Reality TV

Abstract

Is reality TV a coherent genre? This book addresses this question by examining the characteristics, contexts and breadth of reality TV through a history of its programming trends. Paying attention to stylistic connections as well as key concepts, this study breaks reality television down into three main 'generations': the camcorder generation, the competition generation and the celebrity generation. Beginning with a consideration of the applicability of the term 'genre' for this televisual hybrid, the book takes a transnational approach to investigating the forms and formats of reality TV framed by relevant popular and critical discourses. Key Questions • What formal characteristics broadly define reality TV? • Can reality TV be considered a genre when it relies so heavily on mixing together elements of established television genres, film practices and even industries unrelated to television, such as pop music and modelling? • How can the genealogy of reality TV programming trends help us to understand the cultural discourses and concepts with which reality TV is associated for example surveillance, performance, voyeurism, celebrity and even reality itself?.