Wayne’s World – Where Reality TV is Reality

Michael Hedges November 17, 2005

Touting hits like “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Honey, We’re Killing the Kids,” BBC Entertainment chief Wayne Garvie praises reality TV to public service broadcasters.

In the great shopping center of television, reality TV has come to represent the bargain basement. There’s nothing “good” to watch there, but huge audiences keep coming back for more. No extension of the basic “Fame Academy” or “Big Brother” format is too extreme, dicey, crass or stupid. Yet in the hands of public service television, the BBC among the richest, reality TV has opened the doors, in Garvie’s term, to “a good watch” and more. He spoke recently to broadcasters at the Biel/Bienne ComDays and elevated that audience with snips of his greatest hits.

Public service broadcasters (PSBs) have found difficulty, for the most part, adapting programming to changing audiences and demographics while maintaining, at least, in the spirit of public service. It’s like going to the public library: nice place to go occasionally, when something cannot be found immediately on the internet. News, public affairs and culture fight for the drivers seat. Entertainment is in the boot. Garvie says audiences need PSBs for the high-minded stuff but they “only love us for entertainment.”

Who would have thought a ball-room dancing show on Saturday night would pull neck-in-neck in the UK with famed Endomol UK production X Factor?

“Strictly Come Dancing” is a phenomenon, pairing celebrities with professional ballroom dancers. Garvie is credited for pushing the concept through the system. It launched in the summer of 2004.  Audiences peaked last November at 10 million, though it’s maintained an impressive 30+% share.

Now licensed in the US, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, the show is worth £5 million yearly to BBC Worldwide.  In the US and Italy the show has been renamed “Dancing With The Stars.” The BBC spin-off is a disco version: “Strictly Dance Fever.”

“Honey, We’re Killing the Kids” lacks glamour but makes up for it with punch, a reality TV favorite. Using cleaver animation participants – parents and kids – are shown what the kids will look like at age 40 if their “lifestyles” don’t change. It regularly leaves parents stunned, crying and swearing off 60 per day cigarette habits.  Health advisors then offer blunt words on exercise, literacy, food and the well-known list of bad habits. Its success – though fractional compared with “Strictly Come Dancing” – says Garvie comes from creating a “compelling narrative reflecting the lives they lead.” All very post-modern, really.

At the same conference German TV analyst Torsten Zarges pointed out reality TV’s recent flops, like “Big Boss.” The genre is still the strongest on television because it’s innovative, doesn’t cost much and, he said, “you have to polarize a little bit to be successful.” A new hit reality show in Germany is “Baner sucht Frau” (Farmer wins a wife).

Another trend-setter Zarges pointed out is info comedy, best represented by the American series “The Daily Show.” Game shows are resurging, like Endomol’s “Deal or No Deal” and the game show marathons in the UK. He also “painfully” pointed out the “gap between US and European production.

Every October as the new TV season opens, the “reality is dead” cliché returns only to see a new blockbuster within six months. What will the next one be? Stay tuned, it might be on public television.

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