Evaluating the reality game plan

Rumours of the demise of reality tv have been greatly exaggerated. Just when it seemed it was losing steam - last July, abc Entertainment Television Group chairman Lloyd Braun sounded the death knell for reality shows - the genre had another banner year. A rejuvenated Survivor drew its largest audience yet in the U.S. (25 million), and unlikely hits such as Bunim/Murray's The Simple Life (which beat out a post-Saddam-capture interview with President Bush in the ratings) along with London-based rdf Media's Wife Swap format - now sold in 20 territories - have proven the genre is unstoppable.

February 1, 2004

Rumours of the demise of reality tv have been greatly exaggerated. Just when it seemed it was losing steam - last July, abc Entertainment Television Group chairman Lloyd Braun sounded the death knell for reality shows - the genre had another banner year. A rejuvenated Survivor drew its largest audience yet in the U.S. (25 million), and unlikely hits such as Bunim/Murray's The Simple Life (which beat out a post-Saddam-capture interview with President Bush in the ratings) along with London-based rdf Media's Wife Swap format - now sold in 20 territories - have proven the genre is unstoppable.