Talent Competition Reality Show
Judges
You need 3 judges. Not 2, not one, not even 10. Of those 2 judges, you must put a lot of focus into personality. It is much better if one or more of your judges already have, or have had, a name. D list celebrities hoping for another 15 minutes are great to have as judges.
You must stick to a formula when choosing your judges, and the following must be followed accurately or your show will be a bomb, not the bomb.
Personalities of the Judges
Rude Judge
You must have a blunt judge who can sometimes be mean with their criticism. This judge is meant to offend and entertain many of your viewers. They will either love to hate this judge, or they will love this judge because (s)he “just doesn’t care!”
(For a rude judge, consider Courtney Love.)
Kind Judge
Your second judge must have an equally strong personality, in direct opposition of the rude judge. This judge will be as kind as the first judge is unkind… and their heads must clash numerously about certain contestants or the way they are judged. Viewers must love this judge beacuse they are so nice it almost makes you sick.
(For a kind judge, try Queen Elizabeth.)
Neutral Judge
Obviously you need somebody neutral to bring some balance into the chaos behind the judge’s stand. Therefore, your rude judge can tell nearly every contestant that they suck in a variety of humorous ways. Simultaneously, your kind judge can disagree and tearfully defend the contestant in question.
The final decision comes down to your neutral judge, without whom the contestants would be a large group of confused people who don’t know if they suck or if they just need more practice.
(For a neutral judge, pick a neutral personality. You want somebody fairly well known that won’t take the spotlight from the other 2 judges. Try a bland yet entertaining personality like Ray Romano.)
Contestants
Wether your show is a competion for something vague (who’s talent is the most entertaining) or something specific (dancing, singing, stand up comedy) you can’t have a reality competition show without contestants. Although the main hook of your show is the judges, the contestants are what give your judges something to fight over.
You have to start your show out with the auditions. Your audience must see the good, but more importantly they must see the bad. Without the bad, your potential viewers just won’t care about the good. Not only that, but the rude judge is much more likeable if the opinion they give is shared by viewers from the start. If the viewers are thinking “man, you really suck” they like to hear somebody else find a funnier way of saying this.
Whatever talent you are searching for, you will certainly have lots of contestants that suck. Some people obviously know they suck, but they just want to be on tv. You can get 15 minutes for being bad quicker than you will for being good anyways.
The Show
Eventually, you have to weed out the contestants that suck. When all you have left is talented contestants competing for a prize, your audience may lose interest now that there is no one left to laugh at. Therefore, your judges personalities and arguments must take up over 75% of the show. Throw in some offensive, off the wall, ‘never saw it coming’ type stuff.
Create a rumor to the media that the kind judge and the rude judge have been having a secret affair. Have any of the judges do a “fake quit”… they will return by the end of that episode.
The Twist
Reality TV isn’t reality at all without a big twist in the end! So, narrow it down to the final 3 contestants, and instead of choosing just one winner…. surprise everybody and declare that nobody wins!
Dating Reality Show
The Prize
The prize on a reality dating show could be the man or woman whom a number of members of the opposite sex are competing for. However, reality tv wouldn’t be reality without an extra prize, like an obscene amount of money, rewarded to the last man or woman standing. Love isn’t enough, not on a reality dating show. However many of the rules are the same when you are putting together a dating reality show, and whether or not there is a cash reward for winning does not affect anything else.
The Dating Game Outine
This is the one person whom the other members are in a competition to win over. In reality, if 2 girls are fighting over one man then eventually both women will eventually learn they can both do better and they will move on, leaving the man to be lonely.
In reality dating shows, 2 women fighting over a man are not enough for that man to find the woman of his dreams. 10 or more are better. Since women are not as obsessed with simultaneous multi-tasking their relationships with the opposite sex as men are I’ll provide the example of 10 women competing for one man.
Clearly this idea will be appealling to men, but what about women? This is where you have to decide the percentage of women that are attractive, and the percentage of women that are downright… un-attractive. You’re safest bet to appeal to both men and women is a split 50/50, and wives and girlfriends will enjoy watching your show as long as there is always one woman they can compare themselves to and feel better about themselves.
Similarly, the man whom the women are competing for should be average looking. Not quite a dog, but certainly plain enough that men watching can easily continue their daydreams that they are better looking, therefore they could have 10 women competing for them.
Remember the balance has to seem strange… attractive women competing for a man who is not so great looking. Therefore, there has to be another incentive. Money, fame, or just plain “why the heck do they want him” are a few good ‘reasons’, but this is where you can get creative and put in your own extra ideas.
It is helpful to have a secret twist at the end of the reality dating show. For example, the women must think the man is a millionaire only for the winner to find out that the man is actually thousands of dollars in debt. Or is that too much reality?
Okay, but there has to be another twist that nobody knows about, not even the ‘star’ (the man who is lucky enough to have 10 money hungry women fighting for him) that will change everything.
Keeping the same example of the twist at the end, because reality shows could use a little more reality, let’s say there is a prize awarded to both the winner and the star at the end of the show, if they stay together for a year. Both agree, thinking they are getting money (because that’s not exactly a surprise anymore) and after signing a contract to recieve their prize … the lucky couple is awarded an adopted child! (Or you could try surprising the ‘star’ by revealing to him that none of the women were really 21.)
The Women
Since there are a number of women here, they must all have pretty memorable personalities. They must all have the ability to be ‘labelled” with a one word nickname to seperate them from the others, in order to keep the show simple. TV addicts have simple minds, you should not confuse them. Especially the ones who actually think there is reality in watching reality tv.
You must have a drunk/wild party girl, a good/smart girl, a bitch, an idiot, a sweet heart, an over-emotional whiner, a self absorbed (usually the most attractive) woman, a promiscuous whore, somebody with a secret (you can milk this for a media scandal later on), and the remaining slut- I mean slot- is a wild card. Remember there is an elimination at the end of every show, in which they star must cut somebody from his list of suitors.
Though many men will disagree with this, it is necessary and it usually begins with the first episode. Allow the characters with stronger personalities to stay on longer… the weaker women will still find other ways to milk their 15 minutes after being contestants on a reality dating show.
“Probing Into Somebody’s Personal Life” Reality Show
The Catch
Unfortunately, viewers really don’t care about reality unless there is something sur-real about it. Therefore, in a ‘reality show’ you must have a celebrity. That’s really all you need to be successful, because you are showing a reality that watchers can lose themselves in daydreams over.
What I mean is you can not show the reality of a single mom who works full time and lives in a tiny apartment she can barely afford on her income. You can not make a show about a college student who spends a little time at the bar with friends after he studies for his upcoming finals. No, these things do not make a good reality show, but a celebrity storming around a multi-million dollar mansion looking for a lost shoe is a much more appealling reality. It is entertaining enough that people will actually watch this regularly. The only catch is that your star must be a celebrity.
Fans of this celebrity will automatically want to watch and see what this person does in their ‘spare lives’. Most big name celebrities are trying to get away from the cameras and attention, so you need to find a C list or lower celebrity who does not mind being followed continuously and having every moment of their lives recorded.
Bonus if you can get a celebrity couple! You can pull a few seasons out of their fights and making ups, their secrets from eachother and their cute moments together. Celebrity couples who do a reality show usually end up splitting up, so try to avoid mentioning that you plan on televising their personal lives. Just tell them you are a huge fan and that’s why you followed them into their bedroom with a video recorder.
