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Discussion thread: REALITY TV SOCIOLOGY is published! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-05 22:51:13
Edited:
2025-03-06 07:33:01
Imported:
2026-06

Content

**This episode is up and published, ready to listen to! **

Yep. But! It’s not all nude strangers, home improvement how-to, primetime catfights, or pawn shops. Actually, what IS reality tv? We sort it out.

No matter what your feelings on reality tv, this is a FASCINATING look at its history, impact, production, and place in scholarly literature.

Professor and author of “True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us,” and straight up Reality TV Sociologist Dr. Danielle Lindemann covers everything from queer culture and reality TV to the whys of being on a show to some backstage insights on what reality is scripted versus actually real. Also, are any of us “real?”

Listen and let me know what you think. Any shows you JUST realized were “reality TV?”

Here for the right reasons,

Alie Ward of the audio podcast program Ologies

Files

Reality TV Sociology ("TRASH" TV) with Dr. Danielle Lindemann - alie ward

Nude strangers. Icy roads. Brain rot. True love. Class warfare. Queer visibility. Scripted ad libs. Sociologist, professor, author of the book "True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us," and straight up Reality TV Sociologist, Dr. Danielle Lindemann studies human behavior through the lens of pop cu

Comments

Mini Minnie

Absolutely adored that I had Jackie and Shadow showing on my iPad at the exact moment you mentioned your favorite most recent reality couple that just had 2 babies. MINE TOO ❤️

Kevin Wilson

So excited for this one!! I’ve been an editor and assist for reality/unscripted tv for about 7/8 years so it’s bound to hit home 😂

Katie Hammond

When Alie and the guest were discussing how Reality TV affects our behavior and brains, it really reminded me of the discussion about violent video games and how they affect us (but mostly the youths).

roni 💥

worked on a reality set this past september as a BTS photographer (yay LA) and the difference between how the two dudes who ran the show spoke/behaved when they were on vs off camera was bonkers. obviously not that surprising in retrospect, but it is always jarring to see someone code switch so drastically and so quickly in real time. especially when the default personality they are switching from wasn’t exactly nice to be around (their show didn’t end up getting picked up by anyone, which im just gonna chalk up to karma)

Hannah Gorrie

Ali I'm SCREAMING - my BFF and I went on a two week trip to Scotland last spring, and when we collapsed, exhausted in the airport hotel on the last day, we were old school channel surfing when SUDDENLY THERE WERE DONGS ON THE SCREEN! It was Naked Attraction!! We were floored, it was fascinating 🤣 one contestant (?) was a young school teacher, and told the host her mom was stoked for her to be on the show! Americans would lose our jobs! Our parents would NEVER! I loved it

Jamie Hanna

I loved this episode, and learned so much! Big bonus? Popped my first time question asker cherry twice in this episode! What a win.

Chelsea Wilck

This episode was bomb. So glad Naked Attraction isn't just a fever dream I had in college lol. Btw proceeded to watch Below Deck Down Under after finishing this episode. #TrashTV4EVA

Kevin Wilson

Commenting while listening hahaha- This episode is fantastic!! I just got to the part where there is a social disconnect and people saying "well if they didn't want to be exploited, they shouldn't have gone on the show." I worked 5 seasons on a court show, and constantly have to defend the people who go on that show. Sure there are some people who go on for the clout, but there were some really...really....realllllly hard episodes I had to cut that the litigants went on the show because they genuinely needed some kind of mediation/closure, and couldn't afford another route... Some of the stories of why people go on shows is truly heartbreaking (Aside Kevin here.. Just like when Alie said the example of people going on shows to pay for their kids treatment... noicely done!).... So so glad they brought this up, and I encourage everyone to take a step back before asking "why the hell did they go on this show?!"

Kevin Wilson

Thought part 2 (keeping this in a thread so I don't take up space!): Ooo and the narcissistic element of the "cast" of the shows.... Though I can imagine there are some people on shows that are narcissistic, but also imagine that there is hundreds and hundreds of hours of media that is having to get cut down to say, 20 40min episodes. (I did a show once that we only had enough time to show like 35% of the total media shot. To quote Shrek, "[Reality stars] are like Onions... They have layers.... [Reality Stars] have layers, onions have layers..." lol

Kevin Wilson

I also want to say, that when I was on that court show, I was going through a Divorce during my first season. The reflection I had during that show was incredible.

Kevin Wilson

Oo Oo! how Did I not say this at the start of the show. When Y'all talked about the shame people have of watching reality TV (or not acknowledging certain genres as Reality TV, like a food challenge show or game show that was brilliant and so perfect. I'd love to hear Alie's thoughts on this, but I've seen such a stigma towards crew workers who work Unscripted vs Scripted. There's this sad stigma within crew workers that if you work unscripted, especially shows like TRHW, that is not "real TV" and our skills don't carry over to other genres. Like a "less than" type effect :/

Kevin Wilson

omg so true, my fiancé and I were scrolling through and saw it and had to watch it lol... it was wild!!

Kevin Wilson

I would also argue that the apprentice really did help Trump. If I remember right, the apprentice was about to be canceled until the writers strike of 08. I can't remember what exactly happened, but it boiled down to needing content during the strike and that was a cheep non union show to produce so it got renewed and blew up. This makes me want to look into the number of reality shows pre vs after the 08 strike and now the 2023 strike *ponder face*.

Kevin Wilson

Such a great episode!!!!! Loved this for so many reasons!! <3 (Apologies for my mass comment of live thoughts lol)

Jaclyn and her cat Phil

As an avid watcher of many versions of reality tv this was such a fun episode! (And that secret OMG Alie! I turned on the live stream as soon as I got back to work and have just been staring at the sweet bald eagle fam like this 🥹 the whole time!)

