A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Friends, published for the 15th anniversary of the show's premiere, including brand-new interviews with the series creators.

"A sociological study of reality TV that explores its rise as a culture-dominating medium--and what the genre reveals about our attitudes toward race, gender, class, and sexuality"-- What do we really see when we watch reality television? In True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us, the sociologist and TV lover Danielle J. Lindemann takes a long, hard look in the "funhouse mirror" of this genre, from countless rose ceremonies on The Bachelor to...

"Good villains make good TV. Romance novelist Jacqueline Matthis's big career has gone bust and she's ditched the bright lights of New York City for her more affordable South Carolina hometown. Desperate, Jac dreams up a comeback plan - she is going to be a contestant on the 1, the most obsessively watched reality dating show in the world. After all Jac is a romance writer - she knows how to pull off a meet-cute and create a spicy plotline. On set,...

"Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they've signed up for. Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won't just be eliminated - they'll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they'd ever imagined, and they're trapped. The disappearance of a contestant wasn't supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she's watched...

"Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. It's led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin and features a dedicated crew of ghost-hunting experts. Episode Thirteen takes them to Matt's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This crumbling, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about the bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also, undoubtedly, haunted, and Matt hopes to use their scientific...

"For readers of Station Eleven and The Passage comes a dazzling and unsettling novel of psychological suspense. In Alexandra Oliva's thrilling fiction debut, survival is the name of the game, as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself--and one woman's mind and body are pushed to the limit. She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go this far. It begins with a reality TV show.Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face...

"Since its premiere in 2002, ABC's The Bachelor has become a staple of American television. Now, discover the fascinating history of the show, uncover the ins and outs of the phenomenon that has become Bachelor Nation, and take a deeper look at what separates the winners from the losers. From how best to exit the limo on Night One, to strategies for making a run for the all-important First Impression Rose, to how to avoid being labeled a villain,...

The fifth collaborative novel in the Under Suspicion series by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, takes place at the Met Gala in New York City. "Laurie Moran's professional life is a success--her television show Under Suspicion is a hit, both in the ratings and its record of solving cold cases. But her romantic break from former host Alex Buckley has left her with on-air talent she can't stand--Ryan Nichols--and a sense of loneliness, despite...

Her town's lack of men isn't news to Dakota Hendrix, but she has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool's Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town. Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers off the show. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn't...

"This is the first ever book on Internet television and is a detailed history of 393 programs from 1998 to 2013. Each entry contains a detailed storyline, descriptive episodes for each series, cast and crew lists, the official website and a comment regarding each program. An index of actors and production credits concludes the book"--