Ordinary Stars

With today's reality TV show stars there a new sense of intimacy between the audience and the star. These stars are supposedly the everyday person, therefore making them more relatable to the the viewer and encouraging interactivity. With this relationship established, producers and networks take advantage of this relationship and create access to the star. By having these people be unknown people who are usually looking for a way to become popular in the audience's mind, it also opens up for more outlets that that star is likely to use to reach that audience. Also with more access to the show there are also new ways to interact with the show beyond the actual content, especially through the show's website. This is a part of interactivity. For example, the show Top Chef. On the Top Chef website there are plenty ways to connect with the show beyond the content. There are blogs and recipes from their favorite contestants on the show. Also there are recaps of the show and extra features such as casting videos, merchandise, and games. These are all ways that the audience can further their interactions with the show. This show encourages interactivity further by the subject of the show. The contestants are chefs and everyone needs to learn how to cook, thereby forming a link between the professional and the viewer. Reality TV and Top Chef have to do more things to make it interactive. They have to cast people that come on that are relatable but also entertaining to encourage viewers to want to learn more about the participant. Once this relationship is made people choose a person to root for and one to root against. Reality TV depends upon viewers attaching themselves to the "ordinary" people on their show and following people along as they go through the different challenges of the show and (in this case) fight to the death to become a top chef.

1) What made the company pick these ideas for TV shows vs. others?

2) What's one project you really wanted to see get done but never made it to production? Why didn't it make it?

3) There is a lot of reality TV here, do you hope to later go into other genres or TV?

Top Chef Masters and Interactivity

As reality television has come to dominate a great deal of air space, the issue of what is "good" TV has often been called into question. With stations such as MTV (remember how it used to be MUSIC Television?) now filled with reality-ish shows such as 'Parental Control' and '16 & Pregnant', there have been both benefits and losses to both the consumers and producers of the TV industry.

Laura Grindstaff's article, entitled "Self-Serve Celebrity," focuses on the ways in which ordinary people can function as both stars, those who actually gain fame and attention for appearing on network television, and producers, those of us who sit at home and blog, vote, etc. regarding the happenings of reality television programming. The role that the "ordinary" consumers occupy is characterized by the term 'interactivity.' By looking at Bravo's "Top Chef Masters," produced by Magical Elves, I will further address the issue of interactivity and the ways in which programming such as this has changed the dynamic of production versus consumption in media industries.

As Grindstaff points out in her article, interactivity associated with reality television rises the question of who truly is the producer? In Top Chef Masters, it could be argued that the chefs themselves, the hosts, guest stars who taste the food, or even those who develop the show at Magical Elves could be the production force behind the show. The chefs provide the drama and the competition that exists (as well as produce the delicious-looking food that keeps us coming back to watch the show), the hosts and guest judges have the power to kick off whomever they decide to any given week, and the actual producers of the show most likely are in charge of deciding which of the former Top Chef contestants will be casted in the new, ultimate, super-charged version of the original show.

Top Chef Masters, in particular, is an interesting case when considering the relationship that exists between interactivity and the audience. For those who have watched Top Chef previously, if they discover that their favorite contestant from a previous season will be returning, they will likely come back and watch the new series. Additionally, it could be possible that audience feedback that can be found on Bravo's website regarding Top Chef influences who will be asked back to compete once again, as well as persuade judges in one way or another regarding who should be granted the title of Top Chef Master.

As long as audience members feel as if they have a powerful role in the production or creation of a TV show (as is the case in shows such as 'American Idol' and 'Big Brother'), further reality television shows will develop, encouraging the concept of interactivity between TV show and audience member. This leads me to particular questions for those working at production companies, such as Magical Elves:

1. In casting for new TV shows, does previous audience participation influence the decisions regarding who does make the cut for any given reality show?
2. How much of shows such as Top Chef, Top Chef Dessert, and Top Chef Master is scripted if any at all?
3. What roles do the hosts of the show actually possess? Do they simply act as a representative figure for the TV show or do their opinions truly matter when the time comes to eliminate another contestant?