In Reality Television
Hidden cameras are also sometimes used in reality television to catch participants in unusual or absurd situations. Participants will either know they will be filmed, but not always exactly when or where, or do not know they have been filmed until later, at which point they may sign a release or give consent to the footage being produced for a show. This latter sub-genre of unwitting participants began in the 1940s with Allen Funt's Candid Microphone theatrical short films . In 1996 the genre was given an overhaul by Travis Draft who introduced the glasses cam with his show Buzzkill. The show took hidden camera to a whole new level where the performer (Draft Himself and Cronies) were the focal point.
| Show Name | Channel | Years of Production | Number of Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Videomatch | Telefé (Argentina) | 1991 - 2004 | |
| $25 Million Dollar Hoax | NBC | 2004 | 3 |
| Animal Kidding | Animal Planet | 2003 | 16 |
| Balls of Steel | Channel 4 | 2005 | |
| Boiling Points | MTV | 2003-2005 | |
| Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty | Oxygen | 2006 | 14 |
| Burned | MTV | 2003 | 30 |
| Buzzkill | MTV | 1995 | |
| Candid Camera | ABC/NBC/CBS/PAX | 1948-1954, 1960-1967, 1987-1988, 1996-2004 | 1,000+ |
| Celebrity Undercover | MTV | 20 | |
| Cheaters | |||
| Crossballs: The Debate Show | Comedy Central | ||
| Da Ali G Show | Channel 4 | ||
| Damage Control | MTV | 2005 | 16 |
| Dirty Sexy Funny: Olivia Lee | Comedy Central UK | 8 | |
| Faking the Video | MTV | 2004 | 7 |
| Fire Me...Please | CBS | 2005 | 4 |
| Funny Business | |||
| Girls Behaving Badly | Oxygen | 2002-2007 | 72 |
| Guys Behaving Badly | Oxygen | 2005 | 5 |
| Hi-Jinks | NIK | 2005 | |
| Hidden Howie: The Private Life of a Public Nuisance | BRAVO | 2005 | 6 |
| Impractical Jokers | truTV | 2011 | 16 (produced) |
| Infarto | Azteca América | ||
| Instant Recall | GSN | 2010 | 8 |
| Invasion of the Hidden Cameras (When Hidden Cameras Attack) | FOX | 12 | |
| Jamie Kennedy Experiment | WB | 2003 | |
| Just For Laughs | |||
| Just Kidding | |||
| Kids Behaving Badly | Oxygen | 2005 | 10 |
| Laugh Out Loud | M-Net | ||
| Meet the Marks | FOX | 2002 | 7 |
| MotorMouth | VH1 | ||
| My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss | |||
| My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé | |||
| Naked Camera | RTÉ Two | 2005-2007 | 18 |
| Oblivious | |||
| People Traps | Animal Planet | 2002 | 1 |
| Peter Jacobsen Plugged In | |||
| Punk'd | MTV | 2003-2007, 2012 | 67 |
| Que Locura | Venevisión | 2001 | |
| ROOM 401 | MTV | ||
| The Real Wedding Crashers | NBC | 2007 | 6 |
| Really Naked Truth | Playboy | 22 | |
| Red Handed | UPN | 1999 | |
| Scare Tactics | Syfy | ||
| Show Me the Funny | FOX | 1998 | 155 |
| Skunked TV | NBC | 2004 | 13 |
| Sledgehammer | VH1 | 2001 | 5 |
| Spy TV | NBC | 2001 | 27 |
| Taxicab Confessions | HBO | ||
| That's Funny | 2004 | 80 | |
| Totally Hidden Extreme Magic | NBC | 2 | |
| Totally Busted | PlayboyTV | ||
| Totally Hidden Video | FOX | ||
| Tourist Traps | 2001 | 6 | |
| Trapped in TV Guide | TVG | 2006 | |
| Trigger Happy TV | UK 2000 / US 2003 | 13 | |
| TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes | |||
| Ultimate Revenge | TNN/SPIKE | 2001 | 26 |
| What Would You Do? | ABC | since 2009 | |
| World Shut Your Mouth | BBC | 2005 | 7 |
| You're On! | Nickelodeon | 1998 | |
| You've Got a Friend (My New Best Friend) | MTV | 2004 | 8 |
Read more about this topic: Hidden Camera
Famous quotes containing the words reality and/or television:
“Most lovers ... picture to themselves, in their mistresses, a secret reality, beyond and different from what they see every day. They are in love with somebody else—their own invention. And sometimes there is a secret reality; and sometimes reality and appearance are the same. The discovery, in either case, is likely to cause a shock.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)