to new job ideas through the eyes of the contestants. Public response to the series was encouraging, when after announcing the first two vacancies more than 37,000 enquiries were received.”
But compared to international biggies like Big Brother, Idols, Survivor and Amazing Race, local shows appear not to have done as well. Duncan Irvine, CEO and executive producer of Rapid Blue, believes it has to do with a number of factors. “International reality looks pretty simple on air, but once you get under their skin the production process, casting, show structure, rhythm and construct has all been well thought through. In South Africa, most producers have not had the opportunity to develop or learn from international producers. Our reality series have all held their own, but after each series we have learnt more and so the next always gets better. Most people forget that Survivor in the USA had taken over three years in development. It had been produced in Sweden and other European countries before being made for the USA. Big Brother had been in development with numerous tests and pilots being shot before the first series was produced for broadcast. This is what we need in South Africa; the ability to develop, test and craft before going to air.”
But Marques argues that locally produced shows that are well made will generally do better than the overseas version. Fischer too says local shows can often be more popular than international ones. On SABC 1, the local Coca Cola Popstars far exceeded the international version. “I think, if you have the right host, a high calibre of candidates and a decent production, then the pulling power must be bigger,” says Bekker. “Identification with the contestants is just more intense: you have to care more about the guy from Mpumalanga than the one from Texas!”
Either way, neither local nor international reality shows are showing any sign of waning just yet. The overall boom may be over, but there is still a market out there. The view of the experts is that reality television has become part of the standard television arsenal. Marques says M-Net put out a brief last year to find a local reality format and have had some very interesting ideas that are currently being evaluated in the wake of Show me the Mommy‘s success. Irvine says Rapid Blue have worked on a number of strong locally created shows. Sokka Kings has already run on SABC 1 and is currently negotiating distribution in the UK. Another titled Special Forces is coming up on SABC 2.
“Simple brands are the ones that work best,” says Fischer. “For example Idols is simply a talent contest but you are testing these people in an unfettered manner and drawing the public into the decision-making. I use the differential between reality television, which is predominantly live and unedited, versus unscripted television, where you produce a show like Survivor. You put a couple of people together, there are a couple of rules, and you kind of know what the outcome will be. If you look at it that way, a rugby test match or tennis final is unscripted drama. One could argue how much these dramatic events were the precursor to reality television today. Imagine what the response would have been 15 years ago if you had had to write a script about two people on an asphalt surface with a net between them and a green ball—.”