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Reality Shows already getting on your nerves? | 2008-08-11
This is just the beginning, there is much more to come!
If you are fed-up of the reality tamasha happening on Indian television and find even switching channels an arduous task, then you are not alone.
Reality shows started with a bang and as they were a welcome relief to the mind numbing saas-bahu serials, they became quite popular. People loved the idea of watching others in real life situations and how they deal with them, enjoying their misery and happiness at the same time.
Especially in India and the subcontinent the emotional quotient is quite high. So you are sitting on a goldmine if you make something which emotionally charges up people and gets their tear gland working over time.
Which the Indian television industry realized and this resulted in a swarm of reality shows all over currently!
Surprisingly this is something which Bollywood has already been playing with all these years. Get them to cry and you laugh your way to the bank.
Though this also changed with the advent of comedy shows on TV. With hordes of cheap jokes being flaunted people suddenly realized they had a funny bone.
Now the equation can also be summed as get them to laugh and you laugh your way to the bank.
But now the situation is so bad and vulgar that you can‘t distinguish one show from the other.
The naach gaana and singing shows are the worst. Sometimes the participants in show are judges in the other, raising questions over the authenticity of the whole format as is the case with the recent ‘Aaja mahi vay‘, where Ronit Roy is one of the judges.
Then you have the judges fighting like cats and dogs and cribbing over small issues, leaving shows midway, shouting and doing all sorts of foolish and dumb things which a sane person would never do on national television.
This seemed interesting initially and helped in increasing the TRPs too, but now people can see through the sham these guys are trying to pull off. The constant bickering is not doing any help to the ratings as can be seen with ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009‘, which managed to pull a mere rating of 3.0.
Maybe these guys don‘t realize that one singing show after the other becomes very monotonous and a tad too boring for the viewers. So no matter how many monkey tricks the judges do, it won‘t be of any help.
Now let‘s see the type of reality shows that are there.
Celeb Reality
Shows where you basically get lesser known celebs together and get them to fight and pull each other hair. These have been quite a rage with the public, since India is a celeb hungry nation. They also helped rebuild the images of long forgotten celebs that came back in the limelight just by participating in one of these.
People like Rakhi Sawant, who changed her entire career graph by participating in Big Boss have benefited the most. Other names include Rahul roy, Aryan Vaid, Carol Gracious etc...
Of course shows like ‘Jjhoom India‘, where a professional singer and an actor/celebrity were paired together didn‘t work. Even though they were celebrity based they were just too boring to watch.
To tackle this, fights are staged, just like the one between Chetan Hansraj and Puneet Israni on ‘Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket‘.
Insiders claim that this was pre-planned and done just to get mileage.
Examples of such shows are: ‘Nach Baliye‘, ‘Bigg Boss‘, ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa jaa‘, ‘Jjhoom Inida‘, ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa‘, ‘Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket‘, etc...
Game/Quiz Shows
Yes, you know what they are. A game like KBC revived the fortune of Amitabh Bachchan and he has never looked back since. Though with the others like Govinda, Madhavan, Manisha Koriala it spelled doom.
These usually do well when they have a star power associated with them. Recent examples can be ‘10 ka Dum‘ and ‘Paanchvi Pass‘.
Prank Shows
The funniest, oldest and the purest of the lot as they capture real emotions. Cyrus Broacha started the trend in India with ‘MTV Bakra‘ which I believe is still gong strong.
Various versions were aired on different channels and each tasted moderated success.
But if you happen to watch ‘Just for Laugh Gags‘ on Pogo which is an international prank show you will know that it outdoes the Indian ones by miles.
We are still very naïve and un-intelligent when it comes to playing pranks.
Examples are : ‘Bakra‘, ‘Chuppa rustam‘, ‘Champion Chaalbaz No. 1‘
Dating Shows
More of a post-teen, youth based concept in India but something which has the capability to spread like wildfire if properly executed.
This concept is usually be explored by channels like ‘MTV‘, ‘V‘, ‘Bindass‘ etc. Currently the only form of this show is ‘Splitsvilla‘ in MTV, which itself seems like a spin-off from ‘Roadies‘.
