2. Reality television is centered around the idea
ofsurveillance The filming techniques in some ways
emulatesurveillance footage The central characters are aware that
their lives arebeing filmed Because these central characters are
real, we asviewers feel we have the opportunity to know them,
muchin the same way we feel we personally (wish we could)know
fictional characters
3. Can we considersomething that hasbeen deemed
fictionalprogramming to actually be anotherembodiment of reality
television?
4. The Office is often regarded as a mockumentary, primarily
because ofits filming style, but the showshares many of its
signature featureswith elements of contemporary reality television
shows. In fact, these elements have become so vital to the identity
of The Office that the show may be the start of a new wave of
reality television shows.
5. Kelly Kapoor, Nicole Snooki Polizzi, The Office The Jersey
Shore
6. From left to right: Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin, Oscar
Nunez as Oscar Martinez, and Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin-
VanceFrom left to right: Steven Tyler as Steven Tyler, Jennifer
Lopez as JenniferLopez, and Randy Jackson as Randy Jackson
7. Diversity Day, The OfficeSurvivor: CookIslands
8. Beach Games, The Office
9. Double Date, The Office Keeping Up with theKardashians,
Season 1
10. A Map of Countries Airing a Variation of the Reality TV
Series Big Brother
11. The Office, United States The Office, United Kingdom La
Ofis, Chile La Job, Canada (Quebec)Stromberg, Germany Le Bureau,
FranceHaMisrad, Israel
12. The Office exhibits many of the traitsviewers have
associated with contemporaryreality television. However, the
popular NBCprogram lends reality television some of thetraits that
have for a long time consideredto be exclusively associated with
fictionalprogramming.
13. The Real WorldAmerican IdolThe Office The Jersey Shore
14. Michael Scott,Jeff Probst, The Office SurvivorA
fictionalized television program like The Office and a
recognizedreality television show like Survivor both attempt to
mimic real-lifesituations to an extent. The Office uses conventions
of reality televisionto assert its realness and so do shows such as
Survivor, althoughtheir use of these conventions are not
surprising, but expected. Reality television shows also make use of
the conventions associated with fictionalized television.
15. So if the situations inboth of these types oftelevision
shows are contrived to an extent,but still make a validattempt to
properly mimic reality, where is the line drawn between fictional
and realitytelevision?
16. Geico Commercial, 2006 Celotta, Jennifer, and Greg Daniels.
"Beach Games." The Office.NBC. 10 May 2007. Television. Chun,
Daniel. "Nepotism." The Office. NBC. 23 Sept. 2010.Television.
Eisenberg, Lee, and Gene Stupnitsky. "Weight Loss." The Office.NBC.
25 Sept. 2008. Television. Grandy, Charlie. "Double Date." The
Office. NBC. 5 Nov. 2009.Television. Novak, B.J. "Diversity Day."
The Office. NBC. 29 Mar. 2005.Television. "X-Cops." The X-Files.
FOX. 20 Feb. 2000. Television. Images were also provided by the
television shows The JerseyShore, Survivor: Cook Islands, American
Idol and Keeping Up Withthe Kardashians In addition to the episodes
and shows featured, images were alsoprovided by Wikipedia, People
Magazine, and Google Images
