- published: 23 Jul 2013
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Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. Reality television began in 1948 with Alan Funt's TV series Candid Camera. The genre exploded as a phenomenon around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series as Big Brother and Survivor. Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called reality shows and often are produced in a television series. Documentaries, television news and sports television are usually not classified as reality shows.
The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, Japanese variety shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as Gaki no tsukai), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as Big Brother. The most popular reality TV show for 2010-11 was American Idol, and the least popular was Shedding for the Wedding.
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as the Fox Network or simply Fox (and stylized as FOX), is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic from 2004 to 2009. In the 2007–08 season, Fox became the most popular network in America in household ratings for the first time in its history, replacing CBS. CBS took back the top spot in the 2008–09 season.
The Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliates operate many entertainment channels internationally, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U.S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U.S. Fox affiliate, although most of Fox's primetime programming is subject to Canadian simultaneous substitution regulations.
The network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William Fox, who founded one of the movie studio's predecessors, Fox Film.
Mobbed is an American reality television show which premiered on Fox on March 31, 2011. Mobbed was tested as a one-time television special to air following American Idol. After it attracted 10.8 million viewers, Fox decided to pick up the show for eight episodes.