They even had a parody of a reality show in "Real Families." This was in 1980.

There's a scene where Herb is talking his family up as he attempts to casually throw a football with his kid. It quickly becomes obvious Herb has never played with his son, who makes no attempt to catch the ball and just keeps getting hit with it.

Ooh, it's even better than I remembered-- Herb steals his son's stuffed animal from him to get him to play catch:

https://youtu.be/1Tk6NpIncXg?t=444