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Based-on-fact stories called "docudramas" have been familiar items on American television since the 1970's. Usually, the term "docudrama" has been used to refer to those made-for-television movies that are somehow based on an actual occurrence. Recently, however, this term has been extended, by both the popular press and academics, to include the ever-increasing array of "reality-based" programs on the prime-time schedule such as America's Most Wanted and Rescue 911.
Noticing elements of these reality-based programs that appear problematic when placed under the catch-all heading of "docudrama", this study analyzes the conventions of a random sampling of both types of programs. The reality-based programs America's Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, and Rescue 911 are compared with the made-for-television movies Blind Faith, Mandela, and Unspeakable Acts in terms of possible documentary, dramatic and other conventions that each group may possess.
A close textual analysis of the texts reveals that application of the term "docudrama" to both the based-on-fact movie and reality programming is inappropriate. Based on the unique set of conventions that reality programming contains, separate genre status is warranted. Although similarities between reality programming and the docudrama do exist, these similarities are outweighed by their differences. The conventions of interviews, news footage and other documentary techniques that are used by reality programming should place it in a separate genre. The genre is a documentary chronicling of events while the docudrama is more of a dramatic or entertainment vehicle. Thus, the term "drama-doc" is a more suitable title to describe texts like America's Most Wanted.