Final Exam Essay Question: Most Wanted

John Winkler

Reality TV

12/15/11

Compare an International Reality TV episode to its USA version.

1.) Be very specific, and use descriptive examples to explain similarities and differences in cast, host, production values, audience, etc.

The Reality TV programs that I chose to review are “America’s Most Wanted” and “Australia’s Most Wanted.” The two programs both have been made for the same intentions, to help warn the specific countries people about criminals on the loose so that they can be captured. America’s version focuses on criminals in America, while Australia’s version focuses on criminals in Australia. Both programs have a similar style of presenting the show. The shows generally consist of a host who tells the audience about the criminal and the crime; a re-enactment of the crime; interviews with people involved with the crime (witnesses, police officers, etc.) and a request to please help capture these criminals with information as to where they may be found.

The difference between these shows has everything to do with variations to the format. America’s version uses a younger host and uses Americans in the show. And Australia’s version uses an older host and Australians in the show for obvious reasons. Also unlike Australia’s version, which consists of short re-enactments and long face to face interviews, America’s version consisted of mainly re-enactments of the every single aspect of the crime and small interviews sprinkled in. The set also differed, America’s seemed to be in a closed of area where only the host was present, while Australia’s appeared to be in an office full of people working with telephones.

2.) Provide a hypothesis about why you believe each similarity or difference exists. Note: YouTube has US and international episodes of varied programs, including The Apprentice, Survivor, etc. See if you can find a program you are interested in for this essay question. INCLUDE: The web addresses for each episode.

       I believe each of these programs differ because they are taking separate paths to accomplish the same goal. Australia’s version which has an elderly host, takes place in an office, and uses mostly face to face interviews for it’s story is going for a much more serious look. This version has made it clear that it means business and that this is no laughing matter. However, America’s version takes a completely different approach. America’s version focuses a much younger host who seems more personable. Also, the whole show seems to be revolved around its long in-depth reenactments and short interviews. This version does this to give the show a more personable feel, watching these reenactments gets the audience to feel in touch with the victims and desire to get the criminal behind bars. This approach keeps the audiences attention while making them passionate about the subject matter. Obviously both programs will what t maintain format that involves their specific country/audience, so it makes sense to use stories and personnel form that country. However, it’s interesting to see how two shows with exactly the same motif can take two different approaches to deliver their program to the viewer.

Australia’s Most Wanted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_lTfrqdEiI

America’s Most Wanted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA3xFl_k_ow

Final Paper: Fight For Your Country!

1)    TITLE OF YOUR PROGRAM

FIGHT FOR YOUR COUNTRY!

2)    THE CONCEPT OF YOUR PROGRAM

Reality series contest for fighters all around the world.  128 countries will be involved in the competition. Fighters from each country will compete to represent their country, but only one will be chosen per country involved. The fighters will be competing for $10 Million. There will only be one winner, he/she will receive all the money and reputation as the world’s fighting champion.

3)    THE LOG LINE OF YOUR PROGRAM

“Street Fighter” meets “Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).” A competition where fighters from all over the world battle to win $10 Million, and gain the reputation as the world’s fighting champion while at the same time representing their country.

4)    THEMES

Reality-based/ Competition

5)    FORMAT/GENRE

The format o f the show would be a reality-based competition focusing on popular culture and the blow-up of fighting competitions in sports such as “UFC” and “MMA.” The extremely popular, video game “Street Fighter’s” concept of a worldwide fighting competition will be focused upon as well.

6)    TREATMENT

The program would at the beginning focus on 128 real people who are considered to be “fighters” in the sports sense.  Each fighter will be from a different country of origin. Fighters from different countries will compete prior to programming to be nominated as the fighters that will represent their country. The one fighter chosen from each country will then be in the Fight For Your Country!  Competition.

The competition will take place in 7 different countries. Japan, Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Canada, England, and America will each host one of the seven episodes. These countries have previously hosted “UFC” event before which make them a prime audience for this show. The first seven episodes filming will take place over a time period of approximately 7 months. The first episode will be more of an introduction to the show showing to the process to choose the fighters before the competition. Episodes 2-7 will be filmed every 2 weeks to allow for contestants to heal and travel. However, the episodes will not be shown until the fifth month, when all of the first seven episodes have already been filmed. The six episodes, which will run on a week-to-week basis, will take approximately 2 and half months. Finally the last episode will be shown 2 weeks after the seventh episode.

In each episode the fighters involved in the competition will be paired off to fight one another. At the end of each episode there will be half a group of winners and half a group of losers. This process will repeat until there are only two finalists left at the end of episode six. The seventh and final episode will feature a huge finale in Las Vegas where the winner will be revealed.

