This idea of reality as an opportunity to deliver a broader view of our society on screen, it isn't a new way of looking at what the genre can do.

I'm a fan of what people have come to call reality television because it allowed us to introduce places and faces and voices from around New Zealand in a way through entertainment that frankly to that point had not been possible or just really hadn't been done to any significant extent through the television shows that you saw at the time.

Places, faces and voices, our stories in a way that I think were much more engaging.

or schedules, whichever way you say that

word.

That's what real people bring to the show is, God, what might happen next? What might I learn about this new person? I think it brings freshness.

And I think what reality TV enables producers to do and the networks to do is to react and respond to events and attitudes of the day.

Sometimes the lead times around big shows, big dramas and things, means that it is sometimes difficult for them to capture you know, the zeitgeist, you know, but I think reality TV almost uniquely outside of like traditional news or current affairs can capture the moment.

Due to its popularity, the, the nature of the program suddenly changed.

The original was conceived as an observational documentary, which of course didn't actually start with the intention of it being either a format or reality show.

It really wasn't until the show was really coming together, you know, we're a couple of episodes in, that Geoff Stevens said, "This is a format."

Stephen Smith was TV2's general manager in the late '90s when Popstars landed on screens, and he's just hit on one of the other key aspects of what defines reality shows, the format.

And the realization, I think, or the penny dropped where the production team realized they could improve the show by setting up the next challenge, the next event.

So they would, began to shape the reality or the, the real experience of the participants.