Reality TV

This video clip is an excerpt from the popular reality TV series Big Brother, courtesy of Endemol Southern Star and Network Ten. The video clip is on the From Wireless to Web website, produced in 2005.

The interview with Scott Goodings was recorded for the website.

Scott Goodings is a self-proclaimed 'TV freak’ and walking archive. You can view his full biography at From Wireless to Web.

The website is a selective history of broadcast media in Australia. Decade by decade, from radio and newsreels to TV and the internet, this history shows how the Australian broadcast media developed and shaped the way Australians see themselves.

From Wireless to Web is a Film Australia production in association with Roar Film.

Reality TV: Better Than Real Life
Twelve young people locked in a purpose-built camera-infested house at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, doing occasional tasks but mostly doing nothing, 24-7, for up to 85 days … is this a concept for a TV show? After three series Big Brother – the reality game show that caters to and celebrates the voyeur – has proved to be one of the all-time ratings winners of the new millennium.

The first series of Big Brother Australia screened on Ten in 2001. Key moments in that first series included the infamous 'dancing doona’ incident featuring Christina and Peter, Andy luring Gordon into a bondage session, Peter kicking the chicken, Sara-Marie’s 'bum dance’, gay Johnnie and Sara-Marie kissing, and Ben and Blair’s naked greyhound race.

Each week the viewing audience voted – by SMS – to evict one housemate until only one remained, proving once again the pull of cross-platform applications that empower viewers to interact with the 'event’.

It seems Australian audiences prefer reality TV to real life. More than 2.2 million viewers tuned in to the launch of Big Brother 3 (in 2003) in the much-hyped ratings war between Channel Ten and Channel Nine’s current affairs program 60 Minutes. Big Brother captured a 31 per cent share of the national audience, beating Nine’s 30 per cent and Seven’s 25 per cent.

Making and Producing

1. Establish a situation within your school activities to video in a candid manner. Ensure the setting and event, whilst being candid, is safe and will not place anyone in danger or harm. Draw up a floor plan of how you can film such as event.

Critical and Historical study

1. Reality television is like putting humans in an electronic zoo; it is there for the audience to view and judge. Discuss.
2. Reality television is a new genre that examines conventions such as plots, character development and emotional responses. Debate whether shows like Big Brother are nothing more than situational dramas without actors.
3. Examine the role of the director/producers in reality television. How do they manipulate and orchestrate the situations? Does their involvement pollute the concept of reality television?
4. The evolution of reality television highlights a social need for new entertainment at any price. In a class discussion, attempt to expltin the popularity of this new genre and what ethical and moral issue arise in such productions.

Go to From Wireless to Web for more about the history of broadcast media in Australia.

Go to Trinity College, PL Duffy Resource Centre, Reality Television

Go to Leigh, Allen. Big Brother, 1997

Alfred Hitchcock (director), Rear Window, Paramount, USA, 1954