Before the Kardashian and Bachelor empires, there were docusoaps. This genre of television came about in the 1990s, with the word “docusoap” combining “documentary” and “soap opera.” On the surface, the shows documented the real-life activities of a group of people, but the entertainment factor was presented in the format of a soap opera. Early incarnations of the docusoap include “The Real World,” “Big Brother,” and “Survivor,” but the genre continues today with series such as “Selling Sunset,” “The Real Housewives,” and more iterations of previously successful docusoaps.