Contents:
Chapter 1 Candid Camera and the Origins of Reaality TV: Contextualising a historical Precedent; Chapter 2 From Ozzie Nelson to Ozzy Osbourne: The genesis and development of the Reality (star-) sitcom; Chapter 3 'This is about real people!': video technologies, actuality and affect in the television crime appeal; Chapter 4 Reality TV, troublesome pictures and panics: Reappraising the public controversy around Reality TV in Europe; Chapter 5 'All you;ve got to worry about is the task, having a cup of tea, and doing a bit of sunbathing...': Approaching Celebrity in Big Brother; Chapter 6 Temporalities of the Real: Conceptualising Time in Reality TV; Chapter 7 In Search of Community on Reality TV: America's Most Wanted and Survivor; Chapter 8'The New You': Class and Transformation in Lifestyle Television; Chapter 9 Gender, Class and Race in TLC's A Wedding Story and A Baby Story; Chapter 10 The Household, the Basement and The Real World: Gay Identity and the Construted Reality Environment; Chapter 11 'It isn't always Shakespeare but it's genuine': Cinema's commentary on documentary hybrids; Chapter 12 Big Brother: Reconfiguring the 'active' audience of cultural studies?; Chapter 13 'Jump in the Pool': The Competetive Culture of Survivor Fan Networks

'Popular Factual Programming' has rapidly come to occupy a place at the forefront of contemporary television culture on an international scale. Tracing the history of reality TV from Candid Camera to The Osbournes, Understanding Reality Television examines a range of programmes which claim a privileged relation to the 'real', from reality formatted game shows to 'real crime' programming and make-over TV. Contributors discuss the phenonenon of reality TV in the context of the debates it has introduced to our social, cultural and televisual agendas, such as the construction of celebrity, fandom, surveillance and the politics of representation.

The Audience Studies Reader brings together key writings exploring questions of reception and interpretation, reprinting forgotten pieces and combining key essays with new research. Beginning with a general introduction to the Reader, each extract is placed in its historical context with specially written section prefaces and suggestions for further reading.
With essays from leading scholars such as Theodor Adorno, Michel de Certeau, John Fiske, Richard Hoggart, Angela McRobbie, Laura Mulvey and Janice Radway, sections address: the paradigm shift - from 'effects' to 'uses and gratifications'; moral panic and censorship; the active audience and reading as resistance; shifts in screen theory - the spectator and the audience; the fan and the audience; female audiences; nation and ethnicity. The conclusion discusses the effects of Internet 'overflow' and the increased level of interactivity.

The Audience Studies Reader brings together key writings exploring questions of reception and interpretation, reprinting forgotten pieces and combining key essays with new research. Beginning with a general introduction to the Reader, each extract is placed in its historical context with specially written section prefaces and suggestions for further reading.
With essays from leading scholars such as Theodor Adorno, Michel de Certeau, John Fiske, Richard Hoggart, Angela McRobbie, Laura Mulvey and Janice Radway, sections address: the paradigm shift - from 'effects' to 'uses and gratifications'; moral panic and censorship; the active audience and reading as resistance; shifts in screen theory - the spectator and the audience; the fan and the audience; female audiences; nation and ethnicity. The conclusion discusses the effects of Internet 'overflow' and the increased level of interactivity.

Female Celebrity and Ageing: Back in the Spotlight interrogates the myriad ways in which celebrity culture constructs highly visible ideologies of femininity and ageing, and how ageing female celebrities have negotiated the media in a variety of industrial, historical and national contexts. In the era when the 'baby boomers' have started drawing their pensions, the boundaries of what constitutes 'old age' have never seemed more fluid, and ageing has never been presented by advertisers and marketers in a more dynamic fashion. However, the fact remains that ageing is still widely feared, and growing old is an inherently gendered process, in which ageing women are paradoxically both rendered invisible and subjected to damning scrutiny. Nowhere is this conflicting state of affairs more evident than in celebrity culture, where ageing female stars are praised for 'growing old gracefully' one moment, and condemned for 'letting themselves go' the next, when they fail to age 'appropriately'. Examining a variety of themes and ageing women in the spotlight, from Barbara Stanwyck to Madonna to Charlotte Rampling, the essays collected here forge new critical and conceptual insights into how women grow older in the media, and the implications of this for what Susan Sontag memorably called "the double standard of ageing". This book is based on a special issue of Celebrity Studies.

This book studies the relationship between women, ageing and celebrity. Focusing on an array of case studies and star/celebrity images, it aims to examine the powerful, contradictory and sometimes celebratory ways in which celebrity culture offers a crucial site for the contemporary and historical construction of discourses on ageing femininities.

This book studies the relationship between women, ageing and celebrity. Focusing on an array of case studies and star/celebrity images, it aims to examine the powerful, contradictory and sometimes celebratory ways in which celebrity culture offers a crucial site for the contemporary and historical construction of discourses on ageing femininities.

