Blog 13

This week’s blog I thought I would discuss the story of Susan Boyle. Now I’m sure you have all heard of this lady. She had recently auditioned on the UK’s reality talent competition. Let’s just say Boyle is not the most stunning lady we have seen on reality television. You can definitely say Boyle has been a huge hit in our news recently. Most people dream about have an opportunity like this, still being able to get the chance to become famous while the “looks” are not there. Boyle has a quite interesting personality.
This 47 year old woman has been singing since she was 12 and has thought she has never really been given the chance to become famous with her singing, and now by appearing on Britain’s Got Talent, not only has she become famous with her singing but by her personality and the history of her life we could just say. Boyle has an amazing voice that the judges could not believe! She lives alone in a Scottish village and admitted on television that she had never been kissed. She lives alone with her cat Pebbles. Susan Boyle has become a worldwide hit after she appeared on the talent show on April 10th weekend, since then she has drawn 13 million viewers on you tube. Boyle’s mother who recently died at the age of 91 has always pushed her to appear on the show, and now that experience is paying off with how supportive all the fans have been she said.
In a way Boyle reminds me of Britain’s little Connie Talbot, who is just six years old but yet still had an amazing voice and become famous just by singing on the show, now how many 6 year olds could say they are famous and great singers?
Hope you enjoyed the post, and check out the links for some videos!!

http://realitytv.about.com/b/2009/04/18/susan-boyle-is-the-reason-we-love-reality-television.htm

This week I decided to talk about teenagers who are exposed to sexual contents on television at young ages. I think this is an extremely important topic to know and understand what is happening in our society today. Unplanned pregnancies and sexual transmitted diseases are mostly common among the teenagers who are already sexually active.
The average teenager watches 3 hours on TV daily. I found in a article that 65% of high school seniors have already had sexual intercourse, this is in reality a very young age especially compared to back in the day when talking about sex was not even an option. The part that I don’t understand is that we expose our young teenagers to shows such as CSI, Family Guy, Simpsons and Secret Life of an American Teenager. Also another thing is that it’s not only about sex in these shows but we have set times on these shows running them at times when these times are considered “family” television time.
During the years from 1999-2000, 68% of television contained sexual content while only a couple of shows showed demonstrated safety during sex. Many teenagers experimenting sex at a young age quote in later years that they wish they would have waited longer. I had found on a website that the younger teenagers try to act more mature. They think by acting older it’s okay for them to experience sexual activities. I found a site that has a list of shows that they believe are suitable and not suitable for young children.
TV is one of the greatest influences on today’s society. It is amazing how much children and young teenagers are picking up from only watching maybe an hour of television a day. I think we need to reexamine the content we are exposing our children and young viewers too. Children’s behaviors are highly affected by their role models, and in this case their role models are considered to be the television shows they are watching. Now what do you think? Do you think that we have too much sexual content too little or just the right amount.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9068/index1.html
http://www.apa.org/monitor/may01/sexualtv.html
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/3/e280
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/teensexuality/a/teen_sex8.htm

I felt as if there has been a lot of recent interesting news in reality TV, so I have decided to all let you know some of the latest information. I have talked about Melissa Rycroft in other recent blogs but I just wanted to show that after appearing in a reality show she really hit the big screens. Let’s just say that Melissa Rycroft is a big hit in not only reality television but in all around public. After Rycroft was dumped by bachelor Jason Mesnick, she was asked to appear on another reality show “Dancing with the Star.” Now with recent news Melissa Rycroft is now asking to pose nude in men’s publications, she was offered $500 000. "Hef really wants Melissa to do a pictorial because she's the ultimate girl next door," a source told Star. "He thinks she has it all: beauty, brains and spunk. And it doesn't hurt that she has a terrific figure."
When it comes to “Jon and Kate plus 8” there may no longer be the camera side of things. The show has recently aired their fourth season finale when Jon was quoted on the show “Maybe we’ll be back, maybe we won’t” according to the Post. Jon had also told cameras that it has become very difficult being on the camera side of everything and not being able to be just “Jon” but he has to be “Jon and Kate plus 8.” Early February Jon was seen out at a bar located about 3 miles from his 1.3 million dollar home. “He was dirty dancing with several of them, making out, kissing them on their necks and mouths," a bystander told Star magazine. "I thought it was rather surprising for a father with his wife and so many kids at home to be acting like this. He was all over one girl, a long-haired blonde who's nearly 6-feet-tall. He left with several of the girls, including her." Now say if Jon was just a typical average male out at bar this would be a completely different story. This story would never hit paparazzi. This goes to show how about actual personal life you truly have, slim to none I would say. Although Jon has denied the stories and called them rumors and lies, him and his wife have been reported spending some alone time without the kids to “heal things.”
As I have been trying to mention to everything in my blogs is that once you have appeared on reality TV you really don’t have your own life or should I say private life?
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/report-tlc-announce-jon-%26-kate-plus-8-fifth-season-next-week-8691.php

This week’s blog I have decided to talk a little more about Jade Goody. Some of you may know who she is and some may not. She appeared on Big Brother season 3 becoming a star in reality television. Jade Goody has recently passed away Sunday March 22nd, 2009. "She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer, which will benefit thousands of women across the UK." This was a direct quote from the BBC News online. Jade Goody is one of those stars that has been had a huge impact during and after her time on reality TV. She was actually diagnosed with cervical cancer while on the show in 2002. The disease had spread to her liver, groin and bowel when she was told it was very terminal February 2009. All she had wanted to do after hearing the terrible news was spend all the time she could with her husband Jack Tweed and her two boys, Bobby and Freddy. Goody died peacefully at home with all her family and close friends. Goody was in high hopes of educating our world about the risks of cancer and I think she has done a fantastic job. Cancer Research UK chief executive Harpal Kumar said: "Her brave battle with an aggressive form of cervical cancer has received widespread public attention and encouraged thousands of women to seek advice on how to prevent the disease. Here is a video clip of Goody talking and people talking about her. This is a true amazing story although it ended in grief I believe Goody is truly an inspirational person. It seems crazy just to think she only became famous and her story would have gone unnoticed if she had not appeared on season 3 of Big Brother.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7925719.stm

