Image Credit Jamie Winterstern/NBC
This is just a show isn t it
You can hear someone asking that question in the trailer of Siberia a new scripted drama about a reality TV show. (It premieres on NBC tonight but you can watch the pilot early here.) The answer Yeah it s just a show. But what reality TV program isn t Siberia proves that it s getting harder to tell the difference between a real show and a scripted one. But maybe it s fitting that NBC is combining fiction and reality at a time when so many unscripted events have blurred the lines between dramatic television and real life tragedy. When Siberia begins it looks a lot like Survivor. Sixteen contestants are dropped off in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Siberia and each is trying to survive longer than the others without any equipment or food in the remote territory of Tunguska. Their host Jonathon Buckley (played by the real life Jonathon Buckley former host of Lifetime s 2012 reality competition Love for Sail) informs them that they need to make their way to the remains of a primitive trading outpost that was found abandoned in 1908. The fires were still burning and the food was still cooking on the stoves in this settlement but all the inhabitants had disappeared. After the contestants race to the settlement the last man and woman to arrive are eliminated and the others are left to try to build fires hunt for mushrooms and avoid whatever is making the creepy sound in the forest. Rest assured By the end of the first episode something will go terribly horribly wrong.
You ll recognize Siberia s character types from any other reality TV show the flirt the arrogant tough guy the self appointed leader who s bound to get eliminated early the nerd who s going to last longer than you d think. Australian model Esther (Esther Anderson) seduces her way into sharing a bed with another contestant. Competitive bull rider Johnny (Johnny Wactor) thinks he can win without any help from anyone else. Rugby player Neeko (Omar Neeko Skervin) wants to take charge of the group. Skinny Minnesotan geek Daniel (Daniel Sutton) gets hurt early but when he uses his glasses to start a fire it looks like he might have the intelligence it takes to be the John Cochran of the group. Now cliches found on reality TV are sometimes interesting it s always fascinating to understand why a real human being would want to portray herself as a total stereotype on television. But cliches that are scripted are just cliches there s no psychology to analyze. So you ll notice that the producers of Siberia did something smart to raise the stakes the characters are named after the actors who play them and some of the details of their bios are the same. Anderson s IMDB page lists her as a model from Sydney and Sutton s says he s from Minnesota. The bio for Johnny which is filed under contestants not cast as if the background information is about the character not the actor lists Wactor s real life role on Army Wives. All of which begs the question Are these roles commenting on the type of stock casting you find on reality TV shows Or are they just imitating them
Obviously by now we know that reality isn t all that real even when it s not scripted. We understand that producers guide the plots of the Real Housewives that true crime documentaries are often sensationalized to the point where they re not based on a true story but rather inspired by one and that even the news doesn t necessarily report just the facts anymore. (All you had to do was watch continuing coverage of the Boston marathon bombings with anchors constantly reporting and retracting their findings to confirm that idea.) But somehow it s still hard for many of us to accept that reality TV stars aren t just playing into their reputations they re literally professional actors. A few weeks ago I found myself drawn to another series where actors play reality TV stars ABC s Whodunnit which is billed as a reality TV competition. Contestants are invited to a mysterious mansion in order to solve mysteries. But it s hard to see why it s any different from Siberia. Only a few minutes into the first episode one contestant is found dead on the ground with a fish tank broken over her head and a cut wire sparking by the water. She s shaking on the floor as if she s being electrocuted. Later when another contestant fails to solve her murder some unseen killer supposedly lights him on fire and he s shown running out of the mansion with flames rising from his entire body. Obviously we know that this guy s not really burning to death. (Well at least some of us do.) So did he really fail to solve the other woman s murder Was he ever competing or had the show written him off as the loser from the beginning And more important does it matter
The premise of Siberia might sound like the extreme version of Whodunnit here the contestants actually die no flame retardant suit necessary. But then that s not such a shock. We always believe that producers won t let any harm come to reality TV contestants. But we already know that s not the case. These shows don t get cancelled when marriages get strained to the point of divorce. Cameramen stand by and keep shooting while young people get punched in the face. As for leaving regular people in the Tunguskian woods to battle what appear to be bloodthirsty creatures well the networks lawyers might stop short of that. So maybe Siberia isn t real but the fact that its premise doesn t feel totally ridiculous does make the story more compelling. One day I fully expect to see Jeff Probst competing in his own reality TV version of The Most Dangerous Game. Until then it s much easier to watch Esther from Sydney fight for her life in the forest and wait for the day when we can watch America s Next Top Model do the same thing.
Melissa Maerz on Twitter MsMelissaMaerz
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