Reality Blues

Reality TV struggled on broadcast networks during the 2014–15 season. The outlook doesn’t seem to improve for the genre, either.

Ratings for reality programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and The CW were down almost uniformly. In that regard, they didn’t fare particularly worse than the scripted competition, which also saw declines for most series.

Emblematic of the trend was the spring collapse of the ratings for American Idol. Only a few years ago competitors referred to the singing competition as “the Deathstar” and hesitated to schedule promising series against it. At its peak, Idol drew an average of 30 million total viewers and a number of 18–49 eyeballs that was almost gaudy. Now FOX has announced that its 15th season, set to debut in 2016, will be its last (the “for now” is understood to be silent).

The broadcast reality programs that did the best were the ones who lost the least. The Voice, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor proved most able to still draw a respectable crowd. Other shows saw decreases anywhere in the range from “not great” to “apocalyptic.”

Why the almost-universal decreases?

For one, the five broadcast networks haven’t been successful in developing new reality successes. The youngest “hits” in the class are probably Shark Tank and Master Chef Junior. The former is a variation on a theme and the latter is an outright spin-off of an existing reality franchise.

The kind of watercooler buzz magnets of a decade ago don’t land on broadcast TV anymore. Programmers began to feel that attention-grabbing spectacles like Joe Millionaire just aren’t dignified anymore. So whenever a “new” reality show pops up on network TV, it’s usually a thinly painted variation on a familiar concept.

That broadcast reticence came at a time when many cable networks started to garner a lot of attention with their own reality offerings. Cable outlets with a narrower focus have done a better job at either coming up with new concepts or putting spins on familiar set-ups that feel genuinely fresh, or at least are genuinely transgressive. At this point, even FOX wouldn’t touch Dating Naked, but VH1 rode it to healthy ratings and deafening buzz last summer.

Cable channels have had better luck with reality formats that haven’t done as well on broadcast networks. Personality-based docu-soaps are all over cable, many pulling in significant ratings. It’s a nice example of channels turning necessity (limited resources to develop and produce original programming) into success. Bravo, MTV and VH1 pioneered the basic concept. A variety of cable channels have done a successful job in ferreting out new enclaves/settings for that kind of program. Everything from a dance school with a dictatorial owner to a family that makes duck lures have hit it big.

Other genres, like cooking/food, fashion, antiques/collectibles and home/gardening have done really well on cable channels. Many attempts by broadcast networks to tap those successes have fallen flat. It’s a symptom of the ever-metastasizing television audience that fans feel no need to go to broadcast networks for programming they can get elsewhere.

And that’s the problem for broadcast reality. The networks stopped being leaders. They thought they could keep recycling the same ideas without coming up with much that was new and get good ratings for cheap money. And thus have fallen further behind while more modestly-budgeted cable offerings have surpassed them.

People who hate reality TV have the vain hope that the current trends bespeak the “death” of the genre. That’s ludicrous. If the proliferation on cable has shown nothing else, it’s that reality television is here to stay.

If broadcast networks hope to stave off elimination, they need to do a better job at coming up with reality (and, for that matter, scripted) programs that fans actually want to watch and can’t get elsewhere.