Curator for TV-radio museum will 'get real' about reality television

By Franklin Crawford

Who needs "Friends" when you can hear Ron Simon, curator for the Museum of Television and Radio-New York deliver a lecture titled "I Am Everyday People: Searching for the 'Real' in Reality Television," Friday, May 14, at 8 p.m. in Risley Theater, Risley Hall. Then, on Saturday, Simon will join Risley senior artist-in-residence Gordon Sander '73 for a "television video marathon" from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the Risley Hall TV lounge. Simon and Sander will comment on various cultural aspects of popular television programs from the 1960s and '70s, including "The Prisoner," "Naked City" and "Bonanza."

Both events, which are sponsored by Risley Kommittee, are free and open to the public.

In his Friday talk, Simon will discuss historical anecdotes of the reality TV movement, including the work of late Cornell alumnus Allen Funt, creator of "Candid Camera."

"Funt created short, comic scenarios for 'Candid Camera' to capture not merely what people said, but what they did -- their gestures, facial expressions and confusions," said Simon. "These innocent games provided a programming space for the average citizen on television and laid the basis for the reality movement of the late 1980s on."

Simon added that "television programs have always attempted to integrate everyday people into unscripted situations to which producers and participants theoretically do not know the outcome."

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he said, "quiz shows such as 'Truth or Consequences' devised elaborate stunts to elicit spontaneous reactions from the contestants."

Television aficionados will enjoy Saturday night's nostalgic romp through television history, said Sander.

"Having Ron come up here is a milestone for Risley's programming," said Sander, author of Rod Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man (Plume, 1994). "This is the first time the Kommittee members have been able to get a guest speaker from outside Ithaca at the hall. Ron is one of the pre-eminent TV historians in the country, and I'm excited he will be here on my final weekend as artist-in-residence."

For more information, e-mail Sander at GorSander@aol.com.