'Popular Factual Programming' has rapidly come to occupy a place at the forefront of contemporary television culture on an international scale. Tracing the history of reality TV from Candid Camera to The Osbournes, Understanding Reality Television examines a range of programmes which claim to depict 'real life', from reality formatted game shows to 'real crime' programming and make-over TV. Contributors discuss the phenonenon of reality TV in the context of the debates it has introduced to our social, cultural and televisual agendas, such as the construction of celebrity, fandom, surveillance and the politics of representation.
Introduction: understanding Reality TV 1 Candid Camera and the origins of Reality TV: contextualising a historical precedent 2 From Ozzie Nelson to Ozzy Osbourne: the genesis and development of the Reality (star) sitcom 3 'This is about real people!': video technologies, actuality and affect in the television crime appeal 4 Reality Tv, troublesome pictures and panics: reappraising the public controversy around Reality TV in Europe 5 'All you've got to worry about is the task, having a cup of tea, and doing a bit of sunbathing': approaching celebrity in Big Brother 6 Temporalities of the real: conceptualising time in Reality TV 7 In search of community on Reality TV: America's Most Wanted and Survivor 'The New You': class and transformation in lifestyle television 9 Socially soothing stories? Gender, race and class in TLC's A Weddin9 Story and A Baby Story 10 The household, the basement and The Real World: gay identity in the constructed reality environment 11 'It isn't always Shakespeare, but it's genuine': cinema's commentary on documentary hybrids 12 Big Brother: reconfiguring the 'active' audience of cultural studies? 13 'Jump in the pool': the competitive culture of Survivor fan networks 14 Afterword: framing the new, Index
