I can't think of one season of Survivor I sat all the way through. Even the first season, with an especially dynamic cast and the novelty of the show, was not enough to get me to tune in faithfully every week. I'd get a few episodes in and then disappear until around the final 9/8 contestants. I've done the same thing with American Idol, Big Brother, Top Chef, and a slew of other reality TV shows. This realization came to my mind when I was watching America's Got Talent on Tuesday night. I had, quite simply, grown tired of seeing these same performers week in and week out. The ones that tried new things with their routines mostly bored me or failed miserably. The ones that did the same thing again were blindly praised by the judges for not achieving anything new. And the ones that did do something exciting and different had major problems that resulted in elimination the next night. I was burned out.
The novelty of reality TV is this sort of voyeur factor. We get to watch total strangers go through certain challenges that we'll likely never experience ourselves. We see their triumphs and failures, their sorrow and joy, and view it as entertainment. I don't think the genre crosses the line into something un-watchable until the producers decide exploitation is the way to garner ratings. No, I don't need lingering shots of a singer's severely handicapped wife being wheeled out into a crowded room with a piece of paper forced into her hand to learn about a contestant. I just need to see what they can do within the confines of a competition.
Yet, even on the best of shows, I can get reality TV fatigue syndrome. This is where--no matter how much fun you've had watching in the past--you can't take another episode for at least a few weeks. It can strike at anytime and on any kind of show. Candid reality show about a person's life? Fatigue. Competitive dancing show? Fatigue. Weekly game-show styled reality show with new contestants constantly added? Fatigue. Docu-dramas about people struggling with addiction or illness? Fatigue. But why?
The reality shows I do get all the way through have a great sense of movement to them. The Voice streamlined the reality TV singing competition into a fast-paced contest with high stakes, talented singers, and great judges. Even when the show slowed down for four weeks to do the battle rounds (that could have been done in two hours, easily), there was enough changing each episode to keep it interesting.
Project Runway casts dynamic personalities with mediocre to good skills and throws increasingly harder challenges at the contestants every week. Even the most derivative challenge seems fresh on a new season because you don't know how the disparate personalities with get along.
What's killing America's Got Talent for me right now is the weekly sameness. Sharon and Piers will fight. Howie and Piers will fight. Nick and Piers will fight. Piers will buzz an act because he might hate [insert style/sexual orientation/age/species here] acts. Sharon will over-praise a mediocre act so she can separate herself from Piers.
Even the acts are repeating the same set-pieces. There are only three dance groups that made the semifinals and did not do a post-apocalyptic routine. All of the singers have stood by themselves onstage with a twinkly backdrop singing a ballad or midtempo song. All the young musicians have performed on scaffolding. When you do the same thing every week and expect the audience to not notice, you're running your show the wrong way.
How can shows get past this fatigue? First, audition-based shows can streamline the audition process. Do we need two months of auditions--three to four hours a week, two nights a week, every week--followed by another two and a half months of live performances and results shows--four to five hours a week, two to three nights a week, every week--to get to a winner? Or could they maybe speed up the early process, focusing on contestants that actually advance to the voting rounds, so the time doesn't feel like a huge waste?
Second, the producers need to make sure the show seems fresh every week. On a scripted show, they don't just repeat the same thing over and over every week. There's some new kind of conflict--a situation on the job, a new neighbor, a fight, etc.--that produces a new story.
Reality TV shows can't guarantee a fight or major life event every week. What they can do is find a way to make each episode unique. Focus on a different contestant. Require a specific challenge that everyone needs to follow. Rotate out your music director, choreographer, or director. If the show seems a little new and exciting every week, people aren't going to grow as tired.
I really do enjoy reality TV. I just wish there were more shows I could invest in from start to finish.
What do you think? Every suffer from reality TV fatigue syndrome? Have ideas for how to fix it? Sound off below.