UnREAL

Reality television is known as much for formulaic convention as for an explosion of current shows, but UnREAL demonstrates how much more can be said about the genre. Focusing on a fictitious Bachelor-like dating show, UnREAL cleverly unpacks what makes reality programs tick, how they get put in motion and who helps them rise or fall. Crafted around the story of two women producers who are at each other’s throats as much as they are on each other’s team, UnREAL builds an unorthodox platform for delivering biting social commentary. Combining satire, dramedy and soap opera, the program critiques the placement of women in today’s media environment. Delivering incisive views on key social issues – gender stereotypes and sexism, class inequality, addiction, mental illness, the vagaries of power, the underside of kinship and the blinking glow of celebrity – it invests viewers far more than the dating show it parodies could have hoped for. For illustrating how masterfully parody can work when it shines its light fearlessly, and for smartly blending the dichotomy between high and low culture, UnREAL wins a Peabody Award.