1948 marked the beginning of the Reality TV era with
the first show being Candid Camera, which
was an American hidden camera and practical joke reality TV series. This show
created a new genre of television in which every day people are put into
certain situations and followed by a camera to capture their reactions. Viewers
enjoyed watching these people get pranked. Many series have followed, making
Reality TV one of the most consistently popular television trends in history.
One of these very successful reality TV shows is The Real Housewives franchise, which
constitutes of multiple very successful series. The show documented the lives
of multiple housewives throughout different regions of the US. This trend began
in 2006 with the Orange County housewives. It focused on the drama and fights
that these women had with other people and with each other. Past experiences,
such as cheating husbands and unresolved conflicts were often the beginning of
every argument in the show. Now a days the public looks at most of these women as
stuck up, snobby, dramatic individuals. The buzz about these shows only grew greater
and greater. The true success behind this franchise and other reality tv shows
is the crave that the American viewers have for drama.
In the case of The
Real Housewives of Orange County, the show is very heavily formatted and
sometimes even scripted. The events are usually planned before shooting begins.
An example of this was clearly seen back in November 1, 2011 when a producer of
the show wrote to the ex-husband of one of the stars, Tamra Barney, to see if
he would be willing to participate in a staged scene after the couple’s harsh
divorce. As in movies, the lives of these individuals are exaggerated and small
problem become huge fights, romantic events are fairy tale like, and life just
seems to be either so much better or so much worse than the viewers. At the
start of the show, the viewers were able to relate to it and felt compassion
when devastating events happened, and felt genuinely happy when the “actresses”
were faced with a positive event. As time went by, viewers began to realize the
phoniness behind these types of shows and felt that the women were being over
dramatic and fake. This began the era of the spoofs; one of these being The Real Husband of Hollywood.
The Real Husbands
of Hollywood is an American comedy reality TV
parody which airs on BET. It was created
to make fun of reality television. Unlike other television shows, this show is
actually scripted to create a surreal life in Hollywood mocking rich, dramatic
women. The cast is made u of comedians Kevin Hart and J.B. Smoove, actors Nick
Cannon, Boris Kodjoe and Duane Martin, and artists Robin Thicke and Nick
Cannon. The first episode focuses on introducing the characters. Each character
is introduced with a certain characteristic.
The star of the show, Kevin Hart, is introduced as
having a show-off lifestyle in comparison to the women in the original show. J.B.
Smoove gives the aspect of jealousy and distrust based on the number one reason
for the drama in the shows. Boris’ character portrays that well-known woman
that thinks she is too pretty for her own good. These are just some examples of
the exaggerated comparison the spoof makes to the housewives series. This show
directly targets viewers who have a negative conception of the original show
and tend to make fun of it. After realizing how fake reality TV really is,
viewers began to grow a resentment towards the characters in each show. Seeing
other famous actors make fun of these individuals in a non-harmful way, it
gives the viewers a sense of enjoyment. Basically, the show target people who
hate reality TV and understand the falseness of it.
