The Only Way Is Essex (series 1) The Only Way Is Essex (series 1) The first series of "The Only Way Is Essex" (TOWIE) began airing on 10 October 2010 on ITV2. The series concluded on 10 November 2010 after ten episodes. An Essexmas special aired on 24 December 2010 and is included on the Series 1 DVD. This is the first series to include cast members Amy Childs, Billie and Sam Faiers, Harry Derbidge, James "Arg" Argent, Jess and Mark Wright, Kirk Norcross, Lauren Goodger, Lauren Pope, Lucy Mecklenburgh, Lydia Bright, Maria Fowler and Patricia "Nanny Pat" Brooker, and the only series to feature Candy Jacobs
Reality television plots and subject matters on reality television are more authentic and more engaging than in scripted dramas, writing that scripted network television "remains dominated by variants on the police procedural... in which a stock group of characters (ethnically, sexually, and generationally diverse) grapples with endless versions of the same dilemma. The episodes have all the ritual predictability of Japanese Noh theater," while reality television is "the liveliest genre on the set right now. It has engaged hot-button cultural issues – class, sex, race – that respectable television... rarely touches." Television critic James Poniewozik wrote that reality shows like "Deadliest Catch"