Reality Matters: 19 Writers Come Clean About the Shows We Can't Stop Watching

by Anna David

Top Chef. America’s Next Top Model. Survivor. Dancing with the Stars. American Idol. Big Brother. The Biggest Loser … Everyone has a guilty reality television pleasure. Curated by Party Girl author Anna David, Reality Matters is a collection of hilarious yet revealing essays from novelists, essayists, and journalists—including Toby Young, Neil Strauss, and Stacey Grenrock Woods, among many others—about the reality television shows they love, obsess over, and cringe at; and why they, and America, can’t stop watching.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Anna David is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books and the founder of Legacy Launch Pad Publishing, a boutique book publishing company trusted by high-income entrepreneurs to build seven-figure authority.

A three-time TEDx speaker, she has appeared on Good Morning America, Today Show, The Talk and dozens of other programs.

Anna has also written for the New York Times, Time, Playboy, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post, among many others, and been written about in such publications as Entrepreneur, Martha Stewart magazine and Forbes.

Her first novel, Party Girl, is in development as a feature film and she's the on-air book critic for KATU Portland. Her company has published over 50 books, many of which have become Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers.

She lives in Hollywood with her boyfriend, filmmaker Jim Agnew, their son Benjamin and their cranky-looking cat Bernie.

Reviews

[Erica]

It's always hard for me to rate essay collections like this one, because the quality of each individual essay ranges so much. In this one, the standouts were Will Leitch on the Dog Whisperer (and I don't even care about the Dog Whisperer whatsoever), Jancee Dun on Project Runway (love her), John Albert on Sober House, Richard Rushfield on American Idol, and Mark Lisanti on Jersey Shore. Definitely a fun read if you're into reality tv.

[Mike Partipilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I learned and I got a lot of insight into why people get hooked on reality TV. The collection of essays in Reality Matters are honest and entertaining. I laughed out loud several times and couldn't get to the next essay fast enough. I flew through the book and found myself wanting more. If you like reality TV, this is the book for you.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best anthology ive ever read. Especially my essay.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still a reality tv junkie - never missed an episode of “Survivor”, prefer a “Top Chef” season over any prestige drama - so this book was kinda fun. It was written a while ago, and much has changed. It was a nice walk down memory lane of some really dumb shows, most of which I watched :)

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I am not a huge reality show fan, but this book took you into that World. From the Jersey Shore to the Real World, there were many interesting stories. My personal favorite is Joining The Real World, written by Anna David. If you are a fan of her other books, you will love her in this as well. You can visualize everything she says in your mind as it happens to her, and laugh along with her at the interesting things that take place during her "chance to be on the real World San Fransisco." From her chance meeting with Aaron from the show or the hilarity that insues when she thinks she is getting stalked...no no seriously just read it. The whole book is like that, well written, funny, interesting, and able to keep even the non reality watcher interested. I loved the book and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes interesting, funny, and well written books. It is so well written you can picture everything in your head as it happens in the book. I literally got the book, read it from cover to cover and immediately recommeneded it to my friends. Definately a 5 star book! Once again Anna David knocks it out the park...

[Mavis Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and was genuinely sad that I didn't know the content of several of the shows the writers commented on. When I bought it, I thought it would be more rigorous... a painfully self-aware look at why we, as Americans, seem so hell-bent on watching trashy reality TV. Instead I got something much more witty, self-effacing, and personal.

This book isn't about what we're doing as a culture... it's more like what one writer does and how they feel about it. For instance, the article about Jersey Shore isn't about defamation of a particular sub-group of Italian-Americans. It's about the writer figuring out that his draw to the show is so that he can channel his inner-Guido.

In the end, though, what I enjoyed most was the glimpse into the real-lfie of a writer plagued with procrastination ("so much so I had organized 2 boxes of bandages into 1 streamlined box of bandages"), lonliness, and cats. Only not in a bad way. In a matter-of-fact "on some days, I'm one step away from hosting a Cat Tea Party," kinda way.

So even though I hadn't seem many of the shows outlined in these essays, I still loved the book.

[Erica Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I love reading about reality telly. Sadly; most of these shows are American and haven't made it to the UK - but I read them anyway. And wished that someone in the UK would write a book like this about our telly.
In the meantime I will continue to read all the EW.com recaps that I can find.
I have to say that I am very disappointed in Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom that I watched on my flight back from New Zealand... I know this isn't the forum for that kind of comment - but to save me time and effort; I'll just put my opinion here.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting an examination of why we watch reality TV, but this book was actually a collection of essays by various writers on particular reality shows. I hadn't watched most of them, but there are some fairly high profile authors here (Neil Strauss, Jerry Stahl), so, though uneven, it was worth the couple of hours that it took to read.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a hard time enjoying anthologies because often the writing is really uneven. This one was really well done and the essays worked well with each other. A quick light read with stories that were good even if the reader wasn't particularly familiar with the show featured in each one.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a lover of reality TV, this collection of essays fell short. While I quite enjoyed the writing of “Reality Matters”, I didn’t enjoy reading a synopsis of each show that I watch regularly. It was an easy read but would like to have read a more behind the scenes point of view.

[Jacky Hendrik]

good thinks for live

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a fast read! i enjoyed all the stories except the one on american idol since i hate that show. if you watch any reality shows, you'll enjoy this book of essays!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light fun read. Although the book has only been out since 2010, it feels dated, since so many reality shows have come and gone since then!

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

For work book club

[Peggy Missett · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! Too funny! Actually was laughing out loud all over town while reading this book!