A Companion to Reality Television - by Laurie Ouellette (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

International in scope and more comprehensive than existing collections, A Companion to Reality Television presents a complete guide to the study of reality, factual and nonfiction television entertainment, encompassing a wide range of formats and incorporating cutting-edge work in critical, social and political theory.

• Original in bringing cutting-edge work in critical, social and political theory into the conversation about reality TV
• Consolidates the latest, broadest range of scholarship on the politics of reality television and its vexed relationship to culture, society, identity, democracy, and "ordinary people" in the media
• Includes primetime reality entertainment as well as precursors such as daytime talk shows in the scope of discussion
• Contributions from a list of international, leading scholars in this field

From the Back Cover

A Companion to Reality Television presents a comprehensive guide to the study of reality, factual and nonfiction entertainment television. Broader in scope and scale than existing collections, the Companion encompasses major primetime entertainment formats, including talent competitions, makeovers, dating programs, reality soap operas and social experiments; it also covers lifestyle/how-to programming, game shows and talk shows featuring "ordinary" people, and online initiatives that evoke the shifting boundaries of producer versus consumer, content versus advertising, and ordinary versus celebrity.

International in scope, the Companion synthesizes and intervenes within important theories, debates and issues, and traces and explains the social, historical, political, commercial, ethical, and creative dimensions of reality/factual/non-fiction television entertainment. It also analyzes the production, conventions and reception of major formats, and situates reality television as a global and local phenomenon, identifying and commenting upon emergent trends.

Leading scholars in the intersecting fields of media studies, television studies, cinema studies, and cultural studies provide theoretical depth and clarity on the history of nonfiction and reality television, forge links to important scholarly debates, and analyze the politics of reality entertainment worldwide.

About the Author

Laurie Ouellette is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches Critical Media Studies. She has published extensively on reality television and is co-editor of Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2004 and 2009), and co-author of Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (Wiley, 2008).