Frankly, all those ugly girls and those two dumb boys repulse me to no end.
Raghu makes it even worse by peeping in most of the time with that shiny taal of his.
The only thing worth watching on the show is Ranvir.
Adventure Shows
Recently in the news with Akshay Kumar‘s ‘Khatron ka Khiladi‘, rest all the earlier ones were foreign productions and not as famous.
Now with this and some other shows like ‘Dadagiri‘ on Bindass it seems like Indians do have to balls to do gory and adventurous things.
Prashant Raj got famous just by participating in ‘The Amazing race Asia‘ with buddy Sahil Shroff and landed up ‘RGV ki Aag‘.
It‘s exciting because it‘s different from the daily soaps, the prize money is good and there is no natak involved.
Since a lot of Indians are slowly opening up to adventure holiday packages, you just might see every channel having a ‘Khatron ka Khiladi‘ of their own.
Examples are: ‘Fear factor‘, ‘KKK‘, ‘Dadagiri‘, ‘Who dares wins‘, ‘Amazing race asia‘ etc...
Talent Hunt shows
Highly irritating but the most famous of all. Just gather a group of young guys and girls, some media hogging judges, two good hosts, razzling dazzling sets and do lots of natak in the name of reality.
In India the skill level of these contestants is usually restricted to singing and dancing, but in America they have come up with lots of different formats.
This trend was started with Channel V when they started auditioning for a band and Viva was formed.
It marked the beginning of reality television in India.
The winners faded into oblivion and nobody cares how they are surviving now, but it sure gave the channels a cracker of an idea to make pots of money.
The SMS system just added to their happiness and now is a major source of earning for any reality show.
Reality shows are here to stay and in India they have a huge potential as only couple of formats have been used, reused and overused.
Once people start accepting new and Indianised formats get ready to see more of reality television.
A reality channel perhaps?
This is just the beginning, there is much more to come!
If you are fed-up of the reality tamasha happening on Indian television and find even switching channels an arduous task, then you are not alone.
Reality shows started with a bang and as they were a welcome relief to the mind numbing saas-bahu serials, they became quite popular. People loved the idea of watching others in real life situations and how they deal with them, enjoying their misery and happiness at the same time.
Especially in India and the subcontinent the emotional quotient is quite high. So you are sitting on a goldmine if you make something which emotionally charges up people and gets their tear gland working over time.
Which the Indian television industry realized and this resulted in a swarm of reality shows all over currently!
Surprisingly this is something which Bollywood has already been playing with all these years. Get them to cry and you laugh your way to the bank.
Though this also changed with the advent of comedy shows on TV. With hordes of cheap jokes being flaunted people suddenly realized they had a funny bone.
Now the equation can also be summed as get them to laugh and you laugh your way to the bank.
But now the situation is so bad and vulgar that you can‘t distinguish one show from the other.
The naach gaana and singing shows are the worst. Sometimes the participants in show are judges in the other, raising questions over the authenticity of the whole format as is the case with the recent ‘Aaja mahi vay‘, where Ronit Roy is one of the judges.
Then you have the judges fighting like cats and dogs and cribbing over small issues, leaving shows midway, shouting and doing all sorts of foolish and dumb things which a sane person would never do on national television.
This seemed interesting initially and helped in increasing the TRPs too, but now people can see through the sham these guys are trying to pull off. The constant bickering is not doing any help to the ratings as can be seen with ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009‘, which managed to pull a mere rating of 3.0.
Maybe these guys don‘t realize that one singing show after the other becomes very monotonous and a tad too boring for the viewers. So no matter how many monkey tricks the judges do, it won‘t be of any help.
Now let‘s see the type of reality shows that are there.
Celeb Reality
Shows where you basically get lesser known celebs together and get them to fight and pull each other hair. These have been quite a rage with the public, since India is a celeb hungry nation. They also helped rebuild the images of long forgotten celebs that came back in the limelight just by participating in one of these.
