Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as The Real World, then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idol, and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature the gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the series Misterogers debuted in Canada on October 15, 1962, on CBC Television. In 1966, Rogers moved back to the United States creating Misterogers' Neighborhood, later called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, on the regional Eastern Educational Television Network. The U.S. national debut of the show occurred on February 19, 1968. It aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001.
American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to April 7, 2016, for 15 seasons. It was on hiatus for two years until March 11, 2018, when a revival of the series began airing on ABC.
Matthew Wyatt "Matt" Rogers is an American television host and country singer. He was also one of the finalists on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, he became a television host with series Really Big Things and There Goes the Neighborhood.
Nashville Star is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television at the time. In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT in the United States reaired each episode in season 6.
Rupert Frederick Boneham is an American mentor for troubled teens who became known to reality television audiences in 2003 as a contestant on Survivor: Pearl Islands. He later appeared on the All Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, and Blood vs. Water seasons of Survivor, placing fourth, sixth, and 20th, respectively. He was ultimately a fan favorite among Survivor viewers, who voted him a million-dollar winner on Survivor: America's Tribal Council, a special episode of Survivor: All-Stars. The prize was awarded after a nationwide popular vote in which Boneham received 85% of the votes cast. Boneham and his wife Laura later competed on the 31st season of The Amazing Race and were the second team eliminated.
The Assistant is a reality television series that parodies other reality shows such as The Apprentice, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Survivor, American Idol, and Fear Factor. Its eight episodes originally aired on MTV. It features comedian Andy Dick's search for a new personal assistant. The beginning of the first episode parodied The Bachelor, with the twelve contestants arriving in limousines, and Dick waiting outside to greet them with his maid and butler. A "rose ceremony" immediately followed, and one contestant was eliminated.
Big Brother 3 is the third season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The series premiered on CBS on July 10, 2002 and lasted for a total of 82 days. The series concluded on September 25, 2002 when Lisa Donahue was crowned the winner, and Danielle Reyes the runner-up. The premise of the series remained similar to the previous season. The series revolved around twelve strangers living in a house together with no communication with the outside world. They were constantly filmed during their time in the house, and were not permitted to communicate with those filming them. One HouseGuest, known as the Head of Household, had the task of nominating two of their fellow HouseGuests for eviction. The Power of Veto could be used to save a nominee. The HouseGuests then voted to evict one of the nominees, with the HouseGuest who received the most votes being evicted from the house. When only two HouseGuests remained, the previously evicted HouseGuests would decide which of them would win the $500,000 grand prize.
Big Brother 5 is the fifth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The season premiered on CBS on July 6, 2004, and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 21, 2004. This season was the first to be accompanied by the House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show spin-off series, which was viewable online and discussed the events of the game. The fifth season continued to have the ratings success of the previous season, averaging more than eight million viewers per episode. The Big Brother 5 premiere garnered 9.55 million viewers, almost matching that of the previous season's launch night. Ratings stayed gradually the same, with the finale receiving more than 10 million viewers. The season premiere currently has the third highest ratings for a premiere episode, only behind Big Brother 1 and Big Brother 4. Big Brother 5 featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, an increase from previous editions. The series ended after 82 days, in which HouseGuest Drew Daniel was crowned the Winner, and Michael Ellis the Runner-Up.
Big Brother 6 is the sixth season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It is based upon the Dutch series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The series premiered on CBS on July 7, 2005, and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 20, 2005. This season was the second to be accompanied by the House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show spin-off series, which was viewable online and discussed the events of the game. The sixth season saw a moderate decline in ratings. The season premiered to a total of 8.47 million viewers, the lowest premiere numbers since 2001. Though the finale had a total of ten million viewers, the series averaged 7.24 million viewers, a series low at the time. Big Brother 6 featured a total of 14 HouseGuests, the same number that was featured in the previous season. This was the highest number of initial HouseGuests to enter the house, due to the twin twist the previous season. The series ended after 80 days, in which HouseGuest Maggie Ausburn was crowned the Winner, and Ivette Corredero the Runner-Up.
The third season of American Idol premiered on Monday, January 19, 2004, and continued until May 26, 2004. The third season was won by Fantasia Barrino, who defeated Diana DeGarmo by an approximate margin of 2% ; the vote total was then the highest recorded vote total in the show's history. This season also featured future EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson, who finished seventh in the competition.
