‘Welcome To The Era Of Empathy TV’: Reality Shows Are Getting Way Less Mean

“[Things are now] an extremely far cry from the old days of The Voice‘s ideological predecessor, American Idol.” (Remember Simon Cowell’s insults?) “What The Voice is similar to, though, … is The Great British Baking Show, whose judges offer encouragement to their contestants even, and especially, when they fail. … And Project Runway and Dancing with the Stars and America’s Next Top Model and The Biggest Loser and RuPaul’s Drag Race – competition-based reality shows that, episode by episode, opt for supportiveness over sadism.”