The ‘sockumentary’ – here to stay?

10 years ago reality TV didn’t exist. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Now its part of the fabric of the daily schedules, but why do TV execs have such an obsession with it? For one, in a time when budgets and ad revenues are being cut, they are cheap to make when compared to programmes with higher production values and actors to pay.

A decade ago it all seemed so fresh, now it just seems to be everywhere. Now we have a new beast to contend with. A genre which doesn’t even have a name. A format where real people act out their lives on camera, except the production is more soap than documentary. And we all know the programme I’m talking about here, right? Perhaps ‘sockumentary’ is apt? Well it works for me.

The problem with this new style is the very fact that it is a hybrid of two well established styles. Probably the most common question viewers ask themselves when they watch it is ‘is this real’. Even the programme makers ‘fess up at the beginning, warning that some content may be made up.

And surely here lies the problem. The very reason people watch these programmes is because the people are real. The problem is that increasingly what’s real and what’s not is becoming more obvious to viewers. This has been compounded by the stars becoming stalwarts of showbiz columns, meaning we follow their antics away from the show.

So, can the ‘sockumentary’ weather the storm when it inevitably comes? Yes, but it will need to continually change the people who star in it to keep it going. It will be a hard juggling act to do that and keep viewers on side.