Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Scripted reality

Scripted reality

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This article confuses between two different concepts: scripted, fictional TV shows that take the appearance of a reality show, i.e. mockumentaries; and reality shows where contestants are told what to do behind the scenes by producers. You may think that that's essentially the same thing, since they're both fictional, but one obvious difference is whether the people appearing on the show have the same names and occupations as the people they're "portraying". A show with actors is not the same thing as a show with real-life friends pretending to get into an argument.

In the article's defense, it's a confused term in general - as evidenced by the article's two references, which give the opposite definitions of the term.

It seems that the term "scripted reality" has more popularity in countries like Germany and the Netherlands, where it's used as a synononym of "mockumentary". Those countries have more pseudo-reality-TV shows that are played as serious dramas; in the English-speaking world, the pseudo-reality shows are almost always comedies, so the existing "mockumentary" term is a more natural fit.

I see no reason to keep this article as it is; the majority of it just reads like a personal essay. I would be fine with deleting it, or turning it into a redirect to reality television, or to mockumentary, or making it a disambiguation page. As far as I can see, there's no real information here that isn't already contained, and explained better, in those two other articles. Korny O'Near (talk) 15:36, 18 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Television-related deletion discussions. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 16:05, 18 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]