CC2: Behind These Hazel Eyes

"American Idol and many other reality shows may devote an entire episode to the season's highlights, designed to provide and easy entry point" (77). OOH! These episodes in the middle of the season (when I used to actually have time to watch my favorite shows religiously) used to make me so angry because I had already watched the season so far and knew what had happened. I always assumed that the producers couldn't come up with enough material for the amount of shows they planned to air or wanted to get an extra week out of the season without spending the amount of money usually needed for a normal episode. It never dawned on me that this was a ploy to attract more viewers. Now that I'm actually thinking about it, I wonder if this ploy really attracts that many more viewers. I don't think I would get hooked after a brief recap of the season because one half or full hour program can't present the full image of a season's worth of events. I think it would be different if there was a marathon of all the aired episodes because that would give the viewer access to all possible information previously broadcasted. I guess this could also depend on whether the viewer was a zapper who only looks for clips or a loyal who prefers to see the whole picture.

Jenkins also explained in this chapter how reality television often starts with a large cast that is reduced as the season progresses. He adds that some of the members of the cast become audience favorites and get more air time. He related these ideas to American Idol, because he related everything in this chapter to American Idol, but I want to push it a little further. I think MTV has embraced this idea with their Real World/Road Rules challenges. For those of you who don't know--MTV selects certain members of previous reality show casts (The Real World and Road Rules) and pins them against each other in crazy challenges to win great prizes and a large cash sum. I'm not sure about Road Rules, but I know the Real World has been on air since the early 90s and some of these early cast members participate in the challenge. These challenges are a way to attract all MTV Real World and Road Rule viewers from past seasons to watch MTV again. They can still relate with their favorite characters even if they were originally on TV fifteen years ago. It also attracts newer viewers from the seasons that aired in the past few seasons, even if these viewers are graduating from college and becoming "too old for MTV." By keeping cast members from the past decade, MTV brings back old viewers to relive their past and keeps other viewers from moving on to something else.