-Demonstrating that television's reputed decline may actually be a permanent conditions, Huff, the television editor and writer for the New York Daily News, discusses early examples of that genre, such as Queen for a Day and Try and Do It, as well as its current permutations. He uses interviews with network insiders, reality television producers and other experts to explain the transformations of reality programming and to provide insights into its past and future. —Reference & Research Book News

-Reality-show fans are likely to enjoy reading Huff for his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, including overall development of the genre and scores of particular factoids and anecdotes associated with individual programs, including both hits and failures. The book should serve as a reality check for those who believe that the castaways on Survivor are in actual danger of starving, as well as for those who are convinced that every moment of MTV's The Real World is scripted. —Television Quarterly

-Recognizing that there is nothing real about these programs, the industry uses the term unscripted for them. US audiences do not seem to care that they are watching artificial environments in which strangers are brought together in fabricated competitions with multiple cameras recording their every movement....Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. —Choice