Genre concerned with signaling the authority of “realism” and “authenticity” where programs usually shoot on location using shaky video-camera filming and actual participants. This relatively new but popular genre originated in the 1980s with shows such as America’s Most Wanted (FOX, 1988–), Cops (FOX, 1989–), Unsolved Mysteries (NBC, 1988–95) and America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC, 1990–). Many other imitators followed, especially on FOX. MTV’s Real World (1992–) and the latest Survivors (2000) on CBS are new games where real people are placed in different situations in order to be simply on TV or to win million-dollar prizes.

A prototypical plot of Cops, for example, features actual police driving through inner cities and apprehending suspects. Frenetically paced edited video footage captures officers on high-speed chases. Celebrating the collective agency of the fraternal order, the stories reveal the officers’ extraordinary power to establish law and order. America’s Most Wanted is hosted by a civilian advocate for missing children. The program profiles missing children as well as fugitives using recent photographs and re-enactments of alleged crimes. Home viewers respond to the program’s toll-free telephone number with relevant information that has led to hundreds of successful resolutions.

These narratives first establish a vision of normalcy and calm that is swiftly overthrown by chaos. Disorder displaces order and the world turns upside-down. While each show relies on different tropes (funny disturbing or shocking), the dissolve of order propels the narrative.

While the programs have relatively similar production styles, techniques and economies, they have basic ideological distinctions. Programs such as Cops and Emergency Call portray official agents of the state or other powerful public institutions as social protectors. Each of these programs focuses on the cold-nerved and often violent heroics of professionals, and the means by which they restore order: firefighters pull children from burning houses; medical technicians revive accident victims; etc. In contrast, programs such as AMW and America’s Funniest Home Videos focus on the authority of average people, the absence of paternalistic social control and on the private side of individual lives. Frequently, these programs demand audience participation and include a casually dressed civilian host who reinforces the legitimacy of civilian morality and agency.

Reality-based programs have proliferated in part because of relatively inexpensive production costs. Consumer appetites for the format have also been substantial. Focus and survey research have found that viewers value the format as entertaining and informative “reality.” The public also tolerates the violence presented on these “reality” programs more than violence in fictional accounts. However, these programs have been criticized for insidious blending of exciting vérité and carefully constructed narratives.

The law-and-order variety have been further critiqued for their stereotypical portrayals of criminality that associate deviance with the dark-skinned figures populating urban terrain, ignoring larger social and economic problems and white-collar crime.