reality television in the philippines

unknown to many, most of the tv shows that we watch today are classified under the genre called "reality tv". so what exactly is reality tv? i quote this definition from wikipedia:

"Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors."

reality tv has 2 basic elements; it is unscripted and it is portrayed by ordinary people. it covers a wide range of formats from quiz shows, dating games, social experiments, job search and many more. it mirrors our lives and that what makes the viewers relate to these shows. it also shows our dream life that we all want to achieve.

it has unconsciously overtaken telenovelas, variety shows and dramas as the most popular show format. it has increasingly been more popular over the years. even philippine local channels has started producing these kind of show. one of the earliest reality show is gma 7's extra challenge, which showcase popular celebrities in different challenges. there were also several talent searches before, such as star search shows star circle quest (abs cbn) and star struck (gma 7) and singing contests such as star for a night (ibc 13), pinoy pop superstar (gma 7), star in a million (abs cbn), and even dance contests such shall we dance of abc 5. today, existing notable locally produced reality shows are qtv 10's may trabaho ka! which was reformatted to hired! and gma 7's kung ako ikaw and tv 5's talentadong pinoy.

several foreign reality shows has also been localized such as big brother (pinoy big brother of abs cbn), america's next top model (philippines' next top model - rpn 9), american idol (philippine idol - abc 5 and recently, pinoy idol - gma 7), star academy (pinoy dream academy - abs cbn), celebrity duets (gma 7), project runway (project runway philippines - etc), survivor (survivor philippines - gma 7) and fear factor (pinoy fear factor - abs cbn). there is also an asian version of the amzing race which is shown in axn. several foreign game shows were also localized such as deal or no deal, wheel of fortune and family feud.

reality tv has definitely captured a great audience in the philippines. one proof is the tremendous text votes during the finale episodes of local shows such as pinoy dream academy, pinoy big brother and philippine idol. we are speaking of millions of votes. the recently concluded pinoy dream academy season 2 almost had 2 million votes. this has also been acknowledge by amazing race asia, and they did include at least a team from the philippines in each season.

reality tv has also catapulted the career of several artists after participating or winning their repective shows. some notyable products of reality shows are sarah geronimo, christian bautista, eric santos, sheryn regis, gerald santos, jonalyn viray, yeng constantino, jayr siaboc, sam milby, jayson gainza, zanjoe marudo, gerald anderson, kim chiu, mark herras, jennilyn mercado, matt evans, melissa ricks, katrina halili and christine reyes. and the list goes on...

reality tv has definitely earned its mark in philippine tv. being a reality tv fan, its really good to know that it has earned a good following in the philippines and its still here to stay.