Reality TV’s Most Groundbreaking Pop Culture Moments

by Christopher Rosa 55 m ago

Contrary to standard belief, reality television isn’t just about drunken hookups and catty fights. In fact, if you break through the soapy, trashy fare that dominates reality entertainment, you will find the genre has really shattered many cultural barriers. Whether that’s giving transgender people a voice or showing us that you can fall in like on screen, we can’t deny reality TV’s place in the pop conversation. So listen up.

E!

Transgender people have been a part of pop culture for a solid decade. But, Caitlyn’s coming out during a primetime interview with Diane Sawyer, plus her E! docuseries I Am Cait, have put trans identities in the public eye more than ever before. Now, issues like homeless trans youth and violence against gender queer those are discussed day after day. And thank goodness for that.
MTV

This Real World: San Francisco cast member was one of the first openly gay men with AIDS on TV. Pedro’s transparency about his illness was unprecedented, and it certainly helped decrease the disease’s stigma. Also, Pedro exchanged vows with his partner, Sean Sasser, on the show, making it the first-ever televised same-sex commitment ceremony.
This MTV program is more than just adolescent fuzz. The amount of teen births in America dropped 5.7 percent 18 months after the show’s premiere. See—reality TV does good sometimes!
RCA

American Idol was the first audience-led talent show on TV, a game-changing feat in itself. The singing competition’s first winner, Kelly went on to achieve Britney Spears-level success, marking a shift in television’s relationship with composition.
Bravo

Carson Kressley’s Bravo show about five fabulous gay men making over schlumpy straight dudes positioned gay voices in our day after day discourse. While its stereotypes are a bit problematic in hindsight, Queer Eye was groundbreaking for LGBTQ visibility.
MTV

Trishelle Cannatella, Steven Hill, and Brynn Smith’s boozy run into was the first ménage à trois featured on the tube. And it really broke some sexual taboos, believe it or not. Considering Trishelle, Steven, and Brynn’s exchange in our living rooms helped normalize “activist” sexual acts. In other terms, it made you feel less like a weirdo for wanting to do it, too.
Logo

1970s icon Divine was our first taste of drag culture, but Logo’s hit show truly introduced Average Joes to this art form. Most vital, though, RuPaul’s Drag Race has been splendid at highlighting different types of gay men further than pop culture’s white, cisgender archetype.
Bravo

Bravo’s first Real Housewives offering featured the women of Orange County, and we’re sure the network wasn’t set for the mania that transpired from it. Now, there’s a Real Housewives cast in virtually every city (New York City, Atlanta, Beverly Hills, etc.), proving #RichPrettyPeopleProblems are universal.
ABC

Who says you can’t find like on television? The Bachelor paved the way for, erm, idealistically “vulnerable” reality programming. (In human speak? Sobbing over unrequited baes boosts ratings.) You can thank The Bachelor for Flavor of Like and A Shot at Like with Tila Tequila, among other life-giving shows. And some of those couples really last!
A star doing a reality show is nothing new in 2015, but it was a really different game 12 years ago. MTV’s Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica alleviated celebrities’ weariness about doing TV shows. Hell, it’s even free composition promo for singers! (Just question Jessica, whose 2003 album In This Skin spiked in sales after Newlyweds premiered.)