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Heroic endeavours: flying high in New Zealand reality television

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Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action

Abstract

Tune into New Zealand television in any given week and the menu of reality programmes in a multi-channel environment is certain to keep the hungriest of viewers satisfied. A weekly diet of `reality’ emanating mainly from Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as from New Zealand, is proof of the global popularity of reality television (RTV). The 1990s saw the emergence of the first RTV programmes to screen in New Zealand, such as Fear Factor, The Amazing Race, Who Dares Wins, Extreme Makeover and Popstars. Criticism was initially raised both locally and internationally that RTV was cheap, superficial, and tabloid (Hill 2005; Lealand & Martin 2001). But the fact that two decades later RTV rates regularly in the top ten most-watched programmes on New Zealand’s free-to-air terrestrial channels each week (New Zealand Film and TV 2011) is testimony that it has become a commonly accepted part of the nation’s media landscape.

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Authors
  1. Philippa Smith
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Language and Linguistics, Swansea University, UK

    Nuria Lorenzo-Dus (Professor in English Language and Linguistics) (Professor in English Language and Linguistics)

  2. University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA

    Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Professor of English) (Professor of English)

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© 2013 Philippa Smith

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Smith, P. (2013). Heroic endeavours: flying high in New Zealand reality television. In: Lorenzo-Dus, N., Blitvich, P.GC. (eds) Real Talk: Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313461_8

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