Reality TV

Susan Murray is Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. She is the author of Hitch Your Antenna to the Stars: Early Television and Broadcast Stardom.Laurie Ouellette is jointly appointed as Professor of Communication Studies and Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. She is the author of Lifestyle TV (2016) co-editor (with Jonathan Gray) of Keywords in Media Studies (2017), co-author of Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (2008), author of Viewers Like You? How Public Television Failed the People (2002), co-editor of Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2009), editor of The Media Studies Reader (2012), and editor of A Companion to Reality Television (2014).

• Acknowledgments Introduction Laurie Ouellette and Susan Murray Part I Genre * 1 "Stanley Milgram, Allen Funt and Me" Anna McCarthy * 2 Performing the Real: Documentary Diversions (with Afterword) John Corner * 3 "I Think We Need a New Name for It" Susan Murray * 4 Teaching Us to Fake It Nick Couldry * 5 Extraordinarily Ordinary Derek Kompare Part II Industry 6 The Political Economic Origins of Reali-TV Chad Raphael * 7 Television 2.0 Ted Magder * 8 Hoaxing the "Real" Alison Hearn * 9 Global TV Realities John McMurria Part III Culture and Power * 10 Country Hicks and Urban Cliques Jon Kraszewski * 11 "Take Responsibility for Yourself" Laurie Ouellette * 12 Belabored Reality Heather Hendershot * 13 Cinderella Burps Jonathan Gray * 14 The Comedic Treatment of Reality: Kathy Griffin Heather Osborne-Thompson Part IV Interactivity * 15 Melancholy, Merit, and Merchandise Amber Watts * 16 Visceral Literacy Mark Andrejevic 17 Buying into American Idol Henry Jenkins About the Contributors Index

"Since reality television began to flood TV screens, we've had to deal with another phenomenon: a renewed debate about what is 'fun' versus what is 'good for you.' The essays in this volume enlighten that discussion and take us beyond it. They provide both the record of a strange moment in history and a contribution to contemporary cultural politics." - Toby Miller,editor of Television & New Media "The book explores the genre's institutional and sociopolitical development, its place in the cultural landscape, and how it serves as a source of meaning and pleasure." (NYU Today) "Reality TV manages to cover a range of ideas and concepts about the genre . . . All watchers of reality TVeven those ashamed to admit itwould benefit from reading this text, if only to shake some of the preconceived ideas about the influence of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life" (M/C Reviews) "Offers the most insightful and significant scholarly analysis to date of the changes taking place in the economic "globalization" of television production. A delight to read, laced with wit and humor." (Choice)