Table Of ContentThe Bizarre World of
Reality Television
The Bizarre World of
Reality Television
STUART LENIG
Copyright © 2017 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lenig, Stuart, author.
Title: The bizarre world of reality television / Stuart Lenig.
Description: Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017018286 (print) | LCCN 2017033383 (ebook) | ISBN
9781440838552 (eBook) | ISBN 9781440838545 (hardcopy : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Reality television programs—United States—History and
criticism.
Classification: LCC PN1992.8.R43 (ebook) | LCC PN1992.8.R43 L47 2017 (print)
| DDC 791.45/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017018286
ISBN: 978-1-4408-3854-5
EISBN: 978-1-4408-3855-2
21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available as an eBook.
Greenwood
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
www.abc-clio.com
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Transformation—Self-Improvement, Home
Improvement, and Makeovers 25
The Makeover and the Modern Narcissus 25
American Restoration 29
Ask This Old House 30
Clean House 31
Dr. 90210 32
Extreme Makeover 34
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE) 35
Hell’s Kitchen 37
HGTV 38
How Do I Look? 40
I Want a Famous Face (IWAFF) 42
LA Ink 44
A Makeover Story 45
Pimp My Ride 46
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy 48
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares 50
Restaurant: Impossible 51
The Simple Life 53
60 Minute Makeover 54
Style by Jury (SBJ) 55
The Swan 58
This Old House (TOH) 59
TLC 61
Trading Spaces 63
What Not to Wear 64
vi Contents
Chapter 2: Competition and Talent Programming—Chefs,
Singers, Survivors, and Every Man for Himself 69
The Gamification of American Culture 69
The Amazing Race 73
American Idol 76
American Ninja Warrior 79
America’s Got Talent (AGT) 81
America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) 83
The Apprentice 85
The Assistant 87
The Biggest Loser 89
Anthony Bourdain 91
The Challenge (Road Rules vs. Real World) 94
Chopped 95
Dancing with the Stars 97
Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (DDD) 100
Guy Fieri 101
Food Network (Food Network Challenge, The Next Food Network Star) 103
Game Shows 104
Ghost Hunters 106
Iron Chef America 108
Naked and Afraid (NAA) 110
Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour 112
Project Runway 114
Queen for a Day 116
Rachael Ray 118
So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) 119
Star Search 121
Storage Wars 123
Survivor 125
Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour 127
That’s Incredible! 129
Contents vii
Toddlers and Tiaras 131
Top Chef 133
The Voice 135
Wipeout 137
The X Factor 139
Chapter 3: Friends, Family, and Frenemies—Personal
Lives of People 143
Unfriending Television: Intersecting Reality Programming and the Web 143
An American Family 148
America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV) 149
America’s Most Wanted 151
Basketball Wives 153
Cake Boss 154
Candid Camera 156
Duck Dynasty 158
Bethenny Frankel 160
The Girls Next Door 162
Giuliana and Bill 164
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (HCHBB) 164
The Hills 167
Jackass 169
Jersey Shore 171
Kate Plus 8 (and Jon and Kate Plus 8) 173
Keeping Up with the Kardashians 174
Khloé and Lamar 176
Kourtney and Kim Take Miami (KKTM) 177
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County 178
The Little Couple 180
Little People, Big World (LPBW) 182
Mob Wives 184
MTV Cribs 185
My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (and My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding) 186
viii Contents
My Super Sweet 16 (MSS16) 188
19 Kids and Counting 189
The Osbournes 191
Punk’d 193
The Rachel Zoe Project 194
Real People 195
Real World and Road Rules 198
Ridiculousness 199
Rob and Big 200
Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory 203
Say Yes to the Dress (SYTTD) 205
Sister Wives 207
16 and Pregnant 209
Swamp People 211
Teen Mom 212
This Is Your Life 213
Top Gear 215
Chapter 4: Finding the One(s)—Dating, Matchmakers, and
Hooking Up 219
A History of Romance 219
The Bachelor 224
The Bachelorette 227
Beauty and the Geek 230
The Blame Game 233
Blind Date 236
Catfish: The TV Show 239
Cheaters 241
Date My Mom 245
The Dating Game 247
Dismissed 249
The Hook Up 253
Joe Millionaire 255
Love Connection (LC) 258
Contents ix
Married by America 260
Megan Wants a Millionaire 262
Millionaire Matchmaker 264
The Newlywed Game 265
Next 267
Parental Control 269
Rock of Love 271
Room Raiders 273
Score 277
A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila 279
Singled Out 282
Taildaters 284
Tough Love (and Tough Love Couples) 287
Wanna Come In? 288
Chapter 5: International Reality Television—America’s Reach 291
Going Global: Reality Programming on a World Stage 291
Ainori (Japan) 296
Amaan Ramazan (Pakistan) 298
Dating in the Dark (Netherlands/UK/United States/Others) 299
Dragons’ Den (Japan) and Shark Tank (Elsewhere) 301
Epic Knitting (Norway) and Other Slow Television Fare 303
Fool around with . . . (Britain) 304
Most Haunted (UK) 306
The Night Bus (UK) 308
Ready for Marriage (Zambia) 309
Sex Box (Britain) 311
Susunu! Denpa Shoˉnen (Japan) 313
Takeshi’s Castle (Japan) 314
Conclusion: Reality’s Future 317
Bibliography 321
Index 329
