History of Reality TV

Reality television has been around for more than sixty years. This is a shock to me considering how big reality shows have been in recent times I would have thought that reality television was somewhat new the world. In fact, the first reality show was called “Candid Camera” which first came about in 1948. This show created by Allen Funt, was based off of his reality radio show from 1947 called “Candid Microphone.” It was a show where ordinary people react to pranks pulled on them similar to what could be considered today’s version of this show called “Punk’d.” “Punk’d,” an MTV reality show hosted by Ashton Kutcher, was first aired in 2003. This show took celebrities in their everyday lives and pulled pranks on them to see how they would react.
Next on the list would be talent shows such as “Original Amateur Hour” and “Talent Scouts.” These two shows feature amateur competitors with audiences making the votes. Today, this would be similar to “Nashville Star” and “American Idol.” Both singing shows where amateurs get to audition to compete in front of a voting audience. The top competitor gets a chance to make it in the big time and be a huge star.
The very famous “Miss America” pageant was born in 1954. This competition had a woman who represented her state compete to win celebrity glamour. Also in the 1950s, game shows such as “Beat the Clock” and “Truth or Consequences” debuted. These shows involved contestants doing wacky stunts, competitions, and pranks.
In 1964, a show that paved the way for ordinary people becoming famous through a reality show was born. In the United Kingdom, the show called “Seven Up!” took ordinary seven year olds from all different classes of society and asked them questions to see how they would react to situations in life. Every seven years, they would take those same kids who were once seven and ask them more questions, these sequels were called “7 Plus Seven” and “21 Up.” Today, shows that would make ordinary people celebrities would be shows such as “The Real World” and “I Love New York.”
As you can see, the reality shows that were born long ago have given today’s reality show creators a template to make new and improved reality mania.
http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/punkd/series.jhtml
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/candidcamera/candidcamera.htm