Reality Television - History of the Genre
Contestants compete for millions of dollars in rugged conditions. Complete strangers live together in less-than-total harmony while being filmed continuously. Couples find true love, or anything else that gets good ratings, while the world watches. It is safe to say that reality television has gained immense popularity in the last decade.
The Origins of Reality Television
Despite the current popularity of reality television and many comments to the contrary, it is actually not a recent invention. The inception of reality programming dates back as far as radio shows. Candid interviews with individuals designed to elicit humorous or off-guard responses developed as early as 1947. However, the invention and popularity of the television set created a veritable boom in the industry.
The Early Years
With the advent of television entertainment, reality programming took a few steps forward. Candid programs similar to the earlier radio shows as well as talent programs were common. In many programs, contestants would have an opportunity to showcase a skill or talent in hopes of achieving stardom. Other shows would attempt to interview or surprise individuals on the street and hope the situation would provide an amusing anecdote.
Reality Programming Starts to Catch On
Beginning in the 1970s, reality programming began moving in a new direction. Shows more similar to the programming of today were developed. Sample programming included watching a typical family work through a divorce or adjusting to life as nouveau rich. Naturally, shows such as these developed controversy, but despite critics, a new genre was gaining ground.
The Adolescence of Reality
Approximately twenty years later, a new genre of reality television was born ? the talk show. The most notable of these involved guests, a very loosely applied term in this case, discussing issues and more often than not, discussion would disintegrate quickly into a fight onstage. Other talk shows attempted to take a more civilized approach with more subdued non-celebrity guests.
Shows geared toward teenagers and young adults became standard fare around the same time. These shows found strangers, set them up as roommates, and hoped for something scandalous, often with great success. Another popular format for reality shows during this time was crime shows ? specifically shows which depicted police officers in action.
Reality Programming Today
Reality programming, as it is understood by many today, is anything that involves average citizens in an unscripted setting. There are many different styles of these shows including home design, personal style make-over, plastic surgery, romance, adventure, and various forms of competition.
Television audiences can now watch contestants compete for love in romantic destinations, or wait with clenched fists for the next round of eliminations on a rugged tropical island. Plastic surgery patients undergo extreme procedures under the watchful eyes of worldwide viewers, and couples can test their faithfulness in the face of extreme temptation.
With the plethora of reality programming choices available, it is only natural that contention and controversy would follow. Many argue that reality television no longer reflects reality, but instead has low-paid amateurs following orders or suggestions through scripted situations designed to garner higher ratings. With the confidentiality agreements and secretive nature of the industry however, this, at least for the present, will remain an
How to Become an Actor: A Guide for the Aspiring Thespian
The path to stardom is arduous and, in most cases, rather lengthy. Young hopefuls following that path are fueled with dreams of bright lights, starring roles, and overwhelming success. These dreams do not always translate into reality, and a great deal of success as an actor depends on pure luck. However, there are some shortcuts available to those who go looking for them.
Raw Talent ? There is not much you can do if you have a severe shortage of talent. If you can?t bear the thought of public speaking, stage or film work might not be in your blood. If you do possess a bit of talent, find ways to polish your craft. There are stage coaches, acting classes, and thousands of small community or school productions that can help refine your skills. Take advantage of them.
Headshot ? A headshot is the standard business or calling card in the industry. Obtaining a quality headshot is not the time to skimp when you?re trying to best utilize funds. Find an expert photographer who has experience and, ideally, success in the field. Don?t be satisfied with mediocrity. Keep trying until you have the best photograph you can take. Remember, this is the face that casting agents will keep coming back to.
Getting Help ? Just as there are professionals to help harness raw talent and take brilliant photographs, there are professionals who can help you land your first gig. In many cases, the first big step to actor success is finding an agent. Agents have privileged knowledge of the industry that can catapult fresh talent to stardom. Finding a qualified and knowledgeable agent will give you an ally in your battle against the odds.
Finding Connections ? Success in the entertainment industry is often about knowing the right people at the right time. Many connections can be made with the help of your agent, but often that is simply not enough. Find ways to make as many positive connections as you can. Consider, perhaps, community activities or seminars, various classes or conferences, and of course as many open auditions as you can fit into your schedule. The more common your face and name, the more likely someone will remember you or feel inclined to give you a break.
