Whether you love to watch or hate the fact that they exist, the scripted shows of yesterday have been replaced with the hyped reality programming of today. In all honesty, we all just can not turn away. The television fairies have struck gold with showcasing the real life situation of people on air. From excessive fighting to excessive indulgence, we have seen families come together and families broken apart. We have seen obese individuals transform into svelte beauties. Every area of life from addiction to fashion is not off limits to the billion dollar business of reality television. However in the multitude of these shows, there are ten that have changed our culture in how we date, spend time with our families, conduct business, our spending habits and go after our lives. These 10 reality shows have created household names, entrepreneurs, fashion designers, celebrities and believers.
1. The Apprentice: Donald Trump’s ‘you’re fired’ has been one of the most popular saying in our generation. From t-shirts to stickers we are sure to associate ‘You’re Fired with the Donald.
2. American Idol: It has launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jodin Sparks and Jennifer Hudson. Viewers loved to hate Simon Cowell and Randy Jacson & Paula Abdul were spoofed everywhere from Youtube to Saturday Night Live.
3. Keeping Up With The Kardashians: The show that made the Kardashians a global family phenomenon and an overnight success.
4. Real Housewives on Bravo TV: This show has turned stay at home moms into overnight celebrities. An original development of Andy Cohen and Bravo TV, Housewives have taken reality TV by Storm and has made it the network’s most talked about show. Most recently ex-housewife Betheny Frankel inked a $120 million dollar for her ‘Skinny Girl’ margarita drink after she first promoted it on the New York Housewives show.
5. MTV The Hills: It turned Laguna Beach girl Lauren Conrad into a successful entrepreneur, launching everything from a clothing line and best-selling novels. This show whether semi-scripted or now became one of MTV’s most successful reality TV show with the cast salaries demanding over 100k per episode.
6. The Biggest Loser: The show that gave us hope and taught us that anything is possible with determination.
7. Project Runway: One of the longest fashion-driven shows has turned Heidi Klum, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia into household names. Launching the successful career of Christian Siriano and gave us the inside look of a fashion designer.
8. Top Chef: One of Bravo’s longest running reality TV show and most successful franchise Top Chef made all of us want to become foodies.
9. America’s Next Top Model: Tyra Banks already knew what it took to make it as a Top Model and it was her vision to show us models are just not a pretty face.
10. Survivor: One of the original reality TV shows launched in 2000 made Mark Burnett one of the most successful executive producers in Hollywood.
