The best reality show(s) of the decade
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy Friday the 13th!
Last week I published my list of the best reality TV of 2019, so this week, it’s time for the best reality TV of the decade.
I focused on one show, but also listed the 2010 shows that stood out to me the most. And of course, there were a lot of great shows that premiered last decade and continued into this one, which I excluded because these lists are arbitrary and I had to limit it somehow.
What do you think of my choices? You can comment on those stories—or now here, right on this newsletter:
One update to my best-of-2019 list: I will be adding a show that aired its entire second season these past two weeks.
That’s Making It, which I reviewed, and which is perfect.
I don’t know an artful way to transition from that joy to the disaster that’s been Survivor, but what happened on Survivor: Island of the Idols this week was long overdue. Still, I don’t know how the show recovers from this, that’s how badly it has screwed up.
Survivor: Island of the Idols ends Wednesday, but instead of a live finale and reunion, it’ll be pre-taped.
In much more delightful news, the U.S. adaptation of The Crystal Maze now has a premiere date and a host, and I think he’s an inspired choice.
Of the approximately 73 million reality shows that aired this year, most were cooking competitions, two statistics I’ve just made up. But here is an actual fact: Food Network announced its most-popular show of 2019, and that absolutely baffles me.
Of course, that means it’s been renewed. Here’s what I wrote about Buddy vs. Duff's bizarre first season.
Elsewhere, Discovery’s Naked and Afraid will be changing its format when it returns next year.
That’s the news and reviews for this week!
There will be one more newsletter for the year next Friday, and then I’ll be winding things down until 2020, a year I cannot believe is almost here. Wasn’t it just 2000, and we were all worried about the Y2K bug, and I was just 22, and not acutely aware of the passage of time?
Hope you have a wonderful weekend. See you next week!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 173, first sent 13 December 2019, and it may spend the weekend building a staycation shed, or maybe just re-watching that episode of Making It instead.
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