In the early 1970s, as the use of cinéma vérité in documentaries began to fizzle out, the style quickly shifted to reality television, where it fluctuated in popularity up until today. The 1970s saw the first true reality television show, as we know the genre today, in An American Family (1973), which was followed up by the United Kingdom’s equivalent, The Family (1974). An American Family, while lasting for only one season, was one of the most watched television shows in U.S. history, averaging 10 million viewers per episode (#, Reality TV book), and was largely based on the cinéma vérité style. The 1980s saw a lull in reality television as we knoe it today, due to the rise of major cable stations such as CNN and MTV, which shifted reality