Friend of my Dads who worked for Granada making tv back in the 90s said this to me:
“Clip shows (this was back when they were everywhere... remember the 80s type ones) only cost 100k an hour to make. Dramas and comedies cost
1m an hour. So we won’t ever get rid of clips shows now, unless someone comes up with a format that’s even cheaper to produce”
And as we know, TOWIE and the rest pay £50 a day “plus fame”, hire decent locations, and just get the cast drunk to make stories. While Geordie Shore had some notoriety, it wasn’t something that ever got big viewing figures so probably had a very small budget. The cast were probably offered the chance to be on tv, a nice place to live in for free, and paid for nights out. In return for what, selling their souls and never having anyone take them seriously again? Guaranteed bankruptcy by the time they are 40?
I can’t see it ever going away. There are too many channels to fill with too small an audience, and all the old filler like Friends lives exclusively on apps now