Neal Freiman

It didn't invent reality TV because there was the real world, but it definitely popularized it.

Let's go back to May 2000, which I don't know if you do, Toby.

I actually do remember because Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was the big show on TV.

Everyone watched it.

And then

Mark Burnett, the producer, comes out with this show that people are frankly shocked by.

One one critic called it a stunt show.

The other called it another said this show caters to all the worst qualities of mankind.

Elisim shelf selfishness and sneaky behavior was it was compared to Lord of the Flies, but it came out swinging and just has never let up.

The first episode got

15 million viewers and then the finale of that first season, 51 million.

Just to put that in perspective, Game of Thrones, which was maybe our last big TV monoculture event outside of sports, got 19 million viewers for that finale.

So the first season of Survivor absolutely drubbed in.

I just love how hardcore they went just from the very beginning because Burnett said, this isn't reality TV.

This is unscripted drama.

And whatever it is, it's extremely dramatic.

The New York Times TV critic said, if baseball had the 20th century as America's pastime, Survivor was America's pastime of the 21st century.

And you can debate whether that's true or not, but it has had a stranglehold on our television culture for now 26 years.

And while so much of TV is declining, reality is still holding it together, especially on Peacock.

So streaming, about one in four shows on Peacock are reality series.