Reality TV


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

Reality TV describes series that present loosely scripted or unscripted situations with the intent to entertain, i.e. hidden-camera, court TV, or season-long competition programs.

Highlights
Jonathan Murray on the creation of The Real World 
00:42
Jeff Probst on casting Survivor
05:04
Fred Silverman on NBC's proto-reality show Real People which debuted in 1979
01:30
Alan and Susan Raymond (producer of An American Family) on their purpose with documentary filmmaking; their view of public reaction to their films
Marian Rees on going to work on This is Your Life  hosted by Ralph Edwards
03:26
Andy Cohen on casting the first season of Top Chef for personality and later seasons for cooking talent
03:18
Who talked about this genre

Berle Adams

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Berle Adams on negotiating deals for Ralph Edwards for his shows Truth or Consequences and This Is Your Life
02:59

Debbie Allen

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Debbie Allen on the popularity of Reality TV dance shows like Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance
01:07

George Barris

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George Barris on customizing a car for an episode of Extreme Makeover
02:47

Tom Bergeron

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Tom Bergeron on hosting America's Funniest Home Videos
21:29
Tom Bergeron on hosting Dancing With the Stars
31:32
Tom Bergeron on hosting Dancing With the Stars
29:49

Mark Burnett

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Mark Burnett on being a pioneer of reality television
47:26
Mark Burnett on early criticism of Survivor and his vindication in its success, and on questioning the meaning of reality TV as a genre; "there are no rules"
00:46
Mark Burnett on the term "reality TV"
01:58

RuPaul Charles

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RuPaul Charles on hosting RuPaul's Drag Race
21:13

Margaret Cho

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Margaret Cho on her VH1 show The Cho Show and on working with her family and Selene Luna
01:51
Margaret Cho on Ken Jeong not guessing her identity on The Masked Singer
00:56
Margaret Cho on hosting All About Sex on TLC
02:37
Margaret Cho on her time co-hosting Fashion Police
01:35

Andy Cohen

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Andy Cohen on his role as Executive Producer on seasons two through five of Project Runway
01:11
Andy Cohen on the Top Chef catchphrase "Pack Your Knives and Go"
01:28
Andy Cohen on casting the first season of Top Chef for personality and later seasons for cooking talent
03:18
Andy Cohen on the Top Chef catchphrase "Pack Your Knives and Go"
01:28
Andy Cohen on the development and casting of Top Chef and the replacement, after season one, of Katie Lee Joel with Padma Lakshmi
03:48
Andy Cohen on his take off on Battle of the Network Stars, Battle of the Network Reality Stars
01:47
Andy Cohen on how the five areas of expertise of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy  hosts helped shape the future vision of Bravo as a network
00:39
Andy Cohen on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy  and his first experience with "regular people" becoming stars
01:20
Andy Cohen on the genesis of The Real Housewives of Orange County
06:32
Andy Cohen on casting Bethenny Frankel on The Real Housewives of New York City and her role on the show
02:05
Andy Cohen on how Jill Zarin changed her look and behavior from one season to another of The Real Housewives of New York City
01:40
Andy Cohen on announcing the death of Osama bin Laden on Watch What Happens Live
00:57
Andy Cohen on why Watch What Happens Live is one of the accomplishments he's proudest of in his career
01:56
Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live
06:28
Andy Cohen on how writing a blog for the Bravo website led to him hosting Watch What Happens Live
01:56

Robert Conrad

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Robert Conrad on competing on Battle of the Network Stars
04:01

Anderson Cooper

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Anderson Cooper on hosting the reality show The Mole
00:58

Tony Danza

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Tony Danza on Teach: Tony Danza
07:08

Elise Doganieri

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Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster on why The Amazing Race wins Emmy Awards; on the legacy of the show

Ralph Edwards

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Ralph Edwards on the idea for This Is Your Life and memorable guests and episodes of the program
21:56

Ruth Engelhardt

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Ruth Engelhardt on syndicating The People's Court
04:38

Albert Freedman

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Albert Freedman on becoming a producer on Twenty One, coaching contestants, and convincing Charles Van Doren to become a contestant on the program
29:12
Albert Freedman on Charles Van Doren becoming a celebrity because of his appearances of Twenty One; on the beginning of the Quiz Show Scandals; on not wanting to implicate Charles Van Doren
28:55
Albert Freedman on being indicted during the Quiz Show Scandals, being blacklisted, going to Mexico, and returning to the U.S. to testify again after Charles Van Doren agreed to testify
28:38
Albert Freedman on reaching out to Charles Van Doren's lawyer to explain the circumstances under which Freedman would be testifying before the Grand Jury for a third time, > on > Robert Redford's movie "Quiz Show" and whether or not the film was accurate, and the impact of the Quiz Show Scandals on the medium of television - the end of the intelligent era of live TV
28:16
Albert Freedman on whether today's quiz shows are affected by the Quiz Show Scandals
01:46

Tom Freston

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Tom Freston on creating the MTV "soap opera" The Real World
03:25
Tom Freston on how reality TV played into MTV
10:05

Julian Gomez

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Julian Gomez on editing Paradise Hotel
20:20
Julian Gomez on being assigned to edit various elements of The Amazing Race like the "Detour" or the "Roadblock"
03:08
Julian Gomez on editing for The Amazing Race
01:14:46
Julian Gomez on editing Big Brother
42:53

Marilu Henner

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Marilu Henner on appearing on Celebrity Apprentice  and working with Donald Trump
04:18

Don Roy King

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Don Roy King on directing Survivor finales
05:32

