Reality TV more realistic

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: As the writers’ strike keeps the television networks scrambling to fill their schedules, the producers of reality shows are gladly stepping in to fill the vacuum. And with the propensity of those producers to incorporate the products of sponsors into the programmes, don’t be surprised if the vacuum bears a brand name like Hoover or Dyson.

It is typically easier to weave a product into an episode of a reality show like American Idol or Survivor than into a scripted series like Grey’s Anatomy or Two and a Half Men.

For one thing, the contestants in reality shows are usually more willing to pitch products than the actors in scripted programmes. Actors prefer to worry about their art—and their long-term value as endorsers of a certain soda if viewers have already watched them drinking a different brand. Viewers also seem more tolerant when products turn up in settings that are deemed realistic rather than fictitious.

A result is that the networks are expanding their reality plans, particularly as the ratings for some strike fare like American Gladiators are surpassing the viewership for the scripted shows they replaced.

NBC, which has embraced reality more ardently than its competitors, is even planning a prime-time reality special for May 11 that is being developed by and for an advertiser, Teleflora. The show—which also involves the NBC morning show Today, Redbook magazine and the Reveille production company—will centre on a search for America’s Favorite Mom.

Needless to say, the winner can expect to be festooned with flowers, and a rose is to be named in her honour.

“We’re looking to be the best partners for our advertisers,” said Ben Silverman, co-chairman at NBC Entertainment, part of the NBC Universal division of GE. And one way to do that, he said, is “building programming assets in partnership with advertisers.”

The trend of reality programmes becoming showcases for brands is even having an impact on series in which advertisers are not paying to place products. For instance, the Clearly Canadian line of beverages is featured prominently in a reality series, Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist, which will make its debut on the Mojo HD network as part of a block of three business shows called Mojo Money Night.

The series follows the adventures—and misadventures—of Bobby Genovese, an entrepreneur in the field of so-called small-cap or penny stocks; he owns companies including the BG Capital Group and BG Capital Management.

A good deal of the plot of Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist is devoted to his efforts to revive Clearly Canadian through steps like hiring as an endorser a popular Canadian-born athlete, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. “I love brand-name companies, especially ones that have fallen on hard times,” Genovese said in an interview.

Mojo HD is part of In Demand Networks. The channel is aimed at an affluent audience, primarily male and ages 18 to 49.