Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast,
number 39. You're listening to English as a Second
Language Podcast, number 39. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillan,
coming to you today from Los Angeles, California.
and the Center for Educational Development. Visit
our website at www .eslpod .com for more information
about this podcast. Today's topic is reality
TV. I'm going to talk about a new type of television
popular in the US and pretty much all over the
world. Let's get started. It's hard to watch
TV these days without seeing reality shows. Some
nights it's hard to find a scripted drama to
watch. There are so many different kinds of reality
shows too. The most popular one in the US has
been the American Idol show. This is a singing
competition where amateurs try to impress the
judges and the audience calls in to vote off
a contestant each week. The last person left
standing gets a recording contract. I think many
countries now have a reality show like this.
This show starts its fourth season this year
and I think it'll be more popular than ever.
Another popular reality show is Big Brother.
In this show a group of people live together
in the same house for about 15 weeks. They're
not allowed to leave and they can't have visitors.
The people chosen to live in the house are usually
very different. Thus this way, there is sure
to be a lot of conflict. Some people form alliances
and other people try to go it alone. The contestants
compete in games and each week the other contestants
vote off one person from the show. Why would
anyone want to be on Big Brother? The answer
is easy. Money. The last person remaining gets
a huge prize. In the US show, a half a million
dollars. Even I'd live in a house full of strangers
for that kind of cash. Today's topic is a very
popular type of entertainment in the United States
called reality television or reality TV and reality
means that the people in the shows are not professional
actors. They may be competing or playing for
a prize, but usually only one person gets paid,
the one who wins the show or the contest in the
show. So these reality shows are really games
that supposedly normal people participate in
But I'm not sure how normal most of the people
in the reality shows that I've seen are There
when we talk about television reality shows is
of course just one type of show there are also
dramas and I I use the term scripted dramas the
script is you probably know the text the words
for something a scripted drama is a drama where
there is a script and professional actors Act
out that script Reality shows are the opposite
where you have? Amateurs that is to say someone
who is not a professional actor or anyone who's
not a professional at anything you can be an
amateur Skater you can be an amateur football
player means you're not a professional You're
not being paid for it In the reality shows you
have amateurs Trying to impress the judges to
impress someone means that you Make them think
that you are very good at something the US the
show that's most popular is called American Idol
and this is a singing contest a singing show
where the audience the people watching at home
can call on their telephone and vote for the
person they like best that they want to win and
each week one person gets voted off. To be voted
off is a fairly new expression that is related
to reality shows. When you say someone was voted
off the show that means that people called in
and voted on their telephone and they chose who
the winner was going to be and in this case the
loser. The people who are part of a game like
this, a competition, are called contestants.
A contestant is someone who is part of the reality
show or any sort of game that you see on television.
For example, if it's a quiz game where you have
one person asking trivia questions, questions
about history, and if you get the answer right
you get money or some prize. Someone on that
sort of show is also a contestant. I said that
the last person left standing gets a recording
contract on the show American Idol. The last
person left standing means the one who survives.
the one who makes it to the end, who wins in
this case. A recording contract is a contract
with a big record company to put out a CD or
a record album. I use the expression the fourth
season this year. When we talk about television
shows, And we're talking about ones that go on
for years and years, because American television
shows go on for five years, 10 years. Some of
the more popular shows go on for maybe 15 years.
Each year is called a season. Season, of course,
we have four seasons in the climate. or in terms
of weather, fall, winter, spring, and summer.
But season, when we talk about a television show,
means the year. In the U .S., the television
season begins in September and ends sometime
the following summer. Another reality show I
mentioned is called Big Brother and Big Brother
is a show where people get together who don't
know each other and live in the same house where
they can't leave the house for usually a couple
of months. This is a very popular show in many
countries now. The term Big Brother comes originally
from a novel by a British writer George Orwell
and the name of his novel in English is 1984
and it's a novel about a science fiction type
of novel about the future and in the future in
the novel There is the government is always watching
you with cameras and other Ways of keeping track
of you or following you so when someone says
in English I'm afraid of big brother they mean
they are afraid of government being too powerful
and Watching people without their permission
or following them following what they do without
their knowing about it so that expression big
brother applies to the television show because
there are cameras in the entire house of the
big brother show a couple of more expressions
I used one was that There is sure to be a lot
of conflict in the house in the big brother house
There is sure to be Means that they will definitely
be there is sure to be problems When I go to
school tomorrow means I am expecting problems
Conflict of course means when there is disagreement
when two people have a fight or a argument, they
yell at each other or they disagree about something,
we say that this is a conflict. Conflict is also
used for wars between two countries. We talk
about a conflict in a certain country. It usually
means that there is a war going on. In a conflict
or in a war, you often have alliances. An alliance
is where you find other people or other countries
to be your partner and to help you in your whatever
it is, your conflict. The opposite of having
an alliance is to go it alone. To go it alone,
as you probably can guess means not to have any
partners to do everything by yourself I said
that in the United States version of Big Brother
the prize at the end is a half a million dollars
and I commented that even I would live in a house
full of strangers for that kind of cash That
is an expression for that kind of money or for
that kind of cash I would do anything or for
example you can say someone goes to an expensive
restaurant and They don't get very much food
You might complain for that much money They should
give you more food, meaning it's a lot of money.
That's going to do it for today's ESL podcast.
As usual, we ask that you email us and tell us
who you are and where you're listening from.
Our address is eslpod at eslpod .com. From Los
Angeles, California, I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast
is produced by the Center for Educational Development
in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright
2005.