People like Rakhi Sawant, who changed her entire career graph by participating in Big Boss have benefited the most. Other names include Rahul roy, Aryan Vaid, Carol Gracious etc...
Of course shows like ‘Jjhoom India‘, where a professional singer and an actor/celebrity were paired together didn‘t work. Even though they were celebrity based they were just too boring to watch.
To tackle this, fights are staged, just like the one between Chetan Hansraj and Puneet Israni on ‘Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket‘.
Insiders claim that this was pre-planned and done just to get mileage.
Examples of such shows are: ‘Nach Baliye‘, ‘Bigg Boss‘, ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa jaa‘, ‘Jjhoom Inida‘, ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa‘, ‘Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket‘, etc...
Game/Quiz Shows
Yes, you know what they are. A game like KBC revived the fortune of Amitabh Bachchan and he has never looked back since. Though with the others like Govinda, Madhavan, Manisha Koriala it spelled doom.
These usually do well when they have a star power associated with them. Recent examples can be ‘10 ka Dum‘ and ‘Paanchvi Pass‘.
Prank Shows
The funniest, oldest and the purest of the lot as they capture real emotions. Cyrus Broacha started the trend in India with ‘MTV Bakra‘ which I believe is still gong strong.
Various versions were aired on different channels and each tasted moderated success.
But if you happen to watch ‘Just for Laugh Gags‘ on Pogo which is an international prank show you will know that it outdoes the Indian ones by miles.
We are still very naïve and un-intelligent when it comes to playing pranks.
Examples are : ‘Bakra‘, ‘Chuppa rustam‘, ‘Champion Chaalbaz No. 1‘
Dating Shows
More of a post-teen, youth based concept in India but something which has the capability to spread like wildfire if properly executed.
This concept is usually be explored by channels like ‘MTV‘, ‘V‘, ‘Bindass‘ etc. Currently the only form of this show is ‘Splitsvilla‘ in MTV, which itself seems like a spin-off from ‘Roadies‘.
Frankly, all those ugly girls and those two dumb boys repulse me to no end.
Raghu makes it even worse by peeping in most of the time with that shiny taal of his.
The only thing worth watching on the show is Ranvir.
Adventure Shows
Recently in the news with Akshay Kumar‘s ‘Khatron ka Khiladi‘, rest all the earlier ones were foreign productions and not as famous.
Now with this and some other shows like ‘Dadagiri‘ on Bindass it seems like Indians do have to balls to do gory and adventurous things.
Prashant Raj got famous just by participating in ‘The Amazing race Asia‘ with buddy Sahil Shroff and landed up ‘RGV ki Aag‘.
It‘s exciting because it‘s different from the daily soaps, the prize money is good and there is no natak involved.
Since a lot of Indians are slowly opening up to adventure holiday packages, you just might see every channel having a ‘Khatron ka Khiladi‘ of their own.
Examples are: ‘Fear factor‘, ‘KKK‘, ‘Dadagiri‘, ‘Who dares wins‘, ‘Amazing race asia‘ etc...
Talent Hunt shows
Highly irritating but the most famous of all. Just gather a group of young guys and girls, some media hogging judges, two good hosts, razzling dazzling sets and do lots of natak in the name of reality.
In India the skill level of these contestants is usually restricted to singing and dancing, but in America they have come up with lots of different formats.
This trend was started with Channel V when they started auditioning for a band and Viva was formed.
It marked the beginning of reality television in India.
The winners faded into oblivion and nobody cares how they are surviving now, but it sure gave the channels a cracker of an idea to make pots of money.
The SMS system just added to their happiness and now is a major source of earning for any reality show.
Reality shows are here to stay and in India they have a huge potential as only couple of formats have been used, reused and overused.
Once people start accepting new and Indianised formats get ready to see more of reality television.
A reality channel perhaps?
Comments (3)
You betcha, Indian television sux! | -_-
good stuff, quite informative. The thing about a reality channel just might turn out to be true very soon | Namrats
i lurved it u dared 2 say da truth abt e gals in d splitzvilla....dey suck big time... | fan bitch of bombay bitch
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