Winston Churchill famously described the political alliance between the US and UK as a 'special relationship', but throughout the cultural history of these two countries there have existed transatlantic 'special relationships' of another kind - affairs between British and American citizens who have fallen in love, with one another but often too with the idea(l) of that other place across the ocean. From romantic novelist Elinor Glyn in the 1920s to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today, this collection examines some of the history, contemporary manifestations and enduring appeal of US-UK romance across popular culture. Looking at both historical and contemporary case-studies, drawn from across film, television, music, literature, news and politics, this is a timely intervention into the popular romantic discourse of US-UK relations, at a critical and transitional moment in the ongoing viability of the special relationship.

Winston Churchill famously described the political alliance between the US and UK as a 'special relationship', but throughout the cultural history of these two countries there have existed transatlantic 'special relationships' of another kind - affairs between British and American citizens who have fallen in love, with one another but often too with the idea(l) of that other place across the ocean. From romantic novelist Elinor Glyn in the 1920s to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today, this collection examines some of the history, contemporary manifestations and enduring appeal of US-UK romance across popular culture. Looking at both historical and contemporary case-studies, drawn from across film, television, music, literature, news and politics, this is a timely intervention into the popular romantic discourse of US-UK relations, at a critical and transitional moment in the ongoing viability of the special relationship.

April 7 1991 saw the broadcast of the first instalment of Prime Suspect, a new crime series by screenwriter Lynda La Plante, starring Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. The drama focused on the desperate efforts of the Metropolitan Police to catch and convict a serial killer targeting women in a series of particularly gruesome attacks, while Tennison battles male colleagues who resent her taking charge of the case. Over seven series, Prime Suspect went on to tackle issues such as racism, homophobia and child abuse, establishing La Plante as a leading TV dramatist; winning multiple industry accolades for its stars and production team (including a clutch of BAFTAs and EMMYs) and gaining distribution all over the world. Deborah Jermyn's study examines exactly what made Prime Suspect so distinctive and controversial and the role it played in transforming the TV crime drama. Jermyn places the series in the context of earlier TV crime series, particularly those such as Juliet Bravo, The Gentle Touch and Cagney& Lacey that featured female detectives, and traces its influence on those such as Silent Witness and CSI that came after. Jermyn also relates the institutionalised sexism and misogyny that Tennison confronts to real-life discrimination and prejudice in British policing and its attitudes to women, whether as investigators or victims, in cases such as that of Assistant Chief Constable Alison Halford and the distinction made between prostitutes and the 'innocent' victims of the Yorkshire Ripper. Through a close analysis of key scenes, Jermyn highlights the formal and aesthetic innovations of Prime Suspect, in its attention to the detail of forensic work; its unflinching portrayal of the bodies of murder victims and its cinematic shooting style. Recognising Prime Suspect as one of the most striking, acclaimed and influential texts in British television history, Jermyn acknowledges the key roles played by the original screenwriter La Plante and by Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison.

The ultimate guide to contemporary romantic comedy, "Falling in Love Again" offers a timely new assessment of this hugely popular phenomenon.

Romantic comedy has long been a mainstay of the movies, from the classic screwballs of the 1930s, through to Woody Allen's "nervous comedies" of the 1970s and the current great Hollywood revival, with modern classics such as "Maid in Manhattan" and "Lost in Translation," Yet rom-coms have often struggled to be taken seriously. This original anthology from an international collection of contributors updates, revisits and reflects on today's romantic comedies. It considers the films and issues that illustrate the breathtaking diversity of the genre, from the queer pleasures of "Miss Congeniality" and the rom-com persona of J-Lo and Bill Murray, to high school prom-coms and indie romantic comedies. It also explores the new male-centred romances like "Wedding Crashers" and looks further afield into the healing power of romantic love in the Bollywood hit "Raji Hindustani,"

These themes and more are covered in a book that takes the romantic comedy seriously, while also examining the many pleasures of this continually regenerating film form. Includes stills from some of the best known and well loved rom-coms of recent years, as well as a comprehensive filmography.