John Langley

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John Langley on comparing Cops to game-based-type reality shows
01:32
John Langley on Cops
58:19

Susan Lucci

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Susan Lucci on competing on Dancing With the Stars
06:05

Barney McNulty

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Barney McNulty on doing cue cards for Queen for a Day
02:49

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner

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Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner on appearing on The Surreal Life
01:33

Leslie Moonves

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Leslie Moonves on getting Survivor on the air, casting the show
10:07

Bertram van Munster

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Bertram van Munster on creating/producing Wild Things  and working on a wildlife series that focuses on exotic animals and how it changed the genre
Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster on why The Amazing Race wins Emmy Awards; on the legacy of the show

Jonathan Murray

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Jonathan Murray on the impact An American Family had on him
00:43
Jonathan Murray on the creation of The Real World 
00:42
Jonathan Murray on outlining episodes and editing The Real World
05:06
Jonathan Murray on The Real World
55:02
Jonathan Murray on the style of reality television influencing scripted TV and commercials
00:22
Jonathan Murray on the term "reality television"
02:16
Jonathan Murray on the creation of Road Rules
04:33
Jonathan Murray on the creation, casting, and cancellation of The Simple Life
10:20
Jonathan Murray on the creation and shooting of Keeping Up with the Kardashians
08:08
Jonathan Murray on the creation of The Bad Girls Club
04:30
Jonathan Murray on his involvement with Project Runway
14:58
Jonathan Murray on controversial wins on Project Runway (Gretchen over Mondo); on Mondo sharing that he is HIV positive; on the show's popularity
05:41
Jonathan Murray on the overall popularity of reality programming in recent years
02:21
Jonathan Murray on the premise behind Making the Band
02:21
Jonathan Murray on the state of reality TV today (2011)
01:50
Jonathan Murray on critics of reality television, the future of reality TV, and cast members on shows
04:59
Jonathan Murray on what he's learned about human nature from his work in reality TV
01:57

Alan Neuman

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Alan Neuman on directing You Asked For It
02:19

Horace Newcomb

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Horace Newcomb on television genres and the rise of reality television
03:39

Bernie Orenstein

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Bernie Orenstein on his first writing job in the United States, on Candid Camera and being paired up with Joan Rivers, who was also on the writing staff
01:22

Don Pike

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Don Pike on returning to NBC in 1967 as a technical director and acting as technical director on the Miss America Pageant
06:42

Jeff Probst

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Jeff Probst on hosting Survivor
59:25
Jeff Probst on specific contestants from Survivor
05:59
Jeff Probst on his favorite Survivor seasons
01:34

Martha Quinn

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Martha Quinn on appearing on Star Search with Ed McMahon
01:35

Hector Ramirez

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Hector Ramirez on working on Dancing With the Stars
24:59
Hector Ramirez on his opinion of reality television
01:02

Marian Rees

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Marian Rees on going to work on This is Your Life  hosted by Ralph Edwards
03:26

Fatima Robinson

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Fatima Robinson on the process for choreographing performances on music competition shows, and on her work on specific programs
02:08

George Schlatter

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George Schlatter on producing Real People
14:54

Judith Sheindlin

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Judith Sheindlin on watching The People's Court and knowing she could do better, by using humor
01:00
Judith Sheindlin on Judge Judy
13:05
Judith Sheindlin on Judge Judy
49:27

Saul Turteltaub

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Saul Turteltaub on writing for and performing on Candid Camera
03:05

Leslie Uggams

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Leslie Uggams on appearing on The Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club
01:26

Bruce Vilanch

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Bruce Vilanch on appearing on Celebrity Fit Club
02:42

John Walsh

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John Walsh on being approached to host America's Most Wanted on the new FOX network
06:06

Joseph A. Wapner

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Joseph Wapner on Ralph Edwards and Stu Billett approaching him about doing a television show (The People's Court); on shooting the pilot for the show
05:31
Joseph Wapner on shooting The People's Court and becoming recognizable to the public
28:31
Joseph Wapner on the set of The People's Court; on the main function of a judge; on the legacy of the program
11:34
Joseph Wapner on the timing on The People's Court; on the program being featured in the film "Rain Man"
04:48

Fred Willard

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Fred Willard on co-hosting Real People
08:19

Lauren Zalaznick

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Lauren Zalaznick on the challenge of building on the success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as head of Bravo, and on shows she programmed early in her tenure there
05:24
Lauren Zalaznick on the impact Queer Eye for the Straight Guy had on Bravo's programming
02:54
Lauren Zalaznick on Battle of the Network Reality Stars
01:57
Lauren Zalaznick on Project Greenlight, and on developing Project Runway
14:09
Lauren Zalaznick on developing The Real Housewives of Orange County for Bravo
12:23
Lauren Zalaznick on developing Top Chef for Bravo
11:23
Lauren Zalaznick on heading up the Oxygen network, and on The Bad Girls Club
04:25
Lauren Zalaznick on the Oxygen series Snapped and The Glee Project
03:04

Jeff Zucker

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Jeff Zucker on NBC's reluctance to move into Reality TV programming at the time of his becoming President of NBC Entertainment
02:45
Jeff Zucker on his idea to "supersize" Friends episodes in order to compete with Survivor
03:48
Jeff Zucker on putting Fear Factor, The Weakest Link, and The Apprentice on NBC
02:30
Jeff Zucker on the impact on the network of putting reality programming on NBC
02:01
Jeff Zucker on why Reality TV resonated with audiences when it first gained popularity in the early 2000s
01:21
Jeff Zucker on NBC's acquisition of Bravo and the success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
03:48
Jeff Zucker on The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice
02:13