Book excerpt: Staging the Real traces the evolution of the various categories of "reality" programs which have come to dominate our screens over the last decade. The book focuses on issues such as the changes in the broadcasting environment which have given rise to such programs, the relationship they have to other popular TV genres and the huge appeal that shows such as Big Brother have for contemporary audiences. The book also seeks to measure the cultural significance of these new formats. Do they reflect a more general cultural malaise or should we measure their popularity more in terms of the changing expectations which modern audiences bring to TV entertainment?