There is really no "creative" vision for a reality show
Not as much as with scripted television of course but I will make the small objection that there is some degree of art to rtv.
Editing the raw footage down to followable storylines is a big part of the creation of a Survivor, Big Brother, TAR, The Challenge, The Mole, The Traitors ect episode. And i think theres an art to that.
Casting too, and game and challenge design, has an art to that. And the best rtv shows have featured some really fascinating moments of human psychology and drama. Its sort of like pro wrestling to me where its lowest points are terrible, it tends to have a low base average, but its highest points can transcend the medium. Pro graps is more easily defensible as an art though.
Youre otherwise correct though. Rtv exists and is sucessful largely because it is cheap to make. And theres really not much redeemable about Discovery stuff.
And im not going to pretend Im above stuff that is just outright trash TV and wont defend it as high art. I loved the Flavor of Love era of VH1 lol.
In the race to produce the cheapest possible bilge, I suspect a lot of the professionalism that makes rtv shows good is getting thrown out the window right along with the higher production value art. Sort of like how every iteration of "Walking Dead" (plus the eighty hours of "Talking Dead" and associated behind-the-camera filler) got incrementally worse as they just tried to reanimate the corpse of a popular original.
It all just become a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy assembly line crap, because the producers thought they could squeeze a bit more blood out of the stone.
This is largely true yes. The spark of originality that made the original Survivor so special is mostly dead. They dont even change locations anymore. Its just Fiji every single year because thats cheaper. I still enjoy the show, but yeah its much more of a product now.
Not as much as with scripted television of course but I will make the small objection that there is some degree of art to rtv.
Editing the raw footage down to followable storylines is a big part of the creation of a Survivor, Big Brother, TAR, The Challenge, The Mole, The Traitors ect episode. And i think theres an art to that.
Casting too, and game and challenge design, has an art to that. And the best rtv shows have featured some really fascinating moments of human psychology and drama. Its sort of like pro wrestling to me where its lowest points are terrible, it tends to have a low base average, but its highest points can transcend the medium. Pro graps is more easily defensible as an art though.
Youre otherwise correct though. Rtv exists and is sucessful largely because it is cheap to make. And theres really not much redeemable about Discovery stuff.
And im not going to pretend Im above stuff that is just outright trash TV and wont defend it as high art. I loved the Flavor of Love era of VH1 lol.
In the race to produce the cheapest possible bilge, I suspect a lot of the professionalism that makes rtv shows good is getting thrown out the window right along with the higher production value art. Sort of like how every iteration of "Walking Dead" (plus the eighty hours of "Talking Dead" and associated behind-the-camera filler) got incrementally worse as they just tried to reanimate the corpse of a popular original.
It all just become a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy assembly line crap, because the producers thought they could squeeze a bit more blood out of the stone.
This is largely true yes. The spark of originality that made the original Survivor so special is mostly dead. They dont even change locations anymore. Its just Fiji every single year because thats cheaper. I still enjoy the show, but yeah its much more of a product now.