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78 Years Ago, One Strange TV Show Helped Invent Modern Reality TV

‘Candid Camera’ turned unsuspecting strangers into entertainment decades before ‘Big Brother,’ ‘Punk’d’ and today’s reality boom.

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Today, reality television is one of the most-watched genres. It’s evolved far beyond quiz shows and trashy early-2000s dating shows. While MTV’s The Real World changed modern reality television for better or for worse, Candid Camera was the blueprint.

CBS’s Big Brother is often credited with reinventing the wheel, filming strangers living in a house and competing in challenges for a cash prize. The first iteration premiered in 1999 in the Netherlands........

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