The 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