What Makes A Reality Show Work

Last night, after speaking for a local church, I was asked a specific question about Survivor. My answer led into a discussion about reality TV in general, and I found myself opining on something I’ve given (far too much) thought to: why some shows work and some don’t.

This seems like it would be obvious; logic would suggets that the more compelling and credible the individual in question, the better the show will be.

But this is simply untrue.

Take, for example, Snoop Dogg. Snoop is undeniably talented; in fact, he is among the top 5 best rappers of all-time. But his reality show sucked.

Meanwhile, two previously unknown personalities, Rob Dyrdek and Christopher “Big Black” Boykins busted on the scene around the same time, and their show was a resounding success. Years later, people still pine for a new season of Rob and Big.

Then, consider Britney Spears’s reality show vs. Jessica Simpson’s. From a career standpoint, Britney was a far bigger star than Jessica (let’s face it: Britney was a far bigger star than everyone from her era). However, Jessica’s show was a phenomenon, while most don’t remember that Britney even had a show.

Another case in point: there is a show on Lifetime called Dance Moms that just finished its first season, and, even though its a show about preteens and dancing (two hugely uncompelling subjects), it’s a hit. However, there is a show on ET about soap opera stars (i.e. legitimate television personalities) and the show is unwatcheable. Honestly; it’s woefully bad.

Meanwhile, Paris Hilton, whose personal brand was among the biggest of the decade, has been the focus of several failed reality shows, while her stylist, Kim Kardashian, went on to have the most viewed reality show on television. (And what’s most ironic about this is that, while Kim is the “star” of her show, the reason the show works has nothing to do with Kim. In fact, she is the dullest part of the show. Keeping Up With the Kardashians works because of the quirky personalities of her otherwise unnoteworthy family members).

So the key to having a successful reality show has nothing to do with talent or credibility; rather, it has everything to do with having an intangible, ineffable ”it-factor.” The word that most closely explains this factor is “charisma,” but charrisma is not it. I mean, each of these doofs on the ET soap opera show have undeniable charisma, but when filtered through a reality show, they have no “it factor;’ they are just a crowd of boring, pretty people. Meanwhile, a show following  a group of bayou alligator hunters does have this “it factor,” but these people are missing numerous teeth and struggle to form polysyllabic words.

So when it comes to reality TV, everyone gets a fair shot: either you are interesting, or you’re not. (… and, if we’re being honest, having much tolerance for alcohol while having little command of subject-verb agreement always seems to help.)