7)    7 EPISODES

Episode 1: The audience will get an introduction to the show. The show and its premise will be explained in entirety so that the viewers know what to look forward to in the future. This episode will also feature footage of the fighters who tried out to represent their country. Each country involved will be shown along with the winner nominated to represent it. At the end of the episode the audience will have been shown all 128 contestants and their country that will be involved in the competition. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 2-hours.

Episode 2: The competition will begin and the audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 64 battles taken place between the 128 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 64 winners who move on in the competition and 64 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

Episode 3: The contest will continue with the previous 64 winners. The audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 32 battles taken place between the current 64 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 32 winners who move on in the competition and 32 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

Episode 4: The contest will continue with the previous 32 winners. The audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 16 battles taken place between the current 32 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 16 winners who move on in the competition and 16 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

Episode 5: The contest will continue with the previous 16 winners. The audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 8 battles taken place between the current 16 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 8 winners who move on in the competition and 8 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

Episode 6: The contest will continue with the previous 8 winners. The audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 4 battles taken place between the current 8 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 4 winners who move on in the competition and 4 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

Episode 7: The contest will continue with the previous 4 winners. The audience will be witness to footage and highlights of the 2 battles taken place between the current 4 contestants. At the end of the show we will be left with 4 winners who move on in the competition and 2 losers who are cut from the competition and show. This episode will have a run-time of approximately 1-hour.

*It is important to note that through episodes 2-6 we will get a sense of who these fighters really are as they travel together and deal with each other outside of their matches. We will watch their lives throughout the competition. Also each episode from 2-6 will take place in a different country listed previously, except the Untied States because that is where the last episode will take place.

8)    FINAL EPISODE

This final episode as the competition comes to a close with only 2 contestants left. The last battle will take place in Las Vegas, NV in the United States. It will be shown live on television. The series will be a big hit bringing in a huge amount of viewers to see who the winner will be. Also it will be held as a live event so people will pay a lot of money to go see it live in Las Vegas. Only one contestant will be victorious and win $10 Million and will represent their country being proclaimed the world’s fighting champion.

9)    LITERATURE REVIEW

As Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) said, “What’s worth doing is worth doing for money.” Television is all about two things entertainment and money. That’s why it is so important to keep out focus on the two concepts that go into the make up of Fight For Your Country!, The outrageously popular video game series “Street Fighter” and the worldwide sensation that is the “UFC.”

“UFC has emerged as on of the fastest-growing sports organizations due to its ability to successfully navigate the television landscape.”(Carter, page 32) This quote from David M. Carter’s book,  “Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment,” gives us the perfect reason why this program would be successful. The “UFC” was able to take a sport that has been going on for generations, fighting, and turn it into a billion dollar industry. It’s use of television was able to unlock all of it’s potential and quickly give it the success it deserved. It has a huge fan base that buy everything from “UFC” clothes, equipment, DVDs, PPV matches, and tickets to events. Although they make an insane amount of revenue, they also have to pay their fighters. That is the financial advantage we would have, we are only paying our one winner out of 128 contestants. “American Idol is the closest to what we are,” claimed co-owner of the “UFC” Lorenzo Fertitta.(Carter, page 33) Fertitta went on to explain what makes his program so much better than other and what makes his fan base so loyal, “on most reality shows, people don’t care about the person after the show ends. People who come on our show have a career that you can continue to follow.” (Carter, page 33) Many contestants of the “UFC” have become stars in the sports fighting world. Fans love the entertainment they are getting and stay loyal to watching their favorite fighters compete.

 “Street Fighter” is a series of fighting games that first came to U.S. arcades in 1987. After dozens of sequels and millions of games sold, it has earned the right as the most successful game series ever made. Comic books, toys, and two feature films have spawned of the video game. Chris Carle, writer of the book “Street Fighter: A Complete History,” explained the game best when he said “The concept is simple, the competition fierce. It’s you versus another guy. One person wins. One must fall.” (Carle, page 17) According to Carle the game sold over a half -million arcade consoles when it first came out, which generated outrageous amounts of money for arcades. At the time there was no game like it, “Street Fighter launched the fighting genre.” (Carle, page 18) “More than 127 million copies and hundreds of imitators later, the series continues to be one of the most beloved and successful video game franchises of all time.”(Carle)

10) POPULAR EXAMPLES

This program has a great possibility of being wildly popular. This year for the first time ever, “UFC” was shown on basic cable. “UFC on Fox did a 3.1 rating and 5.7 million viewers for the one-hour broadcast, based on the fast national Nielsen numbers. It was the largest audience ever to watch an MMA television show in the United States, breaking the record of 5.3 million set on Sept. 30, 2009, for an episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show on Spike TV featuring a taped match of Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson.”(Meltzer) “UFC’s” popularity is skyrocketing right now, “the UFC is the fastest growing sport in America, with a 106% year over year increase in online interest.”(Saks) And if that’s not enough to prove peoples obsession with watching a good fight just take a look at the previous season of “Jersey Shore’s” ratings. Last season when two of the male characters got into a fight,” (that) episode delivered 8.5 million total viewers.”(Ng) This was an 11% jump in ratings from the previous week.

