Described as a “make-under” reality show, Snog Marry Avoid has been subject to scholarly debate and public criticism for equating “middle-class taste with a ‘natural’, desirable state of being” (Murphy, 2012, p.1). This blog will explore if transformational makeover TV enforces Western beauty stereotypes on a diverse British audience, with particular reference to industrial contexts and feminist readings of the texts.

ITV’s Love Island , where gorgeous singletons compete to find love, was the surprise reality hit of the last decade. Format sales tipped £1billion for ITV as the show was replicated all over the globe. It won the BAFTA for best reality show in 2018 and had done the unthinkable attracted back to appointment-to-view television the elusive 16-34 demographic.

You may have read about or seen VH1’s reality show Cartel Crew , which began in January and is entering its second season. The Crew cast is formed of close relatives of dead or imprisoned narcos . These offspring may themselves have been in the joint, or benefited directly or indirectly from their parents’ illegal wealth, but now, they are putatively on the straight and etc.

My last blog for CSTonline (a response to Toby Miller’s first blog of this academic year) talked about my experiences of moving to America and setting up a new life.  Whereas Toby hadn’t quite got wired up for TV, I had, but that still didn’t stop me bemoaning the loss of familiar UKTV and bellyaching about how difficult it was to negotiate the amount of channels available to me in the US. ‘Spoilt brat’ some might say.

The Royal Wedding kick-started, but by no means overshadowed the long, hot, English summer of 2018, which was defined not only by its heatwave, but also by some other very vivid and historical moments. Some of these include: VAR (video assistant referee) systems being used for the first time at the FIFA world cup; Angelique Kerber, defeating Serena Williams to become the first German since Steffi Graf in 1996 to win Wimbledon;

“The judgement of quality is always situated. That is to say, somebody makes the judgement from some aesthetic or political or moral position.” (Feuer, 2007: 145) This latest contribution to CST has been inspired by the viewing choices of most of my students, and their predilection for what has variously been described as popular television and mass entertainment.

June and Leon Bernicoff, a progressive Liverpool couple married for over 60 years, were never your typical reality TV stars.

Have you been watching Doctor Foster? Or Rellik? Or Strike? No? Me neither. Doctor Foster apparently drew over 8 million viewers to one of its episodes, but judging from my facebook feed, they were not impressed. Rellik scrapes around the 4 million mark, whilst Strike managed around 5 million.

CALL FOR PAPERS – InMedia, the French Journal of Media studies DOCUMENTARY AND ENTERTAINMENT The purpose of this special issue of InMedia is to further the understanding of the documentary by linking it to the notion of entertainment, which has so far been underexplored in the expanding field of documentary studies.

Media played an integral, deeply complicated role in the recent presidential campaign, with Donald Trump’s candidacy and win fundamentally transforming the relationship between the media, culture, and politics.