On the success of reality shows

200705
(answer to the question "Why do you believe Reality Shows have grown in numbers regarding various subjects, along with the television viewers ?")

It is basically the same trend as on the internet : reality shows have this consumer generated content flavor and give the illusion something is really happening on the screen, something you could be involved in, something you could even be doing yourself. The illusion that at last TV is somehow about me, somehow as interactive as the internet.

The internet positioned TV as a monolithic media for the masses, TV answered with real life real time individuals. People get hooked to it for fear of missing an event, something happening, some naughty movement in front of these fake webcams. Of course everything is set, staged, programmed, scenarized, but it doesn't feel like broadcasting (or better : I'd dare say "downcasting") anymore. Rather like bottomupcasting / grassrootcasting. And it tastes like s..t.