Combining cutting-edge theories of culture and government with programming examples-including Todd TV, Survivor, and American Idol-Better Living through Reality TV moves beyond the established concerns of political economy and cultural studies to conceptualize television's evolving role in the contemporary period. * A major textbook on the impact of reality and lifestyle television on today's programming, and on broader social, cultural and political trends * Draws on a range of examples from The Apprentice and American Idol to Extreme Makeover and Wife Swap * Argues that reality television teaches viewers to monitor, motivate, improve, transform and protect themselves in the name of freedom, enterprise, and personal responsibility