Unscripted TV fare balances real with "reality"

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-06 14:12

VH1 faced a similar challenge when Hulk Hogan's offscreen family troubles began to overshadow the fourth season of "Hogan Knows Best." Now the show continues as "Brooke Knows Best," focusing on Hogan's daughter.

And when Scott Baio unexpectedly impregnated his girlfriend, VH1's "Scott Baio Is 45 ... and Single" became "Scott Baio Is 46 ... and Pregnant."

The stakes have been raised, however, because of "Jon & Kate's" unexpected surge in popularity. Through four cycles, the show was a reliable, if unspectacular, ratings earner for a struggling channel. Then, in the spring, rumors regarding the marital infidelity of the series' principals began to circulate. US Weekly featured the Gosselins on its cover six consecutive weeks, and ratings exploded for a channel trying to gain traction under new president Eileen O'Neill.

The June 22 episode drew, by far, TLC's biggest audience to date. But rather than boisterously touting a hit, O'Neill has declined most interview requests, saying only that the show will continue in some fashion.

"I think TLC probably has to meet with advertisers to make them feel comfortable about staying in," says Shari Anne Brill, senior vice president and director of programing and strategic audience analysis at ad-buying firm Carat. "They're taking a step back and figuring out what they're going to do next. Fundamentally, what that show was is not what it is now."

Ratings also indicate that scandal isn't necessarily enough to sustain an audience. After "Jon & Kate" first broke TLC's viewership mark on Memorial Day with its season premiere, it slid precipitously and didn't spike again until the episode featuring the split-up announcement.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

According to Kaplan, for a show to enter the public consciousness the way "Jon & Kate" has, producers must be open to a certain level of uncontrolled dysfunction.

"A lot of reality TV is artifice -- you can just feel the wheels turning," she says. "But when it's really real, that's when you have the opportunity to create a true emotional connection with the audience."

But tabloid headlines don't always help a show. In November 2007, A&E's "Dog the Bounty Hunter" drew attention when its star was caught on tape blathering racial epithets. Here, the long-term damage to the series -- now only a marginal ratings earner -- probably outstripped any momentary viewing boost associated with the controversy.

"It's dangerous because sometimes the controversy can be so big, even though you get a ratings spike, you don't get to reap the rewards of it because it takes over your show and it unravels," Smith says. "You want your shows to get attention, but you want to be able to control it. Good controversy is something that happens within the context of the show that isn't bigger than the show itself."

Hovering over everything is the moral question of how camera crews are affecting participants in times of personal crisis.

"It's a question of, if we keep shooting, what's going to happen?" says Andy Cohen, senior vice president of original programing and development at Bravo, which in 2007 was forced to confront the sudden death of trainer Doug Blasdell, star of its hit series "Work Out." "It's not worth exploiting something for a quick number if you're going to really wind up destroying someone's life."

Then again, another network executive adds, "You can never walk away from a hit, especially one that delivers 10.6 million viewers."

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