2022-05-17
50 分钟Pandora Sykes and Sirin Kale tread a nostalgic path back to their teenage years and The Hills, which birthed reality’s first wave of lifestyle influencers. Featuring interviews with Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, and many more. Producer: Hannah Hufford Executive Producer: Pandora Sykes Executive Editor: James Cook Content Producer: Hannah Robins Technical Producer: Giles Aspen Archive credits: The OC, Wonderland Sound and Vision Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, Go Go Luckey Productions The Hills, Done and Done Productions Nightline, ABC News Productions Velvet’s Edge with Kelly Henderson, Nashville Podcast Network
BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts the dumbest.
Genre in entertainment or the one that tells us the most about ourselves since its conception, reality TV has divided its viewers, but we think it's possible to enjoy it whilst also questioning the ethical foundations upon which it was built.
I'm journalist and broadcaster Pandora Sykes.
And I'm investigative journalist Shirin Kahler and a large part of our friendship has been spent discussing Reality Team.
We've both been fans since we first watched Big Brother as preteens and we've spent a fair amount of time defending reality TV when people are snobby about it or dismiss its importance in our wider culture.
But we've also been troubled by the exploitation, the lack of aftercare, the impacts of sudden fame.
In this 10 part audio documentary for BBC Radio 4, we'll be bringing an analytical eye to a genre that influences almost every walk of life celebrity, music, fashion, beauty, dating and even politics.
Over the last six months we've rewatched hundreds of hours of reality TV and spoken to over 60 show creators, producers and iconic reality stars in order to chart reality TV's evolution and explore the ways in which the format needs to change.
This is Unreal.
A Critical history of Reality TV Please.
Note there will be strong language throughout the series.
We've been on the run, driving in.
The sun, looking out for number one.
In March 2004, a teenage drama arrived on Channel 4 that was so glossy it made Hollyoaks look like it was filmed in a shipping container.
The OC was about a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks who moves into a palatial mansion in Orange county on California's west coast, making instant celebrities out of actors Misha Barton, Rachel Bilson and Adam Brodie.
Who are you?
Whoever you want me to be.
With its soundtrack of indie bands, meta humour and the creation of the Jewish Christian holiday Chris Mecha, the OC was millennial catnip, a new generation's Beverly Hills 90210, which was also incidentally created by Fox.
It introduced the gobsmacked British gene to a glamorous, autonomous teenage existence where the style was as important as the storyline and the sun was always shining.
I yearned for Marissa's giant Chanel tote bag and summer's pink flip phone for the low rise denim, golden tan and the perfect hair.