It's only half right. Yes, it's TV but it's not reality.

If your life resembles shows like Big Brother, Married at First Sight or (heaven forbid) Fboy Island, then you're in a whole world of trouble.

Reality TV actually not real at all; not even the nicer examples of the genre like Farmer Wants A Wife or the old Amazing Race.

There are TV sitcoms set in a family home that feel more realistic than reality TV.

While we take the term to mean reality as we see it, the phrase has more to do with the reality of TV production.

The phrase relates to the distinction between scripted content - which is what TV always made - and unscripted content.

The latter is closer to "reality" because the participants are driving the action (with the help of off-stage wranglers prodding them to create drama), rather than words a writer put down on a page.

And, to be entirely fair, would anyone watch a show that accurately reflected our own reality?

For the most part, we watch TV as a form of escapism from our daily lives. Regardless of how interesting others might find aspects of our lives.

Take my gig as a journalist for example. Plenty of TV shows and movies are made about newspaper or TV journalists, so clearly there is some level of interest in the goings-on behind the scenes.

But I can't watch those shows, because it's a reminder of what I do every day. I've just been at the office all day, why would I want to watch a show featuring other journalists working in an office?

Besides, if I watch a show like that all I end up doing is picking out the flaws.

Just one example, every time a show or movie includes the front page of a paper, there is always something wrong with it. If a real journo turned out something like the front pages I've seen in TV shows, they'd be punted quick-smart.

But I digress.

This misuse of the phrase "reality TV' has led to the creation of a completely separate genre - one that actually does reflect reality.

That would be "observational TV", where the cameras follow people in their real world - usually an occupation - and have to put together a show from whatever happens.

On the surface, that poses the risk that nothing interesting may happen.

That's why the makers pick areas that have the potential for drama - such as emergency services - or that we might already be familiar with - airports, transport, customs - but don't know what goes on behind the scenes.

The never-ending juggernaut of Border Security is an example of observational TV.

It's just a show that films people trying to sneak stuff through customs and yet its into its 15^th season and shows no signs of stopping.

The latest entrant in the observational TV genre is Police Rescue Australia. It's quite good and it's surprising a show about an occupation that offers strong potential for drama took so long to be created.

It focuses on the work at two Police Rescue bases - the Sydney HQ and at the Blue Mountains.

The split works nicely with the Sydney base dealing with urban emergencies, while the one at the Blue Mountains gets a very different sort of call-out.

For the Blue Mountains crew, that tends to mean people injured while out hiking or getting lost in the wilderness.

One recent episode focused on Ron, a man with dementia who had wandered off and gotten lost in the bush.

While years of TV viewing has taught us that he will be found alive (because the search wouldn't appear in the show if he had died), the hunt is still quite gripping and emotional.

The show also deals nicely with the times a crew rushes to a job only to be called off before they get there.

While that means nothing happens, the shows uses it to focus on how Police Rescue personnel deal with the adrenaline rush of a call-out and then the comedown after the job is cancelled.

As a show, it's a welcome addition to the observational TV genre.