What is Reality?

Is "Reality Show" one of those catch phrases they use in marketing, the media, and in Hollywood? Like the one that was so popular back in the Happy Days, "recorded in front of a live audience!"

What exactly makes a show reality, as suppose to fantasy? How about game shows and talk shows? Are they reality shows? If not, why not?

I suppose an easy definition of a reality show is the lack of a script, as oppose to soap opera or other episodic series. But you may ask, what about games shows and talk shows? They don't have scripts, either! However, these shows are tightly controlled and structured so that each minute and each second is counted with fairly clear, if not definite outcome. The new reality shows are suppose to be wild and adventurous so that anything may happen. You may object to that and point to the many rules and ruse used by the producers to steer the show to maximize entertainment value, sometimes even choreographing the participants, not unlike professional wrestling matches. Also, reality shows are heavily edited, which means they can hardly be "recorded live" with the exception of the Survivor's final episode, when the outcome becomes clear. What about those Idols? Are they reality shows?

I think a fuzzy definition of reality show is typical of the English language, or for that matter, any human language. By the strictest of definition, we can only call very few shows truely reality television. For example, Big Brother, if it isn't so heavily edited, would be considered a reality show by almost any definition. As the show becomes more structured behind the scene, either pre- or post-production, the show is less reality, and more a reflection of what the producers want us to think is reality. True reality shows are online: the web cams, the blogs, the chat rooms, the instant messages. They are also the paragon of what Alvin Toffler called the prosumption produced by consumers, for consumers - a true democracy of consumption. Anything else, the Amazing Race, Survivor, Apprentice, etc. are mere reflections controlled by the media giants.

Don't get me wrong. I don't object to these shows. They have their place in our society - as social commentary of our societal values, of our collective cultural heritage. Millenniums from now, future generations will find our magazines and CDs, and wonder what was the religious significance of staring into a rectangular screen five to six hours a day, five or six days a week. Instead of statues and architecture, we leave behind mountains of consumer electronics - the nomadic devices that Jacques Attali pointed out in his book Millennium. These nomadic devices free us to roam while connected to our collective cultural past, the music, the books, even the Internet; yet, at the same time, these devices also isolate us from our fellow human beings, from connecting to one another on a personal and emotionally meaningful level.

What are the societal consequences of a generation raised on nomadic devices? Has anyone ever wondered what reality will be like in twenty years?