A companion to reality television / edited by Laurie Ouellette.

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Notes on Contributors Introduction: Laurie Ouellette Part 1: Producing Reality: Industry, Labor and Marketing 1. Mapping Commercialism in Reality Television June Deery 2. Reality TV and the Political Economy of Amateurism Andrew Ross 3. When Everyone Has Their Own Reality Show Mark Andrejevic 4. Cast-aways: The Plights and Pleasures of Reality Casting and Production Studies Vicki Mayer 5. Program Format Franchising in the Age of Reality Television Albert Moran Part 2: TV Realities: History, Genre and Realism 6. Realism and Reality Formats Jonathan Bignell 7. Reality TV Experiences: Audiences, Fact, and Fiction Annette Hill 8. From Participatory Video to Reality TV Daniel Marcus 9. Manufacturing "Massness": Aesthetic Form and Industry Practice in the Reality Television Contest Hollis Griffin 10. God, Capitalism and the Family Dog Eileen Meehan Part 3: Dilemmas of Visibility: Identity and Difference 11. The Bachelorette's Postfeminist Therapy: Transforming Women for Love Rachel E. Dubrofsky 12. Fractured Feminism: Articulations of Feminism, Sex and Class by Reality TV Viewers Andrea Press 13. "It's Been a While Since I've Seen, Like, Straight People:" Queer Visibility in the Age of Post-Network Reality Television Joshua Gamson 14. The Wild Bunch: Men, Labor and Reality Television Gareth Palmer 15. The Conundrum of Race and Reality TV Catherine Squires 16. Tan TV: Reality Television's Post-Racial Delusion Hunter Hargraves Part 4: Empowerment or Exploitation? Ordinary People and Reality TV 17. Reality TV and the Demotic Turn Graeme Turner 18. DIY(t)Y, Reality-Style: The Cultural Word of Ordinary Celebrity Laura Grindstaff 19. Reality TV's Construction of Ordinary People: Class-Based and Non-Elitist Articulations Nico Carpentier Part 5: Subjects of Reality: Making/Selling Selves and Lifestyles 20. Mapping the Makeover Maze: The Contours and Contradictions of Makeover TV Brenda Weber 21. House Hunters, Real Estate TV and Everyday Cosmopolitanism Mimi White 22. Life Coaches, Style Mavens and Design Gurus: Everyday Experts on Reality TV Tania Lewis 23. Reality Television Celebrity: Star Consumption and Self Production in Media Culture Julie Wilson 24. Producing "Reality": Branded Content, Branded Selves, Precarious Futures Alison Hearn Part 6: Affective Registers: Reality, Sentimentality and Feeling 25. A Matter of Feeling: Mediated Affect in Reality TV Misha Kavka 26. "Walking in Another's Shoes: Sentimentality and Philanthropy on Reality TV Heather Nunn and Anita Biressi Part 7: Politics of Reality: Global Culture, National Identity and Public Life 27. Reality Television, Public Service and Public Life: A Critical Theory Perspective Peter Lunt 28. Reality Talent Shows in China: Transnational Format, Affective Engagement and the Chinese Dream Ling Yang 29. Reality Television From Big Brother to the Arab Uprisings: Neoliberal, Liberal and Geopolitical Considerations Marwan Kraidy Index.

Print version record.

Cover; Title page; Copyright page; Contents; Notes on Contributors; Introduction; Studying Reality Television; What Is Reality Television?; Part Overviews; References; Part One: Producing Reality; 1: Mapping Commercialization in Reality Television; Paid Programming: The Branding of Broadcast Content; "Made possible by"; Social television; Merchandising; Commercialization of and by participants; Cutting Costs; Commercialization as Topic; Strategic consumption; Hyperconsumption as spectacle; Business reps; References; 2: Reality Television and the Political Economy of Amateurism.

The Assault on LaborA Symmetrical Bargain?; References; 3: When Everyone Has Their Own Reality Show; Getting Real; The Work of the Real; Experimental Reality; Productive Surveillance; "Attention Capital" in the Information Economy; Total Information Awareness Resurrected; References; 4: Cast-aways: The Plights and Pleasures of Reality Casting and Production Studies; The Labor of Studying Reality Labor; Casting Work and Commodity Exchange; Casting in "New Economy" Contexts; Cultural Dynamics in Emotion Work; Unwrapping the Wrap; References.

5: Program Format Franchising in the Age of Reality TelevisionOverview; History; Commodifying Commerce and Culture; Program Franchising and Structural Change in the World Television System; Franchising Majors; Researching Format Franchising; Conclusion; References; Part Two: Television Realities; 6: Realism and Reality Formats; Reality and Value; Denotation and Observation; The Significance of Narrative Structure; References; 7: Reality TV Experiences: Audiences, Fact, and Fiction; Reality Television Experiences; Sense and Performance; Cultural Contexts; Conclusion; Research Note.

AcknowledgmentsReferences; 8: From Participatory Video to Reality Television; The Roots of Reality Television: Realism/Participation/Celebrity; Critiques of Media and Culture; Domestic Drama and Simulation; Later Experiments; References; 9: Manufacturing "Massness": Aesthetic Form and Industry Practice in the Reality Television Contest; Historicizing Massness; Qualities of Massness; Massness is aesthetic; Massness is spatial; Massness is demographic; Massness is logical; Implications of Massness; Conclusion; References; 10: God, Capitalism, and the Family Dog; Meeting the Dog and His Family.

Making Meaning: The Family DogThe Chapmans: Family, Fiction, and Flexibility; Dog the Bounty Hunter: Family Life and Family Work; Bail Bonds 101; Dog's God: Prayer Circles, Sermons in the SUV, Parking-Lot Rituals; The Family, Capitalism, God, and Dog; References; Part Three: Dilemmas of Visibility; 11: The Bachelorette's Postfeminist Therapy: Transforming Women for Love; An Industry; Setting the Scene; Postfeminism and Therapeutic Transformation; A Strategy for Love: Career on the Back Burner; A Risk for Love: Jobless but at a Man's Disposal; Love versus Career: A Gendered Struggle.