Abbi Lawson

I was a contestant on the Great British Bake Off a couple of seasons ago, and I was so excited to hear you talking about it during this episode! So much of what you talked about really resonated with me. I think it's interesting talking about the parasocial relationships that develop between viewer and the people on the shows, and from my perspective I've definitely noticed that - even though I was eliminated fairly early, it's still so weird to have people come up to you and talk to you as though you were their pal (not in a bad way, just weird!). Like for me, it was a very close call about being sent home, and I had SO many people tell me that they thought it was the wrong decision, I was robbed, etc - regardless of whether it was the right decision or not, it was fascinating seeing how passionate people felt purely from what had been presented to them in the finished, edited, polished version of the show. I think there's a sense of ownership that develops (and is encouraged by the producers, from the way they edit and market these shows) that then engages the viewers further when the contestant they've been rooting for goes home.

Abbi Lawson

Also (hit enter too early lol) about "who goes on these shows" - I think with Bake Off it's probably quite different to the bachelor style-shows as everyone I know who went on it just loves baking and loves the challenge. It's presented very non-competitively and it is in real life too, and there is a real sense of loss in the tent when someone has to go home. I remember on the first week when the first person from my season went, everyone was just hugging each other and crying - we'd just been through this amazing experience together and now there was this dawning sense of "oh, someone has to get some home each week? but we only just found each other!". It's a very special bond that is formed among the contestants. Even in a more wholesome, educational-style show like Bake Off though, there's still a facet of codeswitching and how being in front of a camera changes how you act. They were constantly asking me about my ingredients and where they came from because I was very firmly in the "niche seasonal/foraged ingredient baker" check box, so that had to be a feature of each challenge, and that was clear from the edit and which comments they left in and took out etc. Also amazingly I was way more stressed when I was practising at home than when I was actually baking in the tent 😂 I think it's because the excitement of being there and knowing that it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity just outweighs all of the truly negative emotions! Though it was still pretty stressful at times lol Anyway, loved this episode Alie, thank you!!

Susan G

I don't watch a lot of reality TV outside of cooking shows (but even then I haven't watched much of them lately), but when I do get excited about something it is normally because there is a social aspect to the watching. So following along some shows because a podcast or newsletter is doing recaps on them, and then talking to friends who also watch them. Most recently I watched season 3 of The Traitors US and a huge part of the fun was being able to scream about it with my friend in the US (I am in Australia) online.

Matt Ceccato

Great episode! And thank you for mentioning Pedro Zamora and his work to educate us about HIV and AIDS.

Princess Pukeachu

The Real Housewives name discussion kind of made me lose some (but not all!) confidence in the guest. It's name doesn't go any deeper than "network piggybacking on the popularity of two of the most popular TV shows at that time, Desperate Housewives and The O.C."

Princess Pukeachu

I was surprised when Allie said she was on a reality show and mentioned her food show and not 100 Humans

Megan R

I'm so glad someone else mentioned bridalplasty because it is truly the best reality TV show I've ever watched

Marianne Thomas

I'd never heard of it. It sounds unhinged! Reminds me a bit of the MTV show I Want a Famous Face. I was horrified by that show. A girl would go to see a plastic surgeon because she wanted a nose job "to look more like Britney Spears". The surgeon would be like "Sure! And while we're there we can fix your chin and your mouth, and your eyebrows and" Scarily, I don't even think the predatory nature of that industry was the point, despite how obvious it was

Marianne Thomas

Yeah I was a bit surprised they didn't mention the desperate housewives angle. I don't know if that negates the point completely about gender stereotypes, but I get you

AlienOceans

Man Alie, you had me so concerned about the children being eaten by Ravens at the end of the episode! 😭😭

Kelly Shaver

How does social prescribing work with conflicting access needs like disabled people who are bed or house bound?

Amanda Leal

the four weddings shoutout, g bless

G-Sharon

on the question of why American reality shows are like a gladiator match and British game shows are so friendly - I saw an interview with Alex Horne from Taskmaster recently where he was asked if there would ever be an American (USA) version. He said they tried it briefly but it didn't work because of the differences in the set up of American television and British television, at least at the time they attempted it. Shows in the US are set up for 30 or 60 minutes with specific times for commercial breaks. So when they tried to do Taskmaster US, they didn't have enough time for the conversation between contestants, or the opening task where they each bring in something that week. And the tasks themselves had to be shortened. It just wasn't the same feel, it wasn't as friendly because there wasn't as much time. I think that's a big part of why our shows are they way they are. Television in the US is one big advertisement, whether the commercial breaks or the shows themselves. Everything is dictated by the money the shows till make, and letting contestants enjoy being with each other and just have fun takes away from ad revenue.

Lillian Rolfe

Love the Shadow and Jackie shout out! We’ve had them on from wake up to bedtime during spring break. We’ve all learned a lot about bald eagles.

GirlieHippie

Thank you for now making me question all shows 😆 I still want to know if we can or should consider TikTok reality tv or are they just “vlogs”. If there is a difference. Why? What draws the hard line of reality tv 🤔

Colby Evans

I knew where that secret was going as soon as I heard 'Jackie'. Fun episode, and like usual, revealed a lot more about the subject that I thought going into it.

Colby Evans

And I'm glad the Swan didn't last - Sounds horrendous!

Tara Goddard

I can't wait to check out this episode. I've never been much of a reality tv show watcher except for the competition "maker" shows, which I don't think really count (e.g. GBBO, Face Off, Project Runway, Blown Away, Bake Squad), but now I am semi-obsessed with The Traitors, and have watched every season from every country that I've been able to find on a streaming service. Absolutely fascinating social psychology and sociology. This book sounds so good!