Try New Avenues - If you have been trying the same thing over and over again, perhaps it is time to try new avenues. If you feel strongly that classical stage acting is your forte, you might be too narrowly focused. While it would not be prudent to try more than a few different personas at a time, if you keep bumping into roadblocks in one avenue, consider another. Perhaps your calling is really stage instead of camera, or comedy instead of drama, even character acting instead of leading lady. There are endless areas to try. Finding the perfect fit might take a little while, so be patient.
Take It and Run ? If an opportunity presents itself to break into the industry, you should take it. With the exclusion of genres that might present ethical or moral issues for you, any print or stage medium is a ticket in. Being an extra might get you the right attention. Fetching coffee and donuts might give you a chance to make those valuable connections. Countless stars get started in commercials. If it resembles an opportunity in the slightest regard, take it and run. You are one step closer to your dream.
TV redirects here. For other uses of "TV" or "television", see TV (disambiguation).
Braun HF 1, Germany, 1959
A Philips LCD TV (2006)
Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication medium for sending (broadcasting) and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (t??e), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see, or to view in the first person).
Commercially available since the late 1930s, the television set has become a common communications receiver in homes, businesses and institutions, particularly as a source of entertainment and news. Since the 1970s, recordings on video cassettes, and later, digital media such as DVDs, have resulted in the television frequently being used for viewing recorded as well as broadcast material.
A standard television set comprises multiple internal electronic circuits, including those for tuning and decoding broadcast signals. A display device which lacks these internal circuits is therefore properly called a monitor, rather than a television. A television set may be designed to handle other than traditional broadcast or recorded signals and formats, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV).
History Of Tv
In its early stages of development, television included only those devices employing a combination of optical, mechanical and electronic technologies to capture, transmit and display a visual image. By the late 1920s, however, those employing only optical and electronic technologies were being explored. All modern television systems rely on the latter, however the knowledge gained from the work on mechanical-dependent systems was crucial in the development of fully electronic television.
In 1884 Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a 20-year old university student in Germany, patented the first electromechanical television system which employed a scanning disk, a spinning disk with a series of holes spiraling toward the center, for "rasterization", the process of converting a visual image into a stream of electrical pulses. The holes were spaced at equal angular intervals such that in a single rotation the disk would allow light to pass through each hole and onto a light-sensitive selenium sensor which produced the electrical pulses. As an image was focused on the rotating disk, each hole captured a horizontal "slice" of the whole image.
Nipkow's design would not be practical until advances in amplifier tube technology became available in 1907. Even then the device was only useful for transmitting still halftone images - those represented by equally spaced dots of varying size - over telegraph or telephone lines. Later designs would use a rotating mirror-drum scanner to capture the image and a cathode ray tube (CRT) as a display device, but moving images were still not possible, due to the poor sensitivity of the selenium sensors.
Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette images in London in 1925, and of moving, monochromatic images in 1926. Baird's scanning disk produced an image of 30 lines resolution, barely enough to discern a human face, from a double spiral of lenses.
By 1927, Russian inventor Léon Theremin developed a mirror drum-based television system which used interlacing to achieve an image resolution of 100 lines.
Also in 1927, Herbert E. Ives of Bell Labs transmitted moving images from a 50-aperture disk producing 16 frames per minute over a cable from Washington, DC to New York City, and via radio from Whippany, New Jersey. Ives used viewing screens as large as 24 by 30 inches (60 by 75 centimeter). His subjects included Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover.
In 1928, Philo Farnsworth made the world's first working television system with electronic scanning of both the pickup and display devices, which he first demonstrated to news media on 1928-09-01, televising a motion picture film.
In numismatics
Television has had such an impact in today's life, that it has been the main motif for numerous collectors' coins and medals. One of the most recent ones is the Austrian 50 years of Television commemorative coin minted in March 9, 2005. The obverse of the coin shows a "test pattern", while the reverse shows several milestones in the history of television.
Environmental aspects
With high lead content in CRTs, and the rapid diffusion of new, flat-panel display technologies, some of which (LCDs) use lamps containing mercury, there is growing concern about electronic waste from discarded televisions. Related occupational health concerns exist, as well, for disassemblers removing copper wiring and other materials from CRTs. Further environmental concerns related to television design and use relate to the devices' increasing electrical energy requirements.