The other concept of the program is the video game series sensation “Street Fighter.”  Street fighter is listed by many as one of the most popular and most successful video games of all time. It’s first two video games alone raked in over $2 billion in revenue, and it has been successfully adding onto the series since 1987. The video game series has also been formed into two movies shown on screens all around the world.

11) CITATIONS

"10 Movie Quotes About Money | TraderDaily." TraderDaily | Equities, Fixed Income, Forex, Commodities, Derivatives, ETFs, Lifestyle. Trader Daily, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://www.traderdaily.com/08/10-underrated-movie-quotes-about-money/>.

Carle, Chris. Street fighter: the complete history. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2010. Print.

Carter, David M.. Money games: profiting from the convergence of sports and entertainment. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2011. Print.

"List of UFC events - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UFC_e

Meltzer, Dave. "UFC's Fox debut delivers a ratings knockout - UFC - Yahoo! Sports." Yahoo! Sports - Sports News, Scores, Rumors, Fantasy Games, and more. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-meltzer_ufc_fox_ratings_111311>.

Ng, Philiana. "'Jersey Shore' Ratings Continue to Rise - Hollywood Reporter." The Latest Entertainment & Hollywood News - The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jersey-shore-ratings-continue-rise-228399>.

"Street Fighter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter

           

Chapter 6 review questions

John Winkler

12/8/11

Reality TV

Chapter 6 Review Questions

1) Which rule enacted by the FCC, barred networks from owning financial interest in, and retaining syndication rights to primetime programming?

A)   Serialization

B)   Simulation

C)   Voyeurism

D)   Finsyn

E)   None of the above

2) Which of the following did NOT drive up prices for fictional programming?

A)   Talent

B)   Scriptwriting

C)   Computer Animation

D)   Music Composition

E)   None of the above

3) Which of the following sparked the explosion of Reality TV?

A)   Writers Strike

B)   H8R

C)   Blacklisting

D)   The Graduate

E)   None of the above

4) True or False: The main reason reality TV became so popular amongst networks and production companies was it’s low cost? (Circle One)

True/False

5)  True or False: Reality TV could cost up to 50% more than fictional programming? (Circle One)

True/False

Answers

1)D

2)E

3)A

4)T

5)F

CH6 Overview

Reality T.V. Series

Title of show: “Put Your Morals Where Your Mouth Is.”

Author name: John Winkler

Format of show: Reality series

            “The Graduate” meets “The Apprentice” meets “Occupy Wall Street.” A college graduate, who has the virtues of people taking place in “Occupy Wall Street,” is hired by a company that is later found out to be corrupt and against the contestant’s morals.

            The show will be a seven episode series; each episode will have a 1hour runtime. It will be centered around a college graduate who is a big believer in the values that are present in the people taking place in “Occupy Wall Street.” The contestant will be morally strongly against corporate corruption and unemployment in general. Everyone in the show besides the main contestant will be actors/actresses.

            Throughout the seven episodes the contestant will think he is facing off against other contestants for a major high paying job. At first the contestant will go to a fake interview and be hired by a fake company that claims they will pay him a lot of money. He will then find out he has to compete against other contestants for his job. These other contestants will all be actors. As the show goes on he will become aware that the company he is going for if extremely corrupt and what they do is completely against his morals.

            The finale of the show will end with him winning the contest and being offered to head an operation. It will turn out that the operation is completely against his morals and even more corrupt than he thought. However, he will be offered a huge raise in money to head this job and he will make a lot of money for the rest of his life. With his knowledge of the corruption and how much money is on the line, he will have to make a huge personal decision on weather to head the operation or turn down the job and possibly lose out on all the money and even his job. The purpose will be to see if the contestant can really stick to his morals or will the thought of money corrupt them too. If the contestant declines the offer he will be rewarded $1,000,000. If he accepts he will lose the contest and be paid nothing.

            The show will test the morals of a contestant as he is asked to be corrupt for the vice of greed. Is an unemployed college graduate with strong morals willing to let money force his hand against his beliefs? This will be the ultimate test to see if people can “Put Your Morals Where Your Mouth Is.”