Even reality tv stars and talk show hosts are confined to Zoom. Contestants sing into a camera set in their room, judges critique from their million-dollar houses. Even Jimmy Fallon has a live audience in his two daughters who giggle through every take.

The continuation of these reality shows is essential in making viewers feel a sense of normalcy through the chaos of the pandemic.

Reality shows are a part of everyday life. Shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon or contest shows like American Idol are highly consumed by viewers and are expected to be available each week if not each day. While these productions can no longer function normally, their continuation is helping life feel normal.

With shows like these continuing to film digitally and allowing the contest to continue, viewers are given something to look forward to. It allows them something that remains the same in their now altered schedules. During a time when life doesn’t feel normal at all, a simple reality show continuing to air allows viewers the comfort of the reliable.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon may look different than it did when it was in regular production, but the key elements are still present. Fallon still does Friday thank you letters, interviews with celebrities and the usual witty banter about the news. It may look different with Fallon’s little kids in the background, but it feels familiar and that’s why it’s so necessary in a time like this.

Contestant shows like American Idol are also continuing to air. This allows viewers to have something to pay attention to, someone to root for. There is still coach critiquing, singing performances, and even voting to get the audience involved.

By allowing audiences to continue their usual involvement with the show, it gives them something to do, something that doesn’t feel strange or altered. It takes the spotlight off their own lives and places it on the lives of those competing in the contest, just like it did before the pandemic.

Stopping these reality shows would harm everyone involved. It would only promote the idea that regular life has stopped. It would cement the anxieties that viewers have over the loss of regular schedules and would even make them feel disjointed from the outside world.

Participants in these shows would also be impacted negatively if the contest were to be cancelled. They would lose their entire experience and whatever life changing journey they were going on would never be completed. It’s not as if the show would just pick up three months from now with the same cast of singers. At that point, the next round of the show would need to commence. New auditions would take place and the great talent of the previous season would be lost amongst the chaos of the pandemic.

Keeping these reality shows on air is essential to helping viewers feel like normal life isn’t so far away. It keeps the morale, that is now exponentially low from the pandemic, and helps it rise back up. The news is full of Coronavirus content, always reminding people that life isn’t as it should be. Reality shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon allow viewers into an escape, a place much like the normal life they had before the pandemic.