This is at its highest level. Producers actively seek out subjects who are emotionally volatile. A stable, well-adjusted athlete makes for boring television. A nervous wreck with a traumatic past and a stutter? That is Emmy gold.

The kid’s name was Yuri. Twenty-three years old. Agoraphobic. Brilliant with analog synthesizers. For eleven months, he’d broadcast a single, unchanging feed: a shaky close-up of his own left eye, while he whispered mathematical equations in Ukranian.

The "Unfiltered" Era: Navigating Raw Casting and Nerves in Modern Media