|
Reality TV: The final frontier
It all began five years ago when 10 volunteers moved into a custom-built house cut off from the rest of the world to live under the ever-constant gaze of hidden television cameras. Big Brother was an instant hit, and its success marked the birth of modern reality television, spawning countless imitators all eager to cash in on the format. This I must see. Now, the genre is about to cross the final frontier. Channel 4 is attempting to pull off the biggest hoax in television history: convincing nine contestants that they have travelled into space. Space Cadets is a prime-time programme that bears an uneasy resemblance to The Truman Show, the film starring Jim Carrey as a man whose entire life, unbeknown to him, is being broadcast to the rest of the world as a never-ending soap opera. It is possibly the most ambitious project the broadcaster has ever undertaken - and one that could go belly up at any moment if one of the participants rumbles the production team. The show reflects the evolution of a format that has dominated our screens since the debut of Big Brother, feeding off the public's desire to watch other people dealing with unfamiliar situations and often humiliating themselves. Figures from Nielsen Media show that reality television accounts for some 60 per cent of all shows which are currently made around the world. In the UK, reality TV is a vital part of every mainstream channel, with ITV's hit I'm a Celebrity... Get me out of Here its most important show of the year. Peak episodes have pulled in up to 14 million viewers, a feat ITV is no doubt hoping to repeat when the fifth series begins its two-week run on Sunday. Despite the hype, Space Cadets will not be taking on Ant and Dec in the ratings. Instead, Channel 4 will start screening the show in early December; the celebrities clear out of their jungle hideaway on 3 December. For 10 days, the channel will televise the contestants as they undergo intensive training in Russia, before being flown 100km (62 miles)above the Earth into near space. Here they will spend five days orbiting the Earth and conducting experiments. Or so they think. In reality, the nine - joined by three actors whom they believe to be fellow contestants - will be at a disused military base somewhere in the UK and will never leave the ground. The whole process will be filmed live in an unprecedented television event presented by Johnny Vaughan. The unwitting participants, who were selected for their suggestibility, are currently being kept in a secret location and denied all access to television or newspapers, which would instantly give the game away. More at the link Posted by: phil_b 2005-11-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=135328 |