Reality Tv Influence On American Culture

In just 100 years we have successfully and amazingly come so far with technology. Television, an American household staple, wasn 't prevalent in the US until the 1940 's but fast forward to the 1970 's and television was easily and indisputably the medium for information and entertainment. During this time, the US owned approximately 90 million of the 250 million television sets produced in the entire world. And like with most cultures and societies, we became progressive in regards to what types and genres of television shows we watch. Not too long, Americans first discovered and became infatuated with the idea of Reality Based Television.

In short, reality television is typically defined as non-fiction television, programming that is designed to

In the early 1980 's, the Writers Guild of America strike was taking place. Fox studios was in desperate need of new material. An unscripted show that did not require writers was ideal for fox at the time. Fast forward a couple years, Cops aired its first episode in 1989. Originally, the series followed policemen and their life at work and home but soon was decided to be too artificial. Show director John Langley says, "Years ago, I did a show called Cocaine Blues and, at the time, I went on a drug raid. This was back in 1981 or so, and I observed the police doing a drug raid, and I thought, “How interesting would it be to have a show with nothing between you and the officers?” In other words, it would be like a ride-along—be with them when they do something, from their point of view. So that was the genesis of it, and then it took many years to interest anyone in the idea." Eventually the show went on to tape policemen enforcing laws, drug busting, responding to domestic violence calls, and much more. The alluring quality of the show became the arrested; television revealed a side of life that was almost too realistic but true. Since then, America has been exposed to television shows that became more