Nancy Meyers is acknowledged as the most commercially successful woman filmmaker of all time, described by Daphne Merkin in The New York Times on the release of It's Complicated as "a singular figure in Hollywood - [she] may, in fact, be the most powerful female writer-director-producer currently working". Yet Meyers remains a director who, alongside being widely dismissed by critics, has been largely absent in scholarly accounts both of contemporary Hollywood cinema, and of feminism and film. Despite Meyers' impressive track record for turning a profit (including the biggest box-office return ever achieved by a woman filmmaker at that timefor What Women Want in 2000), and a multifaceted career as a writer/producer/director dating back to her co-writing Private Benjamin in 1980, Meyers has been oddly neglected by Film Studies to date. Including Nancy Meyers in the Bloomsbury Companions to Contemporary Filmmakers rectifies this omission, giving her the kind of detailed consideration and recognition she warrants and exploring how, notwithstanding the challenges authorship holds for feminist film studies, Meyers can be situated as a skilled 'auteur'. This book proposes that Meyers' box-office success, the consistency of style and theme across her films, and the breadth of her body of work as a writer/producer/director across more than three decades at the forefront of Hollywood, (thus importantly bridging the second/third waves of feminism) make her a key contemporary US filmmaker. Structured to meet the needs of both the student and scholar, Jermyn's volume situates Meyers within this historical and critical context, exploring the distinctive qualities of her body of work, the reasons behind the pervasive resistance to it and new ways of understanding her films.

This title examines the full run of ""Sex and the City"" and its production background, place in television history, innovations to the genre, and reception.With its bold depiction of four female friends navigating the pitfalls of Manhattan's dating scene, ""Sex and the City"", which aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004, was a unique television drama that evolved into a ubiquitous and widely debated cultural phenomenon. ""Deborah Jermyn's Sex and the City"" investigates the program's critical and popular success as well as its lasting cultural impact. To give readers a complete picture of ""Sex and the City"", Jermyn draws on close textual analysis of selected episodes, existing critical work on the program, testimonies from its stars and producers, and intertextual evidence ranging from the ""Sex and the City"" bus tour to fan guides and Web sites.In this volume, Jermyn explores the show's characters, its careful generic balance of comedy and drama, its mix of both fantasy and realism, and its dedication to the intricacies of women's friendships. Jermyn notes that in the course of its six seasons ""Sex and the City"" emerged as a kind of controversial shorthand to explore the zeitgeist among a generation of post-feminist TV audiences, each week considering issues surrounding femininity, feminism, sexuality, consumerism, and women's lifestyle choices. Jermyn argues that, in short, ""Sex and the City""'s success and wider cultural impact invite us not just to analyze the particular accomplishments of its writing, design, and performances but to recognize the contribution and significance that television can have on public debate and life outside 'the box.'With the 2008 release of a full-length - and long-awaited - feature film version of ""Sex and the City"", the series proves itself once again to be timely and relevant. Fans of the series as well as scholars of television history will enjoy Jermyn's insightful study.

In defiance of the alleged "death of romantic comedy," After "Happily Ever After": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age edited by Maria San Filippo attests to rom-com's continuing vitality in new modes and forms that reimagine and rejuvenate the genre in ideologically, artistically, and commercially innovative ways. No longer the idyllic fairy tale, today's romantic comedies ponder the realities and complexities of intimacy, fortifying the genre's gift for imagining human connection through love and laughter. It has often been observed that the rom-com's "happily ever after" trope enables the genre to avoid addressing the challenges of coupled life. This volume's contributors confront how recent rom-coms contend with a "post-romantic age" of romantic disillusionment and seismically shifting emotional and relational bonds. Fifteen chapters contemplate the resurgence of the "radical romantic comedy" and uncoupling comedy, new approaches in genre hybridity and serial narrative, and how recent rom-coms deal with divisive topical issues and contemporary sexual mores from reproductive politics and marriage equality to hook-up culture and technology-enabled sex. Rom-coms remain underappreciated and underexamined-and still largely defined within Hollywood's parameters of culturally normative coupling and its persistent marginalization of racial and sexual minorities. Making the case for taking romantic comedy seriously, this volume employs critical perspectives drawn from feminist, queer, postcolonial, and race studies to critique the genre's homogeneity and social and sexual conservatism, recognizing innovative works inclusive of LGBTQ people, people of color, and the differently aged and abled. Encompassing a rich range of screen media from the last decade, After "Happily Ever After" celebrates works that disrupt and subvert rom-com fantasy and formula so as to open audience's eyes along with our hearts. This volume is intended for all readers with an interest in film, media, and gender studies.

In defiance of the alleged "death of romantic comedy," After "Happily Ever After": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age edited by Maria San Filippo attests to rom-com's continuing vitality in new modes and forms that reimagine and rejuvenate the genre in ideologically, artistically, and commercially innovative ways. No longer the idyllic fairy tale, today's romantic comedies ponder the realities and complexities of intimacy, fortifying the genre's gift for imagining human connection through love and laughter. It has often been observed that the rom-com's "happily ever after" trope enables the genre to avoid addressing the challenges of coupled life. This volume's contributors confront how recent rom-coms contend with a "post-romantic age" of romantic disillusionment and seismically shifting emotional and relational bonds. Fifteen chapters contemplate the resurgence of the "radical romantic comedy" and uncoupling comedy, new approaches in genre hybridity and serial narrative, and how recent rom-coms deal with divisive topical issues and contemporary sexual mores from reproductive politics and marriage equality to hook-up culture and technology-enabled sex. Rom-coms remain underappreciated and underexamined-and still largely defined within Hollywood's parameters of culturally normative coupling and its persistent marginalization of racial and sexual minorities. Making the case for taking romantic comedy seriously, this volume employs critical perspectives drawn from feminist, queer, postcolonial, and race studies to critique the genre's homogeneity and social and sexual conservatism, recognizing innovative works inclusive of LGBTQ people, people of color, and the differently aged and abled. Encompassing a rich range of screen media from the last decade, After "Happily Ever After" celebrates works that disrupt and subvert rom-com fantasy and formula so as to open audience's eyes along with our hearts. This volume is intended for all readers with an interest in film, media, and gender studies.

