I jump between the dating experiments, the high-production-value cooking challenges, the ‘we had 400 kids, now what?’ shows, but my constant in the unscripted world is Bravo. The ‘Housewives’ are as big a character in my life as anything else—Andy Cohen could have (should have!) walked me down the aisle. Reality TV encompasses so much of programming today, likely because it’s generally cheaper to produce and less regulated than scripted, and then there’s the fact that just we can’t seem to get enough. Whether you’re into off-the-grid Alaskan crab-hunting survival or Mormon trad-wifes, there’s a show for everyone, by everyone. But why do people watch reality TV? Is it the chaos, the catharsis, the chance to see people behave in ways we never would (but secretly maybe wish we could)? Or is it something deeper—about storytelling, identity and our weird need to see ourselves reflected in people we swear we’re nothing like? I asked two experts to explain our obsession.

Meet the Experts

Racquel Gates is an associate professor of film and media studies at Columbia University, where she teaches a variety of courses including one on reality television. She is the author of Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture (Duke University Press, 2018) and is currently writing her second book, Blackness and the Invention of Hollywood Style. 

Dr. Aymar Jean "AJ" Escoffery is the Margaret Walker Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University and 2024-25 Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center. He is the author of Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television (NYU Press, 2018). His research & development has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, MacArthur Foundation and Wallace Foundation, among others.