Usually a variant on the
Tomato In The Mirror, where it turns out that the lead character is in fact the main character on a
Reality TV show. Exactly how much of his life is controlled varies: in some cases, every little detail of his life is controlled by the network, while others basically let the main character do whatever he wants, so long as they catch it on camera. It can be a twist ending, or it can be established right at the start of the show.
Examples:
- The Truman Show was the Trope Namer, and one of the few to fully consider the massive levels of subterfuge needed to make this work.
- Year of the Sex Olympics: After "The Sex Olympics" get disappointing ratings, a family is taken to a remote Scottish island and then murdered in "The Live Life Show!".
- The Simpsons: Homer's murder trial in "The Frying Game" turns out to be an elaborate reality TV hoax, which is only revealed when the switch is pulled on the electric chair.
- In Nebulous, it turns out that the characters have spent the past six years trapped in a time loop, which is actually the weekend omnibus of an alien reality TV series.
- The 1985-1989 version of The Twilight Zone. Its third-season episode "Special Service
" used this trope.
- The South Park episode "Canceled", in which Earth is revealed to be the setting for an intergalactic reality show.
- One of the episodes of the Amazing Stories anthology show played this for a black comedy, where a woman had her life filmed and manipulated and shown in secret theaters she never sees, she finds this out when people start to recognize her and treat her as a celebrity.
- Sort of the premise of Stranger than Fiction, although it was a book, not a film ot show.
- This was also the premise of an actual Reality Show known as The Joe Schmo Show.
- The anime Eternal Family. The plot synopsis at that link sums it up pretty well.
- "Megazone 23" has this as its main plot, albeit more in common with "The Matrix"
- The ending of The Big O. Maybe. Possibly. Arguably.
-
Real Life.
- I've said too much... they're coming for me...
