When “Survivor” first aired in 2000, it was followed in short order by such copycats as “Big Brother,” “The Mole,” “Temptation Island” and “Fear Factor.” 
   All were built on the same premise: Folks will do anything for a buck, including risking their lives.
    Now, nearly 100 reality shows later, the old premise is out and its place taken by a new one: People will do anything to get on TV, including risking their lives.
   Forget the lush prizes. Give me some humiliation.
   The newest crop of reality shows offer minimal jackpots and maximum infamy, and they have no shortage of eager participants.
   Some of the new shows are doozies.
   The creators of HBO’s reality show/documentary “Cathouse,” airing in December, covertly filmed the activities at a brothel and then asked the hookers and Johns to allow their goings-on to be televised. All they had to do was sign waivers. 
   Producer-director Patti Kaplan was shocked to learn that  only three people declined to have their whorehouse visits shown on national television.
   “It was completely unexpected,” Kaplan told one writer.
   HBO has a show in development that will follow couples in terrible relationships who stay together because the sex is so good.
   But putting aside for a moment "Cathouse" and the other HBO show, another trend we seeing in the upcoming shows is a return to traditional values. 
   We' re seeing fewer shows that promise titillating almost-sex scenes in the mode of “Temptation Island.”       
   And of course when we mention traditional values marriage pops right up.
   Accordingly, many of the new reality shows tie into matrimony, or the path leading to it.
   ABC is airing “The Bachelorette,” in which the winning male contestant walks off with a bride, and it is returning “The Bachelor” for another season.
   In December, E! premieres “Star Dates,” in which all-but-forgotten sitcom stars get a chance to get back in the limelight as blind-date contestants.
   Fox attempts to arrange a marriage with “Marriage by America” and NBC will air “Race to the Altar,” a game-show approach to engagement in which the last couple left gets a fantasy wedding, as well as a dating show called "Around the World in 80 Dates.”
   We are also seeing more shows--no surprise here--in which the reward is not infamy but stardom.
   Fox’s summer sensation “American Idol” is being followed by UPN’s search for a “Supermodel,” CBS’s revival of “Star Search” and what seems to be a new twist on the beauty pageant, “American Supergirl” -- the newest brainchild of “American Idol” creator Simon Cowell.
   We’re also seeing more family-angst shows, inspired by the success of MTV’s “Osbournes.” 
   ABC’s “The Will” follows a family as they vie for a relative’s large inheritance (who thought producers would be able to get people to agree to go on television to compete for money they were already going to get?). 
   The producers of CBS’s reality reincarnation of the “Beverly Hillbillies” are now scouring the hills of West Virginia and Kentucky for the perfect family to plunk into a Beverly Hills mansion for our viewing pleasure.
   There are plenty of “Fear Factor”-inspired extreme reality shows, but none are paying out money. 
   NBC’s “Next Action Star” promises movie fame to the winner of its competition. NBC’s “Adrenaline X” will pit professional extreme athletes against each other in competition. WB’s “North Shore,” premiering this summer, will film the lives of professional surfers in Hawaii. And MTV is currently rounding up cowboys and girls for “Rodeo Road,” which will follow the highs and lows of rodeo life.

November 25, 2002© 2002 Media Life

-Heidi Vogt is a staff writer for Media Life.

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