by
Jaime Gropper
| 09/01/2015
Unreal, Lifetime’s new scripted look at the inner workings of a reality television show, strongly presents the case that reality shows are, in fact, very much not reality.
The first ten-episode season of Unreal aired this summer, and the show has already been picked up for a second season.
Unreal takes place almost exclusively on the set of Everlasting, a fictional, Bachelor-esque reality show.
Female contestants compete through various romantic challenges, dates and parties for the affections of a British millionaire bachelor Adam Cromwell (Freddie Stroma).
Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby) is a producer on the show who is considered to be a “closer”—someone who sets the stage for the necessary drama to happen.
Essentially, Rachel’s job is to slyly make people do and say things that will move the show in an exciting direction, often without them realizing that she’s guiding them along.
Much of the drama in the show within the show—Everlasting—comes from this “producing” technique—creating drama that isn’t really there, a technique that Unreal strongly suggests that actual reality shows heavily utilize.
The show emphasizes that editing is a major feature of reality production, and production is centered on making sure every detail is captured on camera so that everything can be ripped apart and meticulously pieced back together in exciting ways.
A fair amount of screen time is spent in the control room of Everlasting where producers vigorously plot and plan how to create drama and where the contestants are thought of as not as people but as means to an end.
Unreal succeeds in proving just how unreal reality shows can be.
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