There is life before Scandoval, and theres everything that followed.
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Since then, reality televisions challenge has been to protect that promise.
For decades, the social contract remained.
With no alternative, audiences tolerated the presumption of falseness.
Maybe some things were faked, and you could either maintain a willing disbelief or stop watching entirely.
Then in 2023, the walls came tumbling down.
Perfect Matchset the tone, though subtly enough that it was easier to see in retrospect.
Of course they do; they all exited their respective shows and started DMing on Instagram.
They might even work in concert.
Perfect Matchput a crack in reality TVs facade, but in early spring,an earthquakehit the Bravo-verse.
There is life beforeScandoval, and theres everything that followed.
But the real juice was not just that infidelity took place.
Its no longer possible for reality TV to pretend to be the only version of reality.
And just as importantly, that acknowledgement does not undermine the show.
After Scandoval, the fluid slosh between onscreen and off-screen story seemed to be everywhere.
There were much more serious examples, too.
The final cut of these episodes includedfootage of producers interveningto prevent assault from occurring.
There are, of course, additional layers of intention and suggestion.
Is Frankel, in proposing a union, performing in a bid for more reality-show attention?
Its still an important legitimizer, a thumb on the attention scale, a source of that main-character sheen.
But its the culmination of pressure building for decades now.
The real world was not a spoiler.
It was a promotion.
