Reality television is as American as baseball and apple pie. People cannot seem to get enough of watching people cry and scream at each other on television.
This is showcased in the truly amazing number of reality shows available on cable and streaming services these days. I am one of these people who loves reality television. I am not the least bit ashamed to admit it!
For obvious reasons, this year reality television is going to need to change, and every show is taking to this change differently. It’s going to be a very different fall television season with all of these changes, and here are some of the most popular reality shows’ rumored plans to return.
One of the shows that has had the easiest time adjusting to this change is “Big Brother.” The premise of the show is that 20 strangers are locked inside of a house together with no connection to the outside world, and they compete in competitions and vote each other out of the house.
This is one of the best setups to work with in this new world. The contestants only see each other, there is no host or cameramen working inside the house and everything is done remotely. The contestants are also sequestered after they are voted off the show, either in a hotel so the public doesn’t find out who got voted out, or in the jury house to vote to decide the winner at the end of the season.
All they had to do was quarantine for two weeks before the show began, and they were set to participate. The show is basically like its own imposed quarantine. They did not have to change much, if anything at all, except for the presence of a live studio audience on certain nights.
The show came back in August with an all-star season of returning players, which has had extreme success so far. While they did have the advantage of a format that helped move this process along, “Big Brother” has proven that this kind of reality television experience is possible, even in the midst of COVID-19.
Everyone’s comfort show, “The Great British Baking Show,” has announced that they are also making a new season, coming out soon on Sept. 25. The show has worked to make sure everyone involved in the show is going to be as safe as possible. The entirety of the cast and crew has been together in a nearby hotel, with no other contact with anyone outside of that circle.
Usually, the contestants go home during the week and only come to film on the weekends. This year, all of the episodes were filmed consecutively over the course of about six weeks. Even all of the ingredients that the bakers will use in the show were shipped carefully, and cleaned with UV lights when they arrived.
Time will tell how this new format will work out when the show premieres this week, but if the world needs anything right now, it’s this show.
Now, the Bachelor franchise usually has absolutely no problem advertising their new season with previews and teasers for months before it comes out. However, for the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette,” they have been shockingly quiet about how things are going to play out. This may be because of the ongoing drama of Clare Crawley leaving the show mid-filming, and her being replaced by a new bachelorette.
There were also rumors of host Chris Harrison leaving and needing to be replaced for two weeks because he had finally had enough of meddling in other people’s love lives, though that was debunked. But, I think a lot of it has to do with the changes that the show is going to have to make. One of the major elements of the show is the globetrotting and amazing lavish dates that the contestants go on. Another major part of the show is the hometown dates, where the final four bring the bachelorette home to meet their families. Both of these pieces are pretty unlikely to occur. Sadly, there seems to be very little credible information about what this season will look like, but all I know is that I am looking forward to the show’s return.
Reality television has only made it this far because it has been highly adaptable to the times and willing to change to fit in with the public’s favor. I have no doubt that they will be able to change with these times, and maybe even improve in the process.
Leave a Reply