I was watching an episode of Project Runway in which the contestants were interviewed about how they missed the most recent cast-off, and, you know, how it's difficult because you make friends with these people but they're also your competition.
The episode originally aired October 22, 2009. Survivor, generally credited with popularizing competitive reality television in the United States, first aired in 2000. Why am I watching a narrative thread that hasn't changed, from season to season or from show to show, in almost ten years?Reality TV is ubiquitous now. Casting directors thrill to find contestants who aren't already longtime fans of these long-running shows, so that we can get those juicy "I wasn't expecting a twist!" voice overs. Viewers are getting wise to the dread beast editing, how contestants' footage can be spliced, or the boring parts omitted, to create drama where none existed. As soon as a controversial episode airs, the Internet is flooded with debunking and interviews with the participants, supposedly to clear the air. We've learned not to believe what we're shown, yet the powers that be seem to think this is the only kind of story we want. Moreover, the unchanging narration (oh, is someone going home tomorrow? I had no idea!) suggests a tone deafness on the part of producers and editors, still spelling it out for viewers new to the genre — yet I defy you to find one.
We get miniscule advancements, tiny nods to the fact that the format is old hat by now. All recent Bachelors and Bachelorettes, inevitably rejected contestants from recent seasons, get to confess how they didn't realize just how difficult it is to make the keep-or-dump choices on their first season, but now they understand. This is supposed to redeem them in our eyes and remind us how much we liked them before overexposure bred distaste. Every once in a while, Survivor pays off when some self-declared "student of the game" is outlasted by the rivals he considered beneath him. Even then, the rivals are never asked how much Survivor they've seen, because it isn't vital to their story line.
It's time to stray from the formula. No, further. No, further. I understand that, no matter how outstanding a show's concept, what truly makes a reality show successful is people who are feeling...feelings. But what we've been shown for a decade have been the same feelings, brought about in the same way, by a seemingly endless supply of contestants.
The people on reality television have seen other reality shows before. Almost all of them. You can't tell me that "I'm not here to make friends" is the best quote from their confessional sessions. I bet these contestants are saying things that are fantastically self aware, possibly even meta, offering a commentary on the format, perhaps comparing their experience with past seasons. I'm looking forward to the time when producers begin to stray from coaxing the familiar sound bytes out of their contestants and show us a new take on the format altogether. I bet the raw materials are already there in incidental and confessional footage; it's just a matter of making a new approach to storytelling that I believe is long overdue.