How Real are the Reality shows?

Reality television shows are getting extremely popular. If you turn on your television, chances of reality shows playing at that moment are very high. Reality television show is a genre of television show that presents unscripted events of real people. But are they real and is it a true reality?  It always bothered me to what extent are the reality shows connected to the true reality that all of us live in. Watching shows as Real Housewives always make me think what part of it is real and how strongly it affects young women who believes that the whole show is nothing but real life of other people. If you think about it for a moment you may realize that for the show to appear on TV it has to be camera recorded and well spiced, then the question arises: “how real can you be when there are at least two cameras and the whole set of strangers surround you all day long?”. I think it is quite not an easy task; therefore, i believe that reality shows are shows in the first place and reality in the second. However, the majority of people that watch those shows are strongly attracted mostly by the idea of these shows being real and representing people just like them only with the different lifestyle. I think that shows like Real Housewives are not any close to what people face every day and that what is called reality, on the contrary it shows the luxurious life of women that is not affordable to the vast majority. I can only imagine how housewives are watching this show, relating themselves to these women on TV , and how painful then it is to turn back your head from the screen to the actual reality and the small home that seemed so cozy and warm before does not seem as home anymore. so we could argue that reality shows are tool like no other that mass media uses in its own interest. Lost of people change their thinking and attitude towards different things because of the reality shows. The fact that realty shows do not portray 110% of the actual reality does not mean that there is nothing real at all. There are so many reality shows on MTV about people being struggling with various addictions and shows about life behind the bars. These shows are for most part educational and very helpful in preventing other people making the same horrible mistakes . There are a lot of messages that are sent by these shows to a public and most of the time the public responds and communicates back. 

Many reality television shows are competitions; many of reality shows present competitions, and document contenders’ journeys along the competition. For example, American Idol, is a competition looking for the “next big star” in America, and follows competitors during the duration of the show. The winner of American Idol gets a recording contract to become an actual artist. Other shows, such as America’s Next Top Model, have similar format as American Idol, and provide a “prize” for the winner. 

Reality television shows are dominating major networks. Reality television shows are usually cheap to produce, but it brings in huge ratings, thus money. Even though many of the reality shows are terrible, the networks/studios are in the business to make money, and reality television shows do exactly that. Unless the networks find another way to make money cheaply, reality shows are here to stay for very long time.