Ratings Winners.

In the 1990s the most successful documentaries and ratings winners on television were "shockumentaries," a form of reality-based television that uses a "greatest hits" format to showcase shocking, violent, and gory footage of everything from police shootouts to unbelievably large tumors to natural disasters. They are inexpensive to make and highly successful in garnering high ratings, especially in the all-important eighteen- to fortynine- year-old demographic. The shockumentary trend began in 1995 when Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) aired World's Most Dangerous Animals, but FOX perfected the genre with When Animals Attack. In fact, the second installation of the show was so successful that FOX ran it twice during the November 1996 rating sweeps period.

Shock Predecessor.

One of the most successful reality-based programs began in 1989 and had aired more than four hundred episodes by the end of 1999. COPS broadcast everyday experiences of law enforcement officers, such...