Is that why they're so popular? You don't need great writers(I would think) and your not paying millions per episode to the actors (that's for sure).
2007-07-05 08:53:03 · 3 answers · asked by Bill Spry 4 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television ➔ Reality Television
Reality shows are relatively cheap to make compared to scriped television shows. One would think that reality shows will come earlier in history but didn't. This could be now there are way more television channels and Internet had been getting more popular over the last decade. Television stations have to competed now days with the Internet (you tube, google video, even some TV shows are online).
This causes the pool of audience to shrink and television executives to search for cheaper programming. Reality shows don't have to pay for actors (only a host/hostess or a small make-over team), no script writers, etc.
This likely save the networks millions of dollars. TV has fewer viewers per channel and have to compete with the Internet.
2007-07-05 09:16:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are really inexpensive, these people are not actors (yet) so they aren't part of SAG and they do not have to pay them scale.. They rent a mansion for 3 months, decorate it, pay a host and a film crew. Cheap cheap cheap. Probably no union writers either. So they can afford a few misfires.. That's the reason why there are so many of them, because they are so cheap to make and if one out of 50 is successful it can make a lot of $$$$ for the network.
2007-07-05 16:13:26 · answer #2 · answered by babygyrl_nyc 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Reality show's are popular because they are something different then the regular TV show's on. You never know what to expect. And they are not cheap at all. The cost of the show range between $500,000 and $800,000 Per episode. So as you can see they are not cheap at all.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2001/july01/july23/5_fri/news3friday.html
2007-07-05 17:16:35 · answer #3 · answered by jrealitytv 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