In Week Five’s in class discussion my group spoke about the distinctions between game shows and quiz shows, and how among the two, hybridities can be seen when looking at this style of TV production. Both game shows and quiz shows generally have some sort of pay off or incentive that encourages participation. Focussed more on general and academic knowledge, the quiz show generally follows a question and answer based format, while the game show focuses more on skilled based activities, luck and chance and are generally more physical. While this is the case, both elements can be seen in some shows, creating a hybrid of the two formats. 

My group’s discussion also brought up the idea of genre and format and how the two differ. When dissecting text such as movies and fictional television, it is often easy to identify elements which align with particular genres. However, when looking at reality television, particularly the game show and quiz show, we find that this specific style of television is often categorised based on its fictional nature and lack of overt authorship. Though often viewed as homogeneous, many facets of differing reality television formats create distinguishable factors that allow for variation in style. Reality television generally follows particular formats and works within objective restraints. For example, game shows and quiz shows are driven by the frameworks which they follow and are not particularly drama based. However this is not necessarily an explicit element to all reality television. While fictional based television is heavily based on format, it doesn’t mean genre is absent. Depending on the format of particular shows, genre may be what the format is based around. For example, dating shows are romance based and physical challenge game shows may fall under a sporting genre but these elements still fit within the restraints of the format.