If you love watching documentaries about anything and everything under the sun, you must watch the “Deadliest Catch”, a reality/documentary TV series created and produced for the Discovery Channel by Original Productions. Deadliest Catch portrays the real events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the fishing seasons of C. opilio crabs and Alaskan king crabs. The title of the show was derived from the high risk of death or injury associated with the kind of work. The show was first shown on the Discovery Channel on the 12th of April 2005. Today the show is being aired iin more than 150 countries. Its eighth season will be coming soon according to the creators.
This documentary show focuses on the real danger posed to the crew on the decks of the fishing vessels as they ply their trade while lowering crab pots into position. Then they maneuver pounds and pounds of crab onto a deck with numerous tripping hazards such as maintenance access plates, uneven surfaces, and holding tank hatches. The crew lean over the rails to position the crab pots as violent winds and waves lash over the vessel’s deck. Deadliest Catch also documents the risks of being on a boat in the Bearing Sea crab grounds.
The format of the show is composed of several elements. It has no on-cam host but there are narrators who provide commentaries and connect the storylines as the documentary shifts from one vessel to another. The producers of the show also resorted to censoring the language and gestures that would be deemed as “inappropriate” for the audiences especially the young ones.
In terms of the production aspect, a two-person television crew are on board the boats featured. Handheld cameras were used to shoot most of the footages and the additional footage is provided by four stationary cameras mounted around the ship. Interactions between the film crew and fishermen appear occasionally in the documentary. A number of shots which were difficult to capture using cameras were generated with the use of computers.
The show has been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007 and several books have been released based on the show’s episodes. The “Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea and One of the World’s Deadliest Jobs”, “Deadliest Catch: Desperate Hours”, “Deadliest Waters: Bering Sea Photography” and “North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters” were the books released to the public. Video games were also created based on the show.
For viewers who are fond of watching romantic television shows and dating games, The Bachelor is a perfect TV series for you. It is an American reality TV dating game show that debuted on ABC in 2002. The show was hosted by Chris Harrison, a veteran television personality, news anchor and game show host, since its inception. The dating game show spawned two related series, the Bachelor Pad and The Bachelorette.
The TV show revolves around an eligible bachelor and a pool of 25 to 30 ladies which could be the source of a potential wife for the bachelor. External and internal conflicts arise from the elimination-style format of the dating game show. The bachelor goes on a big group date with all the women, with majority of the ladies being eliminated during the rose ceremonies.
Women are eliminated on one-on-one dates and two-on-one as the show’s season progresses. The show culminates with the bachelor visiting the families and hometowns of the final four women. The final three women go out on overnight dates at exotic locations and the final two ladies get to interact with the man’s family. In numerous cases, the bachelor proposes to the woman that he chooses in the end.
Villa De La Vina, a 7, 590-square foot, nine-bath, six-bedroom home in Agoura Hills, California has been the residence of the contestants for most seasons. This was erected in 2005 and located in a confidential location. During the seventh season, The Bachelor was temporarily moved to New York City.
In terms of contextual and structural twists, the show has been popular for a number of unexpected events. The bachelor has the option to follow or go against the show’s standard rose ceremony guidelines. One bachelor selected none from his final two women and another proposed to one woman but eventually changed his mind during the “After the Final Rose” show.
This phenomenal show was not spared from a string of controversies. Critics observed that as of January 2012, the Bachelor and The Bachelorette never featured a non-Caucasian contestant in the title role in all of their seasons. In addition, majority of the contestants featured on the shows were white-skinned. The producer responded that non-whites do not come forward and he wished they would.
Due to its popularity, merchandise has been released bearing the franchise and the theme. In fact, a video game based on The Bachelor series was rolled out on Nintendo DS and Wii.
The Amazing Race is a reality game show on TV that was created by Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri. The original series of the reality show was broadcast in 2001 in the United States and has bagged twelve Primetime Emmys Awards, including the “Outstanding Reality-Competition Program” from 2003 to 2011, except in 2010 when “Top Chef” grabbed the award. Phil Keoghan, an Emmy-award winning television personality in New Zealand, has been chosen as The Amazing Race’s host since its inception. Currently, the reality show has branched out to have numerous international versions with the same format as the original series.
In the show, teams of two people who have some kind of preexisting personal relationships prior to joining The Amazing Race would race around the world to compete with other teams. The participants strive to get to the “pit stops” first at each leg of the race in order to win prizes and prevent themselves from being the last team to get to the spot since this could mean a huge disadvantage in the next leg of the race or elimination. The contestants travel to and within different countries through a wide variety of transportation modes such as balloons, helicopters, planes, trucks, taxicabs, personal car, jeepneys, trains, boats, buses and even by foot.
