Most people are initially drawn in because they think it's a new reality show; however, when they realize that it's a scripted show with actors AND it's still good, they continue watching. People are so drawn into reality shows because of the real life situations people go through on the shows and the entertainment of how it's all "blown out of proportion". The mockumentaries are able to entertain their audiences based on exaggerated real life experiences. The term "if you can't beat them, join them" seems to fit perfectly in this case; many new shows have decided to make their shows cater to the largely based reality television show audience, which seems to be growing more and more everyday.
Some television shows that have this Mockumentary filming are Modern Family, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Reno 911!, and The Office. All these shows give you the sense as though you are really following the characters in their lives. The shows come up with real life experiences and exaggerate the situations on the show for comedic effect. With Modern Family and The Office, there are parts in the show where they have separate "interviews" with the characters, as would a regular reality show such as The Bachelor and Jersey Shore.
This is a clip from Modern Family showing an "interview" with one of the characters, Phil.
Real television shows with actors and scripts haven't seemed to completely fizzled out yet. They've come up with a way to "stay in the loop" with the rapidly changing media industry, mainly the reality show takeover, which seems to be working. Many people say that it's "refreshing" to have shows with real actors and scripts coming back to television because they are sick of reality shows, but these new shows are reality-based. Has the American television audience completely been taken over by reality t.v. and haven't even realized it? How many more shows will catch on to this trend? We'll have to see...
