Better Living Through Television Hay Hardback Wiley–Blackwell 9781405134408

Better Living through Reality TVTelevision and Post-Welfare Citizenship\nAuthor(s): Laurie Ouellette, James Hay\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Wiley-Blackwell\nISBN-13: 9781405134408, 978-1405134408\nSynopsis\nCombining cutting-edge theories of culture and government with programming examplesincluding Todd TV, Survivor, and American IdolBetter Living through Reality TV moves beyond the established concerns of political economy and cultural studies to conceptualize television's evolving role in the contemporary period.\n\nA major textbook on the impact of reality and lifestyle television on todays programming, and on broader social, cultural and political trends\nDraws on a range of examples from The Apprentice and American Idol to Extreme Makeover and Wife Swap\nArgues that reality television teaches viewers to monitor, motivate, improve, transform and protect themselves in the name of freedom, enterprise, and personal responsibility