Editing Reality television (section)

=== 2000s ===
Reality television became globally popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the successes of the ''[[Big Brother (franchise)|Big Brother]]'' and ''[[Survivor (franchise)|Survivor]]/[[Expedition Robinson]]'' franchises. In the United States, reality television programs suffered a temporary decline in viewership in 2001, leading some entertainment industry columnists{{who|date=September 2013}} to speculate that the genre was a temporary fad that had run its course.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} Reality shows that suffered from low ratings included ''[[The Amazing Race (American TV series)|The Amazing Race]]'' (although the show has since recovered and is in its 32nd edition), ''[[Lost (2001 TV series)|Lost]]'' (unrelated to the better-known [[Lost (2004 TV series)|serial drama of the same name]]) and ''[[The Mole (American TV series)|The Mole]]'' (which was successful in other countries).<ref>Sigesmund, B. J. (October 11, 2001). "Will Reality TV Survive?" ''Newsweek''. Retrieved from Lexis Nexis database.</ref> But stronghold shows ''Survivor'' and ''[[American Idol]]'' continued to thrive: both topped the U.S. season-average television ratings in the 2000s. ''Survivor'' led the ratings in [[2002 in television|2001–02]], and ''Idol'' has the longest hold on the No. 1 rank in the [[Nielsen ratings|American television ratings]], dominating over all other primetime programs and other television series in the overall viewership tallies for eight consecutive years, from the [[2004 in television|2003–2004]] to the [[2011 in American television|2010–2011]] television seasons.

Another trend was to combine reality TV with a social history angle usually by having contestants taken back to various time periods primarily to see how millennials would cope without modern technology. Examples included ''[[The 1900 House]]'', ''[[Bad Lads' Army]]'' and ''[[That'll Teach 'Em]]''. In addition to those was a series consisting of archeologists and historians running a farm though various historical periods, most notably ''[[Victorian Farm]]''.

[[File:John de Mol jr.jpg|thumb|Dutch media tycoon [[John de Mol Jr.]], who created the reality television franchises ''[[Big Brother (franchise)|Big Brother]]'', ''[[Fear Factor (franchise)|Fear Factor]]'' and ''[[The Voice (franchise)|The Voice]]'', among others]]
Internationally, a number of shows created in the late 1990s and 2000s have had massive global success. Reality-television franchises created during that time that have had more than 30 international adaptations each include the singing competition franchises ''[[Idols (franchise)|Idols]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lodish |first1=Emily |title=Who would win a World Idol competition? |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-06-25/who-would-win-world-idol-competition |website=The World from PRX |date=July 30, 2016 |language=en |access-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-date=March 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308220442/https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-06-25/who-would-win-world-idol-competition |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Star Academy]]''<ref>Star Academy reality show comes to town. (February 21, 2014). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/251419/star-academy-reality-show-comes-to-town.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205072143/http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/251419/star-academy-reality-show-comes-to-town.html |date=December 5, 2014 }}</ref> and ''[[The X Factor]]'', other competition franchises ''Survivor/Expedition Robinson'', ''Big Brother'', ''[[The Biggest Loser]]'', ''[[Come Dine with Me]]'', ''[[Got Talent]]'', ''[[Top Model]]'', ''[[MasterChef]]'', ''[[Project Runway (franchise)|Project Runway]]'' and ''[[Dancing with the Stars]]'', and the investment franchise ''[[Dragons' Den]]''. Several "[[reality game show]]s" from the same period have had even greater success, including ''[[Deal or No Deal]]'', ''[[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?]]'', and ''[[The Weakest Link (British game show)|Weakest Link]]'', with over 50 international adaptions each. (All but four of these franchises, ''Top Model'', ''Project Runway'', ''The Biggest Loser'' and ''Dragons' Den'', were created by either British producers or the Dutch production company [[Endemol]]. Although ''Dragons' Den'' originated in [[Japan]], most of its adaptations are based on the British version.) In India, the competition show ''[[Indian Idol]]'' was the most popular television program for its first six seasons.<ref name="Reality TV and Participatory Culture in India">{{cite journal|last=Punathambekar|first=Aswin|title=Reality TV and Participatory Culture in India|journal=Popular Communication|year=2010|volume=8|issue=4|pages=241–255|doi=10.1080/15405702.2010.514177|s2cid=43072267}}</ref>

During the 2000s, several [[cable television|cable]] networks, including [[Bravo (American TV network)|Bravo]], [[A&E (TV network)|A&E]], [[E!]], [[TLC (TV network)|TLC]], [[History (American TV network)|History]], [[VH1]], and [[MTV]], changed their programming to feature mostly reality television series.<ref name="simple-econ">{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-05-07-reality-TV_N.htm?csp=34 |last=Levin |first=Gary |title='Simple economics': More reality TV |work=USA Today |date=May 8, 2007 |access-date=September 10, 2017 |archive-date=August 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814030734/http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-05-07-reality-TV_N.htm?csp=34 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, three cable channels were started around that time that were devoted exclusively to reality television: [[Fox Reality]] in the United States, which operated from 2005 to 2010; [[Global Reality Channel]] in [[Canada]], which lasted two years from 2010 to 2012; and [[CBS Reality]] (formerly known as Reality TV and then Zone Reality) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which has run from 1999 to the present.

During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and [[broadcast syndication|syndication]]. But DVDs for reality shows sold briskly; ''[[Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County]]'', ''[[The Amazing Race]]'', ''[[Project Runway]]'', and ''[[America's Next Top Model]]'' all ranked in the top DVDs sold on [[Amazon.com]]. In the mid-2000s, DVDs of ''[[The Simple Life]]'' outranked scripted shows such as ''[[The O.C.]]'' and ''[[Desperate Housewives]]''. Syndication, however, has been problematic; shows such as ''[[Fear Factor]]'', ''COPS'', and ''[[Wife Swap (American TV series)|Wife Swap]]'', in which each episode is self-contained, can be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television or during the daytime (''COPS'' and ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]'' being exceptions). Season-long competitions, such as ''[[The Amazing Race (American TV series)|The Amazing Race]]'', ''[[Survivor (American TV series)|Survivor]]'', and ''[[America's Next Top Model]]'' generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in [[marathon (television)|marathons]] to draw the necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. (Even in these cases, it is not always successful: the first ten seasons of ''[[Dancing with the Stars (American TV series)|Dancing with the Stars]]'' were picked up by [[Game Show Network|GSN]] in 2012 and was run in marathon format, but attracted low viewership and had very poor ratings). Another option is to create documentaries around series, including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in the original airings; the syndicated series ''[[American Idol Rewind]]'' is an example of this strategy.

''COPS'' has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales, and DVD. A Fox staple since 1989, ''COPS'' has, as of 2013 (when it moved to cable channel [[Spike (TV channel)|Spike]]), outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that had wide success is ''[[Cheaters (American TV series)|Cheaters]]'', which has been running since 2000 in the U.S. and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2001, the [[Academy of Television Arts and Sciences]] added the reality genre to the [[Emmy Awards]] in the category of [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program|Outstanding Reality Program]]. In 2003, to better differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a second category, [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program|Outstanding Reality-Competition Program]], was added. In 2008, a third category, [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program|Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program]], was added. In 2007, the [[web series]] ''[[The Next Internet Millionaire]]'' appeared; it was a competition show based in part on ''[[The Apprentice (TV series)|The Apprentice]]'', and was billed as the world's first Internet reality show.