In recent years, reality TV formats have proliferated on television. One of the most significant and controversial strands within this has been the growth of 'real crime TV'. Encapsulating everything from crime appeal shows to reconstruction programmes and actuality footage shows, real crime TV now plays a major role in our television schedules, filling countless hours of air-time every week. "Crime Watching" examines the spectacular growth of real crime TV. Of these programmes, the BBC's "Crimewatch UK" is Britain's best known (in small part due to the tragedy of presenter Jill Dando's death). The book argues that the birth of the BBC's 'Crimewatch UK' in 1984 was a key transitional moment in the emergence, expansion and subsequent popularity of these programmes both in the UK and internationally. Looking closely at the social and political context of the period in which "Crimewatch UK" first appeared and examining the aesthetics, address and appeal of a range of other shows appearing in its wake, including "Police Camera Action!" , "America's Most Wanted" and "World's Wildest Police Videos", this book investigates the conditions that have enabled and advanced the ubiquity of real crime programming on contemporary television and the anxieties that surround it. Examining critiques that real crime TV has increased fear of crime while legitimising a surveillance culture, and that it serves to stifle debate about criminality and policing, "Crime Watching" also reflects on the pleasures of these programmes and the enduring nature of our culture's seemingly endless fascination with real crime stories.

In recent years, reality TV formats have proliferated on television. One of the most significant and controversial strands within this has been the growth of 'real crime TV'. Encapsulating everything from crime appeal shows to reconstruction programmes and actuality footage shows, real crime TV now plays a major role in our television schedules, filling countless hours of air-time every week. "Crime Watching" examines the spectacular growth of real crime TV. Of these programmes, the BBC's "Crimewatch UK" is Britain's best known (in small part due to the tragedy of presenter Jill Dando's death). The book argues that the birth of the BBC's "Crimewatch UK" in 1984 was a key transitional moment in the emergence, expansion and subsequent popularity of these programmes both in the UK and internationally. Looking closely at the social and political context of the period in which "Crimewatch UK" first appeared and examining the aesthetics, address and appeal of a range of other shows appearing in its wake, including "Police Camera Action!" , "America's Most Wanted" and "World's Wildest Police Videos", this book investigates the conditions that have enabled and advanced the ubiquity of real crime programming on contemporary television and the anxieties that surround it. Examining critiques that real crime TV has increased fear of crime while legitimising a surveillance culture, and that it serves to stifle debate about criminality and policing, "Crime Watching" also reflects on the pleasures of these programmes and the enduring nature of our culture's seemingly endless fascination with real crime stories.

Nancy Meyers is acknowledged as the most commercially successful woman filmmaker of all time, described by Daphne Merkin in The New York Times on the release of It's Complicated as "a singular figure in Hollywood - [she] may, in fact, be the most powerful female writer-director-producer currently working". Yet Meyers remains a director who, alongside being widely dismissed by critics, has been largely absent in scholarly accounts both of contemporary Hollywood cinema, and of feminism and film. Despite Meyers' impressive track record for turning a profit (including the biggest box-office return ever achieved by a woman filmmaker at that timefor What Women Want in 2000), and a multifaceted career as a writer/producer/director dating back to her co-writing Private Benjamin in 1980, Meyers has been oddly neglected by Film Studies to date. Including Nancy Meyers in the Bloomsbury Companions to Contemporary Filmmakers rectifies this omission, giving her the kind of detailed consideration and recognition she warrants and exploring how, notwithstanding the challenges authorship holds for feminist film studies, Meyers can be situated as a skilled 'auteur'. This book proposes that Meyers' box-office success, the consistency of style and theme across her films, and the breadth of her body of work as a writer/producer/director across more than three decades at the forefront of Hollywood, (thus importantly bridging the second/third waves of feminism) make her a key contemporary US filmmaker. Structured to meet the needs of both the student and scholar, Jermyn's volume situates Meyers within this historical and critical context, exploring the distinctive qualities of her body of work, the reasons behind the pervasive resistance to it and new ways of understanding her films.