theMercury
By David Southwell
14oct05
A UK TV boss has pronounced the death of reality TV and stopped production of all new reality shows.
"For me reality has been and gone now," said Dan Chambers, Channel 5 director of programmes, the BBC reported overnight.
The overexposure of the local version of Big Brother in the UK had led to falling audiences, Mr Chambers said.
Australian TV audiences however were set to continue getting a good dose of reality with Network Ten chief executive Grant Blackley enthusiastically backing the genre, despite some spectacular failures.
"With respect to the genres within reality, we will continue to scour the market both domestically and internationally," Mr Blackley said on Monday.
"We are not concerned about the reality genre. I think, in actual fact, that the genre has grown and there are many programs you could fit into that genre."
Mr Blackley pointed out that the local Big Brother, which has run one year less than in the UK, had improved its ratings in some timeslots.
Australian Idol while rating slightly lower than last year was still pulling solid audiences.
The new addition to Ten's reality stable Australian Princess drew over a million viewers nationally on its debut.
However the network has been burnt over the last two years by the high profile reality flops The X-Factor and The HotHouse.
Over on Channel Seven Dancing with the Stars, into its third series, is rating spectacularly and recently beat all comers for the week, excepting the rugby league grand final.
On Channel 9 the granddaddy of reality TV, US show Survivor, has lived up to its name and is now in its 11th season.
