Oct 11, 2026 · 46 min · 10 segments
Dylan Reeve dives into the fuzzy origins of reality TV in Aotearoa to try and figure out what we even mean when we say ‘Reality’. He looks at our local shows, ranging from fly-on-the-wall docuseries…
Dylan ReeveHostJo CottonGuest
Ben BlackwellGuestRebecca TreleaseGuestPhil VineHostWilliam TepferGuest
Duncan GrieveGuestStacey MiddletonGuestDan HenryGuest
Rachel AntonyGuestGeoff StevenGuestStephen SmithGuest
Diana WichtelGuestAaron DobleGuestAdam MiddletonGuest
We all have an idea in our heads about what reality TV means, but how to actually define it? [pensive music]
That is a tricky question to answer because I feel like it encompasses such a broad range of things.
It's a question that TVNZ's factual commissioner, Aaron Doble, has really considered.
It's looking at real life and situations play out and seeing a reflection of yourself or your culture.
I kind of would describe it as entertaining rather than hard-hitting kind of factual stories.
Geoff Steven can reasonably claim to be one of the godfathers of reality TV in New Zealand as an early commissioner at TV3 during the genre's emergence.
It had to look at both sides of the story, but reality was, you know, short-run series, six ep, seven eps, half hours.
And you could go into areas like cooking or home building and things like that.
You didn't really need to have a big subject where a documentary you had to have a subject.
I used to say to my producers, "If you're gonna do a thing on claustrophobia, I don't want to see the interview with the minister of claustrophobia.
Why don't we just build a box, put it on top of a lamppost and put some people in it, put some cameras in there and that will be, you know, how we document claustrophobia?" So still real situations, but it was constructed, so it increased that so-called jeopardy.
This idea of a constructed environment was really central when I was trying to define reality for myself at the beginning of this project.
You know Motorway Patrol, the show that follows cops on Auckland's motorways as they deal with reckless drivers and unsecured loads.
I think most of us would probably categorize it as reality, but it's not constructed.
The observational reality sub-genre is what I have the most experience in, and that is the stuff like, yeah, Motorway Patrol, Border Patrol, those series.
Greenstone TV CEO Rachel Antony has been producing these shows for 25 years and has spent more time than most thinking about this.
Something like Neighbors at War then fall- falls into a slightly different pocket, right? Because it's slightly more structured and constructed.
So I think for me, the structured and competition reality is where you set up an environment and then you invite people into that environment.
We all have an idea in our heads about what reality TV means, but how to actually define it? [pensive music]
That is a tricky question to answer because I feel like it encompasses such a broad range of things.
It's a question that TVNZ's factual commissioner, Aaron Doble, has really considered.
It's looking at real life and situations play out and seeing a reflection of yourself or your culture.
I kind of would describe it as entertaining rather than hard-hitting kind of factual stories.
Geoff Steven can reasonably claim to be one of the godfathers of reality TV in New Zealand as an early commissioner at TV3 during the genre's emergence.
It had to look at both sides of the story, but reality was, you know, short-run series, six ep, seven eps, half hours.
And you could go into areas like cooking or home building and things like that.
You didn't really need to have a big subject where a documentary you had to have a subject.
I used to say to my producers, "If you're gonna do a thing on claustrophobia, I don't want to see the interview with the minister of claustrophobia.
Why don't we just build a box, put it on top of a lamppost and put some people in it, put some cameras in there and that will be, you know, how we document claustrophobia?" So still real situations, but it was constructed, so it increased that so-called jeopardy.
This idea of a constructed environment was really central when I was trying to define reality for myself at the beginning of this project.
You know Motorway Patrol, the show that follows cops on Auckland's motorways as they deal with reckless drivers and unsecured loads.
I think most of us would probably categorize it as reality, but it's not constructed.
The observational reality sub-genre is what I have the most experience in, and that is the stuff like, yeah, Motorway Patrol, Border Patrol, those series.
Greenstone TV CEO Rachel Antony has been producing these shows for 25 years and has spent more time than most thinking about this.
Something like Neighbors at War then fall- falls into a slightly different pocket, right? Because it's slightly more structured and constructed.
So I think for me, the structured and competition reality is where you set up an environment and then you invite people into that environment.
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