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Veterinary Medicine: The Show [1]
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Date: 2019-09-15
Dr. Michelle Oakley is too busy to talk about her hit reality television show. It's the weekend, and she's taking a break from her solo mixed animal practice in Haines Junction, Yukon, to compete in an ax-throwing contest. It isn't a stunt for the show—competitive ax throwing is just part of living in the Canadian wilds.
Much of Dr. Oakley's life has been documented on screen since 2014, when the pilot episode of "Dr. Oakley, Yukon Veterinarian" aired on Nat Geo Wild. The show, which just wrapped filming on its eighth season, follows Dr. Oakley as she treats domestic and wild animals in a remote, mountainous region known for its brutal winters, while raising three daughters with her husband, Shane.
Depictions of veterinary medicine on television have changed dramatically since "All Creatures Great and Small," the scripted British drama from the late '70s to early '90s based on the life of veterinary surgeon James Herriot aka James Alfred Wight. Entertainment tastes evolved with the explosion of reality television's popularity, pets became family, and TV producers noticed. In the past two decades or so, at least 25 reality shows about veterinarians have appeared on U.S. television, primarily on the cable channels Animal Planet and National Geographic.
The genre of veterinary reality television is not without its naysayers. Most are veterinarians themselves, critical of an ineptly performed procedure or an insensitive comment about the profession. Veterinarians interviewed for this article about their experiences on reality television are hypersensitive to the opinions of their colleagues. Nevertheless, they see the shows as a powerful medium for teaching audiences about the profession they love while also showcasing their medical skills and the importance of caring for animals.
Nonscripted reality
Reality TV is a broad category and older than most realize. Before "The Real World" and "Big Brother," there were "Twenty-One" and "The Price is Right."
"There's always been reality-based media. Game shows are reality based, for example," said Mimi White, a professor of radio, TV, and film at the Northwestern School of Communications. "But the term 'reality TV' starts to percolate and coalesces in the very late 1990s and early 2000s as a way of describing a set of programs that are alleged to be nonscripted."
Reality TV combines documentary-style nonfiction with the drama story arc of fiction, creating an entertainment genre that has become a mainstay of network and cable television. Cost is one reason for the abundance of reality shows—the subjects of which run the gamut, from home repair and sword forging to cake baking and life along the Jersey shore. "Dance Moms" features ordinary people rather than a cast of high-priced talent and is therefore cheaper to produce than, say, "Glee."
Viewers are drawn to reality TV because of what Dr. White describes as the interplay between the familiar and unfamiliar. "When 'Survivor' first started, it was ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and you could look on and say, 'I would never do that,' or 'I could do that,'" she explained.
Reality shows are edited according to a plot designed to provoke a visceral response from viewers. "The narrative dynamics are imbued with emotional issues and choices designed to amplify and intensify the affective dimension," Dr. White said. "Reality TV brings this kind of emotional drama to bear on almost everything it looks at."
Selling the drama
Betsy Marino Leighton spent two years as a producer on "Emergency Vets," the hit reality series about the veterinarians of Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver. She said there was nothing like "Emergency Vets" on television when the first episode aired in 1998 on Animal Planet.
“Hanging with the Hendersons” (Photos courtesy of Animal Planet and National Geographic)
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[1] Url:
https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2019-09-15/veterinary-medicine-show
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