The clues needed by the teams in each leg are provided by locals in the areas where the race are being held and these help the contestants to get to their next destination to carry out a task together or by a single member. Usually, the challenge is related to the country’s culture or area wherein they are located. A team will get eliminated at each race until teams are trimmed down to three On the final leg of the race, the first team that arrives on the pit stop wins the grand prize.
The Amazing Race’s original rules include the requirement that teammates should have a preexisting relationship not below three years and the members of the team should have no previous acquaintances with other players during the season. These requirements however have been deleted in some cases such as the All-Star Season. The racers must have specific nationalities and must meet the specific age requirements to obtain passport documentation which is needed when traveling abroad.
The format of the teams has been varied in some seasons such as the “Family Edition” where four players in each of the ten teams vied for the grand prize. This season also involved young children.
If there is one television reality show that has probably the most number of adaptations in numerous countries, it will be Big Brother. The first ever Big Brother was broadcast in the Netherlands on the Veronica TV Channel in 1999. After its successful telecast, the reality TV show was picked up by Germany, Brazil, Portugal, the United States, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, paving the way for Big Brother to become a worldwide phenomenon. In fact, the show has become a hit in more or less seventy countries.
Big Brother is believed to be a brainchild of the team at the Dutch production house called John de Mol Produkties, Endemol’s independent part. The team had brainstorming session on September 4, 1997 and the idea for the show came up. The title of the show was coined from “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, George Orwell’s 1949 novel wherein “Big Brother” has the means to spy on the inhabitants of his dictatorship via television sets, carrying the slogan “Big Brother is watching you”.
The Big Brother reality show revolves around a group of people living together in a big house completely isolated from the outside world but continuously being monitored by TV cameras. The series usually lasts for about three months and there are less than 16 contestants. Participants are labeled as “housemates” and they will compete against each other to win cash prizes by keeping themselves safe from the periodic evictions from the Big Brother house.
Each country has made its own changes to the format of the show but retained that the housemates’ actions must be recorded by cameras and microphones at all times. The housemates are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world.
Using the demographic and sociological perspectives, the show’s format allows the analysis of people’s reactions when forced into a close confinement with others who belong outside their comfort zone. The Confession or Diary Room is the part of the Big Brother house where the housemates can divulge their feelings and reactions. Confrontations, anger, violence and even close connections and romantic feelings are generated from the participants and these provide entertainment to the viewers.
However, Big Brother earned scorn and ire of critics because of its voyeuristic nature wherein the participants give up their privacy for a small cash prize and minor celebrity status. Also, several housemates got sexually involved with one another which got more criticisms from viewers. In some countries, the evictee is decided through SMS and online voting but variations occur per region.
Survivor is a world-famous reality game show on television which has been produced in numerous countries. Its format was created by British TV producer Charlie Parsons in 1992. The contestants are isolated somewhere in the wilderness where they compete for prizes. Survivor employs a progressive elimination system where contestants can vote off members of the other tribe. The voting goes on until only one final competitor remains and grabs the title of “Sole Survivor”.
Accounts have it that the American version of Survivor was derived from the Swedish TV series “Expedition Robinson” which was originally created by Parsons as well in 1997. Survivor premiered on CBS on May 31, 2000 and was hosted by veteran TV personality Jeff Probst. The reality game show was produced by Parsons and Mark Burnett.
The reality show features a participants that are no way related to each other. They will be a part of a tribe in a desolate area where they must provide shelter, food, water and fire for themselves while competing with one another to earn an immunity or some kind of reward. If they win the immunity they will be safe from being voted off the island during the next successive votes for elimination. Other than voting, several contestants have been eliminated by incurring medical conditions such as infection or injury. The final two or three survivors will then face a jury composed of the last seven to nine players voted off. The jury will interrogate the remaining players and then they will vote for the winner of the title “Sole Survivor”.
Challenges faced by players consist of strength, agility, endurance, problem solving, dexterity, teamwork and willpower which are designed in accordance to the current season’s theme. The use of hidden immunity idol also makes the reality game show more exciting as cumulative clues are given to selected players or to exiled players as to its location. Whoever finds the immunity idol may keep it or transfer it to another player during or before Tribal Council. The Tribal council is held every end of each episode. The tribe members vote one person out of their tribe. The player who has the immunity cannot be voted out.
Because of its widespread popularity, Survivor has spawned a wide array of merchandise ever since its pilot season. The early items were limited to water bottles, buffs, hats, t-shirts and other common souvenir items but as other seasons emerged, the marketability of this franchise has grown at a huge scale. Customers can now find computer and board games, mugs, tribal-themed jewelry, dog tags, DVD seasons, party kits and innumerable items.
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