The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the longest-running reality series in history, credited with launching the modern reality TV genre.
The series was hailed in its early years for depicting issues of contemporary young-adulthood relevant to its core audience, such as sex, prejudice, religion, abortion, illness, sexuality, AIDS, death, politics and substance abuse, but later garnered a reputation as a showcase for immature and irresponsible behavior.
Following Bunim’s death from breast cancer in 2004, Bunim/Murray Productions continues to produce the program. The 28th and most recent season, set in Portland, Oregon, premiered on March 27, 2013, and ended its first run on June 12, 2013. An upcoming 29th season, set in San Francisco, California, is currently in production, and is expected to air in 2014.
The series has generated two notable spin-offs, both broadcast by MTV: Road Rules, which lasted for 14 seasons, and the reality game show The Challenge, which has run for over 20 seasons since 1998. The Challenge is mostly cast-contestant dependent on both The Real World and Road Rules, as it combines contestants from various seasons of both shows. Coordinating the series with its spin-off, MTV alternates between airing seasons of The Real World and The Challenge and ends out seasons of both shows by showing previews for the upcoming season of the other.
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The Osbournes is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV. The final episode of the series aired March 21, 2005.
Builder Chase Morrill is teaming up with his brother, sister and best friend to save and transform abandoned cabins buried deep in the remote woods of Maine. From historic cottages nearly a century old, to camp cabins in need of some major TLC, they’ll give these properties the facelift they’ve needed for decades. And, you never know what you might find when you go for a walk in the woods.
Two Missouri brothers, Taimoor and Rehan, travel the country rewriting the rules of home design by taking on the most unconventional, most bizarre, most dangerous run-down structures and transforming them into surprising, ingenious and luxurious dream homes.
Illusionists Penn & Teller throw down the gauntlet to aspiring magicians to perform their most mystifying trick – and fool Penn and Teller. Penn & Teller have no prior knowledge of either the performers or the planned trick. They sit in the audience just like everyone else, watching every move the guest magicians make. If any illusionist fools the professionals, they win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller’s world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.
Bruce Kirkby, Christine Pitkanen and their 2 young sons — Bodi and Taj — take the road less traveled. From container ship to tuk tuk, these explorers have tried it all. “Big Crazy Family Adventure”, Travel Channel’s newest show, tracks the epic journey of the Kirkby family. Without taking a single airplane, they travel more than 13,000 miles, from Kimberley, British Columbia, to the Himalaya. Together, they discover untouched landscapes, unique cultures and life’s simple pleasures. Whether it’s encountering challenging climates or navigating obscure villages, this family manages to disconnect from the barrage of daily technology and information overload to enjoy quality time with one another.
Kenny Hauk, lead designer of Hauk Designs, works with his crew of expert mechanics and fabricators to build ultra-powerful, one-of-a-kind vehicles that look amazing and can go anyw
The story of the real characters who bring life to this enormously popular television genre. Set in Miami, the series follows a group of beautiful and fierce Latina actresses and actors working in this hyper-competitive world, which has captivated hundreds of millions of viewers.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Created by Simon Cowell, the show began in September 2004 and has since aired annually from August/September through to December. The show is produced by FremantleMedia’s Thames and Cowell’s production company SYCOtv. It is broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and TV3 in Ireland, with spin-off behind-the-scenes show The Xtra Factor screened on ITV2. It is the originator of the international The X Factor franchise. The X Factor was devised as a replacement for the highly successful Pop Idol, which was put on indefinite hiatus after its second series, largely because Cowell, who was a judge on Pop Idol, wished to launch a show to which he owned the television rights. The perceived similarity between the two shows later became the subject of a legal dispute. The “X Factor” of the title refers to the undefinable “something” that makes for star quality.
The original judging panel was Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Dannii Minogue joined the panel in series 4, and Cheryl Cole replaced Osbourne in series 5 after her departure. After series 7, Cowell and Cole both left to judge the American version of the show whilst Minogue left the show due to commitments on Australia’s Got Talent. Kelly Rowland, Tulisa Contostavlos and Gary Barlow then joined Walsh on the judging panel for series 8, though Rowland announced she would not return for series 9 and was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Osbourne later returned in 2013, replacing Contostavlos. Since 2007, the show has been presented by Dermot O’Leary, who replaced original host Kate Thornton. The show is split into a series of phases, following the contestants from auditions through to the grand finale. In the original televised audition phase of the show, contestants sang in an audition room in front of just the judges. From series 6 onwards, auditionees sing on a stage in front of the judges and a live audience. Successful auditionees go through to “bootcamp” and then to “judges’ houses”, where judges narrow down the acts in their category down to three or four acts to mentor for the live shows, where the public vote for their favourite acts following weekly live performances by the contestants.
Big Brother is a BAFTA Award-winning British reality television game show in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house for several weeks, trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. It is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Big Brother, along with its spin-off series Celebrity Big Brother, was originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 18 July 2000 until 10 September 2010, after which it was dropped from Channel 4’s schedules due to declining ratings. The rights to the programme were acquired by Channel 5 in a two-year contract with Endemol to air on the main channel and subsidiary channel 5*. The re-launched version premiered on 18 August 2011 with a back-to-back series of Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother.
The host of Big Brother for the duration of its run on Channel 4 was Davina McCall, who was replaced by Brian Dowling when the show moved to Channel 5. Marcus Bentley has narrated the show since its inception on Channel 4. Spin-off shows that co-existed with the Channel 4 series were presented by Dermot O’Leary, Russell Brand, George Lamb and Emma Willis, who returned to present the only spin-off show Big Brother’s Bit on the Side alongside Jamie East and Alice Levine when the show began on Channel 5. On 2 April 2013, it was announced that Willis would be the main Big Brother presenter.
Six young people whose families found fame and fortune in the hip-hop industry strive to succeed independently in their own careers without assistance from their famous parents.