This week’s blog I have decided to talk about the reality TV contestants that have made their life famous after appearing on these shows. It is really amazing to see how many people are appearing in magazines as news goes on in their life, you always hear things such as, remember the girl that was on the bachelorette or remember the guy that was in survivor doing this.
Recent news shows that Mike who is also known as “The Miz” from the Real World: Back to New York almost became the most successfully former reality TV cast member in terms of money. Mike was in the contest by WWE’s named “Tough Enough” and lost in the finals for a grand prize of one million dollars and a four year contract but he had lost. Although this is not the point, I wanted to just show you that if this guy was just any regular guy it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Many people become more famous after their reality TV time while many of the others fail at doing so. Just by appearing on reality television does not give you a guarantee of success. There are many other reality television contestants that have become famous such as, Richard Hatch, Kyle Brandt, Jacinda Barrett and our famous bachelorette winner Trista Rehn Sutter and Ryan Sutter.
Let’s look at our famous American Idol winners. Kelly Clarkson, one of the most famous pop singers today, started out with a simple tryout. We also have Kellie Pickler, Josh Gracin who are both famous country singer and Chris Daughtry who signs alternative rock. I also found a interesting fact that, Colbie Caillat who sings “Bubbly” and “Realize” had once tried out for American Idol but did not make it past the first round.
This just goes to show that you can become famous quite easily from appearing reality television, if you got some sort of talent or a good personality for these reality television shows you are pretty well shoe in. All you got to do is stand out among the crowd in auditions.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081021113924AA7s3Cx
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6707368/

This week I have decided to blog about the recently heard news involving reality TV. There are always new “gossip” and rumors going around when it comes to reality television. I don’t know if any of you have heard yet but Nancy O’Dell and Jewell were suppose to be competing in Dancing with the Stars season 8 but has recently been suffering from a knee injury. A couple days ago it was reported that CMT’s “Hope and Faith” Kelly Ripa was going to O’Dell’s replacement for the show but now the rumor has already changed. Melissa Rycroft from the Bachelor who was recently dumped after being proposed to on national television by Jason Mesnick is now said to be one of the replacements due to O’Dell’s and Jewell’s knee injuries. Jewell’s replacement as the moment is former Playboy model and “Girls next door” star Holly Madison.
American Idol 8 decided to have a top 13 instead of the usual top 12 finalists. The judges decided to have a “Wild Card Round” to give the show a bit of a twist when they had surprised Ryan Anoop. You can find more information on the episode revealing the top 13 finalists of American Idol season 8.
The Hill’s star Lauren Conrad told US Weekly that she will be leaving the show. Conrad quoted in the magazine. “I've spent the last five years making every decision be about the show. People I date have to be able to film, the places I work have to let us film and the places I live have to have set lighting. I'm ready to do things on my own. I loved doing it and had so much fun, but it came to a point where I had done it long enough." This interview really explains just how much reality TV can affect your life and decisions you make. I respect Conrad’s decision to leave the show, if you read more on what she said in her interview I believe that would have been a very tough life, so we may sometimes need to stop and think about what those reality television people have to deal with.
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/american-idol-picks-remaining-finalists-and-reveals-top-13-twist-8564.php.
http://realitytvcalendar.com/shows/dwts-8/news/mk030909.html
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/lauren-conrad-the-hills-producer-confirm-she-leaving-show-8561.php

This week’s blog I have decided to talk about the cost of producing reality TV shows and also more information on the audiences of certain types of reality shows. Some shows can be quit costly to produce such as Paramount’s Entertainment Tonight. This show has one of the highest weekly budgets with an amount of $500,000 to $600,000 each week. The production cost usually tends to be on a lower budget with reality television shows based on crime and rescue series. These shows are usually anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 dollars on a weekly basis. This becomes a big factor in Canada because we have both public and private broadcasters and have always depended on the inexpensive American showing schedules. People argue that reality shows are more eye-catching in countries outside of the United States. This may be in result of the other countries creating their own “Cheaper” reality television shows. Some examples of this would be the program “Battle Against Crime” which is produced in Canada and the higher end show of that is the Barbour-Langley’s Cops. Being able to roll the cameras just about on any location is cheaper in the end, there is no props needed to be bought everything is pretty much all there. Some shows can become a bit ridiculous such as Big Brother and the Bachelor/Bachelorette. These shows have very nice and expensive houses making the production of the show to increase very easily and quickly. The highest production cost I found was just under 2 million dollars with the show The Apprentice. Here is a link of listed reality television shows and their costs.
The audiences for reality television shows expectations are fit to the types of genders of the show such as males targeted at 18-49 are most likely interested in watching crime and rescue mean while woman ages 18-49 are more interested in tabloid shows. A good example of a tabloid show is Oprah Winfrey Show which is primarily aired during the day. The show America’s Funniest Home Video’s is a show that can be defined as a family show but it tends to grab men and children’s attention more than women’s.
And as you can see I believe that the costs and work put in to the production pays off for the result of the ratings. Hope you enjoyed reading about the production and costs of reality TV, I believe that its becoming a little too expensive, but hey when you make it all back it works back for your company right?
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/realityprogr/realityprogr.htm
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/tv-production1.htm
http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/related_news/2004_Jul_28_costs_rising