The Encyclopedia of Reality Television: The Ultimate Guide to Over 20 Years of Reality TV from The Real World to Dancing with the Stars (Paperback)

by Fox Reality (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 848 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416570551
• ISBN-13: 978-1416570554
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,274,613 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate Reference Guide With Missing Details and Odd Structure, June 25, 2009

By	Mediaman "TVviewer" (USA) - See all my reviews

This reference book of reality television is a barely adequate starter guide to the genre and falls far short of being the end-all encyclopedia that it could have been.

The book carries a 2008 copyright but the material in it dates to mid-2007. At over 800 pages, one would think it would be packed with details--but quite the opposite is true. The book uses lots of white space, has no pictures and fails to do much more than give a passing glance at many shows. Then with other series it devotes page-after-page of minutia.

For example, Project Greenlight gets five sentences to summarize its three seasons. Project Runway gets nine pages with each of the first three seasons receiving their own sections. Survivor gets about 60 pages alone, with each season getting detailed cast lists with when they were voted off! Then other series are barely mentioned and some cast members left out.

Another problem is that the book's definitions are not stated for the genre categories, of which there are way too many. It lists information like "genre," but doesn't explain the difference between a "docucomedy" and a "dating competition." Then it tries to explain "episode style," such as "story arc" or "self-contained," but never explains those definitions either. So Queer Eye is called a Docucomedy (Makeover) that is self-contained while Dream Job is called Competiion (Job) with a story arc. Whatever those mean.

Most series get quick summaries that are less than what one would find on Wikipedia. Take the MTV show Made, which had been on the aire five years when the book was written. Here is the entry: "Made gives teens the opportunity to live their dreams while discovering a little something about themselves along the way. Wth the help of a 'Made Coach' the teens achieve some of their goals, while other goals become character-buildling adventures." That's it--a weak summary that will not satisfy someone who has not seen the series.

There is also no ratings information given for each show. The only ratings list is at the end of the book when they tell the "top ten" reality shows of each season--but that doesn't do much good either because the reader has no idea where exactly those reality shows placed compared to other series. And they use total viewership instead of household percentages, which results in misleading ratings information. Wasn't American Idol number one of all series on TV in 2003? You won't know by reading this book.

It helps that they they do a month-by-month timeline to show when reality series premiered, and they picked Cops as the first modern reality show. Unfortunately, they decide to avoid the controversial discussion of when reality TV actually started--which could have made for some interesting reading. This book actually confuses things by placing America's Most Wanted on the cover and includes the show in the book--then ignores the series on the timeline of reality TV history. Most Wanted started a year before Cops, so why isn't it being called the first reality show if it's going to be included in this book? They never explain.

They even avoid trying to define what a reality show is. They mention Who Wants To Be a Millionaire in the book's introduction, then don't include it in the rest of the book even though it was just as much a reality show as many of the other game/competition series that they mention.

With some more research and improved editing, this could become a handy guide that gets updated every couple years. For now it's merely a passable attempt to give very basic information about the reality format.