Surge in reality television affects stars, viewers, networks

By KAITLIN DOYLE 

DEC. 16-Four reality television shows are in the top five most popular regularly syndicated TV shows for 2009 according to the The Nielsen Company. 

Larry Juchartz, who holds a Ph.D in English and is a professor at Mott Community College (MCC) as well as a member of the Popular Culture Association (PCA), believes that high ratings support that an increase of reality TV in the past few years has been a good choice for networks.

"The one-hour drama is the most expensive type of show to make, while the 30-minute reality show is the least expensive," he said. "So networks have flocked to the latter."