docusoap

plural docusoaps · alternative docu-soap

1. A form of reality television in the style of a documentary in which an apparent plot is constructed by intention or editing in order to make programmes in this genre resemble soap operas.

   The latest of a venerable franchise of docu-soaps, it opens, like its predecessors, with a voiceover giving the audience the lay of the promised land.

   2010 October 21, Troy Patterson, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”, in Slate

   1 more example

   Nigel [Farrell] and Paul Sommers created the docusoap genre of programmes almost 20 years ago, applying the cliffhanger endings and multi-character storylines of soap operas to series such as The Village and Country House.

   2011, Tim Oglethorpe, “A slice of paradise: Hectic Christmas? Try a change of pace with the sixth series of gentle documentary An Island Parish,” The Daily Mail, 30 December, 2011,_(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2080168/An-Island-Parish-Hectic-Christmas-Try-change-pace-gentle-documentary.html)