Reality Shows Phenomenon

1. Introduction

Unlike the regular variety shows or television shows, reality shows are a kind of television format that presents the unscripted real-life situations of performers who can be well-known celebrities or ordinary people. As its name suggests, this kind of television format emphasizes on real reactions and actual interactions of certain situations between performers, which are the main reason for its continued popularity in some Asian countries. The first unscripted show originated in 1948 by an American hidden camera series “Candid Camera” which produced by Allen Funt (Holmes & Jermyn,2011), but it did not set off a boom until the “Big Brother” produced by Endemol in Netherlands, the wave of reality shows started to spread out.

In China, the most popular subgenres are dating, talent, game show and lifestyles in term of the performers are usually celebrities. It is an interesting phenomenon that many of them are remakes of Korean variety shows and have received technical support from Korea entertainment team such as “Where are we going, dad?”, “We are in love!”, “Keep Running”. In spite of this, they all eventually went successfully and captured high viewing audiences. With the increase in the number of viewers, especially the teenagers, the content of reality shows can easily affect the emotions, lifestyle, and even the consumption patterns of audiences. Due to its greater influence, the social responsibilities of television media are being more significant. When producing reality programme, television media must be aware of what impacts it will have on the audiences, and make sure they are in positive way. And of course, the audiences themselves also have the responsibilities to recognize the impacts and then make a wise choice among the bunch of reality shows. This paper illustrates the reality shows’ social impacts and introduces the social responsibilities of television media with the cases of “Keep Running” (name used to be running man) and “Where are we going, dad?”

With the development of fans culture, audiences have become more and more curious about the real-life and true characteristics of the stars they are chasing. At the right timing, the rise of reality shows has become the easiest way to fully satisfy fans’ desire to know more about their idols. Furthermore, due to the improvement of the quality of life, Chinese audiences are requesting more in entertainment, and they are also turning to active mode from passive mode in term of reality shows. Therefore, talented people who want to show their talent has also increase the demand of reality shows. Where there is demand, there will be supply, this is the nature of a market. Therefore, due to the high demand, reality shows are actively marketed by producers in China such as Hunan Television, Jiangsu Television, Zhejiang Satellite