Philippine Idol is the first version of the Idol series in the Philippines, the 35th country in the world to air a local Idol adaptation and the sixth in Asia. It was broadcast by ABC 5, with the original release in 2006. Similar to the premise of original show Pop Idol, Philippine Idol aims to find the best singer in the country who can be defined as the "national" singer. Local television personality Ryan Agoncillo hosted the program. Ryan Cayabyab, Pilita Corrales and Francis Magalona were also judges of the show. Agoncillo, Corrales and Magalona auditioned to be part of the program, while Cayabyab was chosen by the program's producers. Meanwhile, actress Heart Evangelista hosted the daily updates program I ♥ Philippine Idol: Exclusive. Composer Mel Villena was the show's musical director.
Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox network. The channel also featured reality shows syndicated from other networks, as well as many international shows from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The channel was led by reality television industry veteran, David Lyle, network programmer, Bob Boden, cable marketing executive, Lorey Zlotnick and FOX Executive, David Nathanson who oversaw business and operations.
Big Brother 8 is the eighth season of the American reality television series Big Brother It is based upon the Netherlands series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The season premiered on CBS on July 5, 2007 and lasted eleven weeks until the live finale on September 18, 2007. The eighth season saw little to no change in ratings. The season premiered to 7.40 million viewers, the lowest premiere numbers for any season at the time. The season finale had 8.51 million viewers, making it the second lowest rated finale at the time. In total, the series averaged 7.52 million viewers, only 0.4 behind the previous edition. Big Brother 8 featured 14 HouseGuests, the same amount that was featured in the previous season. The series ended after 81 days, in which HouseGuest Dick Donato was crowned the winner, and his daughter Daniele Donato the runner-up.
The Amazing Race is an American reality competition show in which teams of two race around the world. Each season is split into legs, with each leg requiring teams to deduce clues, navigate themselves in foreign areas, interact with locals, perform physical and mental challenges, and travel by airplane, boat, taxi, and other public transportation options on a limited budget provided by the show. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs, while the first team to arrive at the end of the final leg wins the grand prize of US$1 million. As the original version of The Amazing Race franchise, the CBS program has been running since September 5, 2001. Numerous international versions have been developed following the same core structure, while the American version is also broadcast to several other countries.
Survivor is the American version of the international Survivor reality competition television franchise, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson created by Charlie Parsons which premiered in 1997. The American series premiered on May 31, 2000, on CBS. It is hosted by Jeff Probst, who is also an executive producer along with Mark Burnett and the original creator, Parsons.
Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands is the eighteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the microregion of Jalapão in Tocantins, Brazil, and first aired Thursday, February 12, 2009. CBS began casting for Survivor: Tocantins once production for Survivor: Gabon was underway. Applications were due by July 15, 2008, with in-person interviews being conducted in various cities sometime in August 2008, and semi-finalists traveling to Los Angeles, California sometime in September 2008. Sixteen applicants were chosen to compete on the show and were initially divided into two tribes. The season was filmed from November 1, 2008, to December 9, 2008. Exile Island returned this season, but with new twists. Instead of one castaway sent to Exile Island, two were sent. While on Exile Island, each exiled castaway picked from one of two urns. One urn contained a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol and an option to join the opposing tribe, while the other urn contained nothing.
Russell Dennis Hantz is an American television personality, best known for his appearances on the U.S. reality show, Survivor. He was the runner-up on Survivor: Samoa, and the second runner-up on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. He also competed on Survivor: Redemption Island and Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders, where he was the second player to be eliminated both times.
Survivor: Island of the Idols is the 39th season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it featured two tribes of ten new contestants. The season was filmed in Fiji during April and May 2019, and aired on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada from September 25, 2019, until December 18, 2019, when Tommy Sheehan was named the winner by an 8–2–0 vote over Dean Kowalski and Noura Salman.
Survivor 43 is the forty-third season of the American reality television series Survivor. The show was filmed from May 2 through May 27, 2022, in Fiji, for an eleventh consecutive season; it premiered on September 21, 2022, on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada. The season concluded on December 14, 2022; Mike Gabler was named the winner of the season, defeating Cassidy Clark and Owen Knight in a 7–1–0 vote. Gabler, aged 51, was the second oldest winner, after Bob Crowley, who was 57 years old at the time of winning Survivor: Gabon. Gabler has stated he intends on donating the one million dollar prize to charity. This is the first season in Survivor history where the oldest contestant of the season was the winner.
