According to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, American’s 18 and older spend, on average, about four and a half hours watching TV a day; beating the average of three hours they spend using their smartphone. The report found that younger generations typically watch less TV than those aged between 50-64. It is assumed that younger people are most likely watching streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix, which would result in a decline in viewing conventional television. In the long run, the television industry needs to focus on creating shows that target the younger audiences and reality shows never seem to fail. 

Reality shows aren’t made to be informative or teach a life lesson. They are simply there to entertain. It’s kind of pointless when a show tries to pretend there is a lesson to learn like MTV’s Real World or Netflix's Love is Blind. When in reality (no pun intended) viewers are only there for the drama and awkwardness that comes along with following people around with cameras. One of my favorite shows Below Deck follows a group of yachties, people who work on yachts, throughout a charter season. Each season consists of a deck crew that will be working on a superyacht for the next 6 weeks. Some there are returning personalities, and others are new. The premise of the show revolves around strangers having to learn to work together to appease their super-rich charter guests.  

When I try to explain the plot of Below Deck to someone, they always wonder why anyone would want to watch a show about 10 people just working. Reality shows have been using the “shove strangers into a house for so many months” strategy for years. If you have had to quarantine with your family you may understand how entertaining this concept could be. Shows like Big Brother and Are You The One are a few examples. The difference between Below Deck and other shows is that it is not staged or scripted. So the producers say. It is believable though because sometimes 45 minutes will go by and nothing interesting will have happened. There aren’t any games to draw a natural competitive tension between the cast or a cash prize at the end. At the end of the season, the cast goes home with a paycheck, their tips, and an experience no one else can say they've had. 

The producers have to rely on the people they cast to keep it interesting. As for charter guests, 90% of the time they are high maintenance and overdramatic about everything. This in result stresses the crew out when, for example when they spend 2 hours putting out a waterslide so guests can use it for 20 minutes. Or when a charter guest makes a stewardess angry so she folds a blanket into the shape of a penis on his bed. Every few days, the crew gets a day off from their 16-hour workdays. On those nights you can always expect someone to get too drunk or for one of the crewmates to hit on another. The show is undoubtedly relatable when it comes to hating your boss or co-workers. Also, did I mention they are all very attractive and not because of casting. Apparently the yachting industry, in general, is super exclusive and requires all CV’s to have a headshot. So, to gain experience to even be considered to work on the show you have to have a pretty face to get a job as a greenhand on smaller yachts. It’s hard to summarize all the hilarious and relatable things that happen throughout this show, but people like it so much they have made two spin-offs, each with different crews and captains: Below Deck Mediterranean and Below Deck Sailing Yacht.

I think the demographic groups most likely to watch this program are millennials and younger adults. This show resonates with anyone who relates to working under continual pressure and dealing with bothersome clients and co-workers. Reality personalities mostly use their social media to create “beef” with their former crewmates. These kinds of stir result in publicity for the show. They also use social media to announce engagements and pregnancies which also creates a stir, but in a different way.

Another show that I and so many others have grown to love is Love Island. Originating in the UK, the show revolves around a group of unearthly hot strangers placed in a house for 8 weeks. While there, they are forced to couple up and share a bed with whoever they are most attracted to. The show, also, hosts games. Unlike other shows, the games have no winner. The point of the game is for everyone to be immensely awkward and provide entertaining content for editors and producers. Every now and then, a new member is added to the house, which would naturally cause problems if they are more attractive than someone already on the show. Because there are only so many beds someone will have to be kicked out by the end of the week. At recouplings, the one left without a partner is booted from the house, and as shallow as it sounds the person who is kicked off is usually the least attractive, subjectively speaking. Shallowness and jealousy are what make the show so enticing.

This show is targeted towards a younger audience, because there is, for one, a lot of sex and, two, a lot of  other things most older people don’t think is okay to talk about in public much less television. The show has also been spun off in many different countries. I’ve only seen two of which were the American and Australian versions. Neither as good as the original UK version. The Australian version’s cast is too hot, incomprehensibly hot and I hate that it adds to the stereotype that hot people are dumb, but somehow the whole Australian cast seems to be dumb. They never catch on to hints and most subtle flirting goes completely over there heads. The American version, in my opinion, is probably worse. They are all too reasonable and have “morals.” When they tell someone they are going to stick with their partner, they do it because they think they owe them some type of loyalty. I’m not trying to watch a show where people “care about other people's feelings.” Care outside of the show. Which is perhaps the reason why it doesn’t do as well as the UK version. The cast uses social media platforms the same way Below Deck does, to cause drama or keep audiences up to date on relationship statuses. 

If I could create a show, I would create a show about TikTok stars. They already have so much of their personalities on the internet I don’t think they would mind having more. It would be easy to produce. Most already live together, they’re uber-rich so finding things to do wouldn’t be hard, and they always have drama going on between another rival TikTok houses. Most of them are teenagers and if they are anything like my friends they can’t avoid drama. If I knew we already had a fan base, I would make a show following me and my friends. Most of the original members of the Hype House (pictured below) have left and joined a new house or left because of all the drama. With TikTok stars, they already have a huge fan base. Charli D'amelio has more than 94 million followers. I’m not saying they all would watch the show, but even if a fifth did, it would be more than enough to support the show. I doubt this is an original idea, but there is so much buzz around this group of teens I’m surprised no one has made a show yet. 

Reality shows have been around forever and I doubt they are going anywhere. With fewer young people watching TV creators are having to make content for younger generations to keep the industry thriving and prosperous. These shows may seem radical to older generations, but for us, they are a way to relax and know that other people are going through what we are going through.