Candid Camera was where it all began (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
All you need to do is have a quick scroll of the TV guide, or a flick through the titles on offer on any streamer, to see there’s one genre that’s working overtime.
Reality TV dominates hours of our lives, but before it became the juggernaut that it is today, the category of progammes had much humbler beginnings.
From the first time someone suggested filming ‘everyday people’ to the debut of set-up situations, it’s continued to evolve. But it was Candid Camera and American Family that made the mould that’s gone on to be broken, divided and reinvented endlessly.
Now we’re blessed (or cursed, depending on who you ask) with titles such as Towie, Big Brother, The Housewives of *insert state*, Love Island or the latest offering, Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends. But how did it all begin?
Let’s take a look at the shows that changed TV forever…
Candid Camera
Bart was one of 12 housemates (Picture: Veronica)
Big Brother is often credited as being the first of its kind, with people assuming they invented the wheel.
The series, which puts a group of strangers inside a house to see how they cope, launched into the world in 1999. The Netherlands were the first to conduct the social experiment, with Bart Spring in ‘t Veld winning after 106 days.
It was an instant hit, and the UK followed behind one year later. When ‘Nasty Nick’ told people whom to vote to evict by writing on scraps of paper, it became a major news story and talking point. The rule break helped launch the series into the stratosphere – it’s gone on to have 21 series (and counting) as well as 23 celebrity editions.
While Big Brother often takes the credit for being number one, the earliest evidence of a programme in the reality genre actually came decades earlier. Candid Camera landed on America’s ABC in 1948 and started the phenomenon.
Candid Camera began in 1948 (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)
While it began as a radio show, Candid Microphone, a year earlier, it wasn’t until it got the TV treatment that it really captured attention. The series proved popular and ran all the way through to the 1970s. It has since returned on multiple occasions, with its most recent episodes airing in 2014.
The longevity means it has achieved an impressive 1000+ episodes over 38 seasons. Six other countries got in on the action too with their own versions — the British edition aired from 1960 to 1976.
But what exactly did the series entail?
The programme used hidden cameras to document members of the public’s reactions to setup situations.
It was originally presented by the late Allen Funt, who also created and developed the show. His son Peter Funt presented the most recent outing with Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik as co-host, making it a family affair.
Mayim and Peter presented the most recent series of Candid Camera (Picture: TV Land/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)
The unsuspecting stars would often be subject to practical jokes. They ranged from telling infuriated homeowners they will need to divide their rubbish into eight colour-coded bins, to attempting to confuse a President. In one of the most iconic sketches, they hired a competitive runner to repeatedly turn up at different points on a walking route taken by the late Harry S. Truman.
Once it was revealed to the participants what was going on, they’d be hit with the iconic catchphrase: ‘Smile, you’re on Candid Camera’. The phrase has taken on a life of its own and is even quoted by people who have no idea of its origin.
That wasn’t the only segment, they would also conduct interviews with normal people, or ask children to interpret pieces of art. It was an eclectic mix!
When asked what made Candid Camera so successful, Funt told IDA: ‘Number one, the basic comedy of Candid Camera is the comedy of watching a man fall on the ice. It’s someone else. You’re happy it’s not you. You have a moment of superiority. And you recognize the possibility of yourself in the predicament.
‘Beyond that, at our best, we are dealing with subjects closer to the real lives of our audience than almost any other show on television.’
He also added that he ‘can’t think of anything that’s better’ for showing what society is truly like. Something that reality TV has continued to excel at.
An American Family
The Louds provided unexpected drama (Picture: John Dominis/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Candid Camera was the first TV show to document reality, but although the reactions were real, there was much production input to create the situations.
However, the first to have no external manipulation was PBS’ An American Family, which appeared on the TV guide from 1973. It is largely credited for really birthing the genre, and allowing it to grow in so many different directions.
The concept was simple but effective. They moved cameras into an ‘average’ family’s home to capture everything that happened in the four walls. They ended up recording over 300 hours, which was edited down to 12 hour-long episodes.
The Louds’ home life in California spawned left viewers instantly obsessed – 10 million tuned in. If Reddit existed back then, they probably would have broken the internet.
Producer Craig Gilbert wanted to show the living patterns of a typical middle-America household. However, the unpredictable level of drama meant that he instead had footage of a family falling apart.
Within the episodes, the Loud parents Pat and Bill experience marital problems and a business crisis. She complains about their sex life and his cheating, and then later, asks him for a divorce.
In one scene, Pat says: ‘You know there’s a problem’ to which Bill responds: ‘What’s your problem?’
Also featured, were their five children between the ages of 14 and 20. Son Lance found the confidence to come out as gay and then became an LGBTQ+ activist.
The family was revised in specials An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later, and Lance Loud!: A Death in an American Family.
The final special, broadcast in 2003, was at the invite of Lance. He had been addicted to crystal meth for 20 years and was HIV positive. He died of liver failure caused by a hepatitis C and HIV co-infection in the year of filming.
One of his last wishes was for Bill and Pat to move back in together, which they did, until their deaths in 2018 and 2021.
The UK had their own version (Picture: BBC)
Wanting a piece of the pie, the UK brought out their own version, titled The Family, just one year after the original. This time the Wilkins, a working class family from Reading were the subject.
Similar to their American predecessors, the head of the household experienced issues in their relationship. Margaret and Terry argued over cheating, finances and their offspring.
The final episode was the wedding of daughter Marion to partner Tom. The nuptials were crashed by paparazzi and fans.
Their notoriety also led to the series being parodied on Monty Python in a sketch called The Most Awful Family in Britain 1974.
Whether it was loved or hated, the type of programming got people talking and so it was here to stay…
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