Everyone Is Watching

Reality television depicts supposedly unscripted situations among contestants or characters who are often not actors—though participants of highly popular reality shows sometimes become celebrities in their own right. Kelly Clarkson, for example, who became famous after winning the first season of American Idol, a reality singing competition, began hosting The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2019.

The genre rose to popularity with The Real World in the 1990s, which transformed the genre of the documentary—its cast included young adults who moved into a house together and were portrayed managing interpersonal disputes while trying to find jobs in a new city. In the 2000s, large franchises of reality shows began to more explicitly work within the competition format. Survivor, for example, which has been on air since 1997, puts characters in a remote location, where they participate in challenges, create alliances, and vote on each other’s elimination from the game. Reality shows also commonly feature to-camera interviews (like the “vault sessions” in the game show in Everyone is Watching), in which competitors provide context or commentary on what viewers have seen.

Despite its name, reality television is unscripted, but is very constructed and produced: Participants are often placed into highly contrived situations or edited to fit certain narrative tropes or stereotypes. The genre has become so popular that participants often start with the understanding that adopting a stereotypical presentation will ensure more airtime. Fans of the highly lucrative genre argue that they do not have expectations of realism. 

Fictional representations of reality TV abound. The film The Truman Show (1998) critiques the genre by featuring a protagonist who learns that his entire life has been staged as a reality show. The drama UnREAL (2015-2018), meanwhile, depicts the production of a fictional reality show based on dating reality show The Bachelor (2002-present). UnREAL presents producers viciously manipulating contestants into emotionally painful or dangerous scenarios to create entertainment. Novels have also replicated the reality television format. The Hunger Games series (2008-2010) by Suzanne Collins offers a dystopian future featuring an annual reality contest where children fight one another to the death.

Fictional depictions of reality TV frequently investigate social issues. Kate Stayman-London’s novel One To Watch (2020) looks at anti-fat bias and beauty norms on dating reality shows, while romance novel The Charm Offensive (2021) by Alison Cochrun looks at burnout and anti-LGTBQ+ biases. Similarly, Everyone is Watching examines issues of corruption, the negative effects of internet media consumption, and the pervasiveness of sexual violence or impropriety by powerful men.