A Short Analysis of Start-Ups: Silicon Valley

It looks like the reality show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley is fizzling out. Ratings are down, cast members aren’t updating the show’s blog, and the Twitter feed has slowed to the point where it resembles a politician’s after a rape comment.

I think I know why this is – the producers got the formula partly wrong. They correctly assumed that viewers would tune in to watch other people fail. But people simply failing isn’t enough to make a show take off and gain millions of viewers. Why? Because everyone respects people who make a valiant effort that doesn’t pan out. That, after all, is what life is all about. Taking risks is honorable. It’s brave. It’s the American way.

But the producers of Start-Ups: Silicon Valley tragically left out an essential ingredient: humiliation. For a reality show to be a hit, the people on screen have to fail AND be totally humiliated. Why? Because the ideal viewer is a guy staring in disbelief at his TV and thinking “Damn, I hate my job and haven’t had a raise in years, but at least my roommate isn’t using my mouse pad to wipe his butt.”

That’s the magic formula. Viewers come back to watch the failure and humiliation because it makes them feel better about themselves, having at least managed to avoid the humiliation part in their own lives.

Note to producers: showing even the tiniest bit of respect for a cast member is the surest way to tank your reality show. A show without humiliation is like the NRA promoting policies based on compassion, not bravado and paranoid victimization. It’s like a wedding ring appearing on your finger in your profile picture for an online dating site. It just doesn’t work.