Commentary: Osbournes 90210
Kurt Andersen weighs in on the reality TV exploits of Ozzy Osbourne's family.
View ArticleCommentary: The Dumb and the Bland
It's commonplace to hear cultural critics lament the popularity of reality television, but Studio 360's Kurt Andersen argues the bread and circus of bad TV in 2005 is the result of a generational shift.
View ArticleLittle Girl, Big Voice: 10-Year Old Jackie Evancho's Got Talent
Reality TV can be a wasteland of bared undergarments and talentless hacks with too much botox. But when Jackie Evancho, 10, launched into a heart-wrenching rendition of "Il Mio Babbino Caro" on...
View ArticleReality TV Show ‘Brooklyn 11223’ Dismays Some Bay Ridge Residents
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, reality shows have become a permanent fixture in American popular culture and have raised the ire of many natives in the locales where they are set. When cameras began to roll on...
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Opera and the Internet: Making Links
In my most recent article, about how London’s Royal Opera House uses the Internet in clever ways to achieve “reach,” I gave a preview of the company’s plan to fling open its virtual window and bring...
View ArticleBrooklyn DA Effect
Jami Floyd legal analyst and sometimes guest host for the Brian Lehrer Show, talks about the effect of a reality show about the Brooklyn DA office on Charles Hynes' reelection campaign, as well as...
View ArticleAmerica's Next Top Artist
The Bravo network is planning a new reality series that pits artist against artist in a competition for a national gallery tour. We sent Henry Alford to a casting call to talk strategy with the art...
View ArticleKelefa Sanneh on reality television
This week in the magazine, Kelefa Sanneh writes about reality television. Here Sanneh talks with Blake Eskin about the evolution of the genre from "An American Family" to "The Bad Girls Club," why...
View Article8 Minutes
A new reality show, 8 Minutes, follows a pastor trying to talk women out of prostitution. Brooke speaks with the writer Alana Massey, a member the Sex Workers’ Outreach Project of NYC, about why many...
View ArticleSmile My Ass
Candid Camera is one of the most original – and one of the most mischievous – TV shows of all time. Admirers hailed its creator Allen Funt as a poet of the everyday. Critics denounced him as a...
View ArticleKevin Powell Doesn't Fight Anymore
Born in Jersey City to a poor, hard-working single mother from the South, Kevin Powell was a gifted young writer who earned a scholarship to Rutgers. Then things fell apart. He got expelled after a...
View ArticleGuilty Pleasure Television, Art House Cinema, the Secret to Productivity
Does reality television exploit or empower women? Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Timothy Egan talks about the incredible life of Irish-American hero Thomas Francis Meagher. Metrograph at Ludlow and...
View ArticleSurvivors, Housewives and Teen Moms: Is Reality TV Exploitative?
Many of us can't look away from the drama of reality television, but dismiss it as a guilty pleasure. Jennifer Pozner, Executive Director of Women in Media & News, and Kelly Killoren Bensimon,...
View ArticleMachine Control, Citizen Scientists, Reality TV
Coming up on today's show:With machine learning, we could be training our devices like pets instead of issuing commands through code. Jason Tanz, editor-at-large for WIRED, took a deep dive into...
View ArticleLawrence O’Donnell on the Unreality of a Reality Show Candidate
You probably know Lawrence O’Donnell as the host of the “The Last Word” on MSNBC. But earlier in his career he worked as a top aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and staff director for the Senate...
View ArticleNeal Gabler on the Presidency as a Performance
The line between show business and politics has been blurring for decades, and the apotheosis of that is Donald Trump — the former reality TV star and pro-wrestling impresario — being elected...
View ArticleWant To Know Why Trump Won? Pay Attention.
How exactly was Donald Trump able to captivate us on his path to the White House? Columbia University Professor Tim Wu explains.
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Trump is keeping his business connection to ‘Apprentice’ reality show
Donald Trump with Mark Burnett, creator and executive producer of Trump’s reality television series “The Apprentice,” before receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Photo by Chris...
View ArticleWant To Know Why Trump Won? Pay Attention.
How exactly was Donald Trump able to captivate us on his path to the White House? Columbia University Professor Tim Wu explains.
View ArticleWant To Know Why Trump Won? Pay Attention.
How exactly was Donald Trump able to captivate us on his path to the White House? Columbia University Professor Tim Wu explains.
View ArticleThe Saint of Machine
A reality tv producer travels to a small Texas town to find a man who can perform miracles. But there’s no such thing as miracles... right?Written by Louis Kornfeld, and produced by Jonathan Mitchell....
View ArticleA Canadian TV Show Tackles the Indigenous Divide
This past September, Canada's Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) aired First Contact, a three-part documentary series that took six Canadians on a 28-day tour of indigenous Canada. Throughout...
View ArticleThe Docket: How 30 Years of COPS Has Shaped America's View of Policing
In June 1989, a television show premiered that would change the way that networks think about TV — and how millions of Americans view policing and the criminal justice system.COPS.Cops, with its camera...
View ArticleWhat "Running From Cops" Learned From "Cops"
The first episode of the TV show "Cops" aired thirty years ago, and in the ensuing decades it's become influential enough to mold the attitudes of new aspiring police officers. But if the show holds up...
View ArticleCops (the Reality TV Show) Cancelled
Police on TV, from Law and Order detectives to the reality show Cops give an unrealistic sense of what it's like to be in law enforcement.And some of them are given easier access to city permits for...
View ArticleWhat "Running From Cops" Learned From "Cops"
After 30 years on the air, the television series "Cops" was finally cancelled this month. In the podcast series "Running from Cops", host Dan Taberski and his team watched nearly 850 episodes of the...
View ArticleHere for the Right Reasons? Lessons From '90 Day Fiancé'
Dating shows often push contestants to extreme measures in pursuit of love. Reality-show producers will impose fake deadlines, physical obstacles, and manufactured drama to create the juiciest...
View ArticleNaomi Fry on a Turning Point for Reality TV
The New Yorker staff writer Naomi Fry writes about popular culture in its seemingly infinite forms, but reality TV holds a special place in her heart. As “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” one of the...
View ArticleA Family Divided Over the COVID-19 Vaccine
Across the country, COVID-19 vaccines are becoming available for teen-agers. But most states still require parental consent for minors to receive the shot. David Remnick spoke with a teen-ager who...
View Article'True Story:' A New Book on the Rise of Reality TV
In her new book, True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us, sociologist Danielle J. Lindemann looks at the rise of reality television and its domination of our current cultural landscape, and explores...
View ArticleListening Party: 'Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono,' Update with Kate, Reality...
'Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono' is a new tribute album dedicated to the Japanese multimedia artist, curated by Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. Released on Ono's 89th birthday, the album...
View ArticleThe Saint of Machine
A reality tv producer travels to a small Texas town to find a man who can perform miracles. But there’s no such thing as miracles... right?Written by Louis Kornfeld, and produced by Jonathan Mitchell....
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