Project Reality TV

This introduction to the special issue “Project Reality TV” interrogates, while also playing with, some of TV's forms and conventions, particularly those of the “preshow special” and the interview format. Borrowing from this format, it explores key issues around the appeal of reality television and the reasons for approaching it from a scholarly perspective, particularly that of feminist media studies. This version of the studio Q&A format, honed into a subgenre by reality TV itself, is designed to elicit not only interest but knowledge—in this case, regarding what we see as some of the most significant questions facing studies of reality television, especially the specific studies dealing with health, housewives, “hot bodies,” and “hoochie mamas” that are included in “Project Reality TV.”

Advertising · Aesthetics · Appeal · Art · Business · Media studies · Multimedia · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Reality television · Reality tv · Sociology · Studio · Visual arts · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising