Television viewers should expect an upcoming surge of reality television shows this spring.
Although the reality television industry was already successful, the writers’ strike will effect the amount of reality shows appearing on television this season according to Mari Kornhauser, University screenwriting professor and Writers Guild of America member.
“[Reality television] is ironically the center of the storm of the strike,” she said.
Kornhauser said the reality writers are not members of the WGA, but they want to join the strike the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers is preventing them from organizing, Kornhauser said.
Grant Morris, screenwriter and the WGA’s strike captain for Louisiana, said the AMPTP is not concerned with reality television writers organizing because “they do not have the power or force of will.”
Morris said if the reality writers organize, they will lose their jobs. They are easily replaced by upcoming writers because of the high number of writers who want to work for reality television. So reality television writers have no choice but to refrain from joining the writers’ union and to continue to create more reality shows, Morris said.
Meanwhile, many reality shows are set to return for subsequent seasons, including “American Idol” and “America’s Next Top Model.”
VH1 recently confirmed that Poison’s frontman Bret Michaels will star in a second round of “Rock of Love.” VH1 will also feature another season of Scott Baio’s show as well as Adrianne Curry and Christopher Knight’s series, both of which deal with the possibility of pregnancies.
MTV will air a second season of “A Shot at Love,” the top-rated dating show because Tila Tequila’s relationship with winner Bobby Barnhart did not work out, according to People magazine.
MTV will also feature a spinoff entitled “Amore,” starring former contestant Dominico, according to Variety.
Many new reality shows will also premiere within the next couple of months. NBC has at least four new reality shows scheduled to air this spring, including “Celebrity Apprentice” and “American Gladiators,” according to tvguide.com.
CMT is even following the reality television trend. According to realitytvworld.com, upcoming reality shows for the network include “My Big Fat Redneck Wedding” and “Gone Country,” which chronicles celebrities such as Julio Iglesias Jr. and Sisqo trying to concoct the best country song. Alex Roberts, English junior, does not think the emergence of reality shows is directly affected by the writers’ strike. “The shows are just getting racier and everyone wants to see the limits get pushed,” she said. “Regular television doesn’t offer that.”
Laura Tillman, business senior, is not sure if the strike is having much of an impact on the increase in reality shows because this year’s shows are not much different from last year’s shows, she said. “Reality shows are an interesting way to overcome the strike and to keep ratings up,” Tillman said.
Roberts said she thinks that people are watching reality shows because nothing else worth watching is on television right now. “Before the strike, people watched shows like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy,'” Roberts said. “Now there is no variety.”
Kornhauser said the writers’ strike is definitely having a positive effect on reality television, but the genre’s future may still become bleak. If the strike lasts another couple of months, Kornhauser said television will start to suffer. She predicts a backlash of the reality show. People will eventually tire of reality television, she said.
—-Contact Drew Belle Zerby at [email protected]