REMODELING TV TALENT: PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE IN MTV’S REAL WORLD FRANCHISE by Hugh Phillips Curnutt Bachelor of Science, New York University, 2000 Master of Arts, Georgetown University, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2008 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Hugh Phillips Curnutt It was defended on November 9, 2007 and approved by Henry Krips, PhD, Professor Jonathan Sterne, PhD, Associate Professor Brenton Malin, PhD, Assistant Professor William Fusfield, PhD, Associate Professor Dissertation Director: Henry Krips, PhD, Professor ii Copyright © by Hugh Phillips Curnutt 2008 iii REMODELING TV TALENT: PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE IN MTV’S REAL WORLD FRANCHISE Hugh Phillips Curnutt, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2008 This dissertation performs a historical analysis of MTV’s Real World programming and an ethnographic study of two of its most prominent participants. In it I examine reality TV’s role in television’s ongoing transformation as a technology and cultural form from the perspective of those who work in the industry as reality-talent. By adopting this perspective, I indicate some of the ways reality TV’s construction of celebrity has altered the economic and performative regimes that have traditionally structured television stardom. One of the central issues this dissertation works to address is the way in which many participants are limited by the singular nature of their fame. To do this, I explore how the participant’s status as on-camera talent is rooted in an ability to perform as if always off-camera. The participant’s amateur image is argued to serve two critical functions. Because the participant’s image appears more real than the show itself, it exists as an element within the text that lets the viewer know that what they are watching is staged. This in turn requires that the participant’s performance always be restricted to the reality that his or her image represents. Recently, this has meant that participants who transition into reality-talent often rely on their status within the media industry as the basis for their performances. In the case of MTV’s stable of Real World participants, continued participation in one of the longest running reality franchises indicates the repurposing potential offered by a form of talent that is typically understood to be disposable. iv Ultimately, this project calls attention to the new manner in which reality TV’s representational logic and industrial deployment uniquely situates viewer and participant in a shared space of labor. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION…………..……………..………………………………………..1 1.1 SELECTING A TEXT: THE REAL WORLD FRANCHISE…………………3 1.2 LABOR…….…………………………………………………………………5 1.3 CELEBRITY…….…………………………………………………………...8 1.4 PERFORMANCE…………………………………………………………...10 1.5 CHAPTER OUTLINE..……………………………………………………..12 2.0 TELEVISION’S NEW SWEATSHOP: APPROACHING REALITY TV AS PARTICIPANT-BASED TELEVISION…………………………...……………19 2.1 LABOR UNREST AND NEW BUSINESS MODELS…………...………..20 2.2 FINSYN DEREGULATION..………………………………………………24 2.3 PRODUCT PLACEMENT...………………………………………………..29 2.4 THE FUN IN FRANKENBYTING.……………………………….………..30 2.5 TV VERITÈ: FROM AN AMERICAN FAMILY TO PUNK’D………...…...36 2.6 RITUALIZING MEDIA-SPACE……………..…………………….………40 2.7 TELEVISION CREATES PERSONALITIES, NOT STARS………….…..46 2.8 REALITY TV’S MOVEMENT TOWARD, AND DEPARTURE FROM, INTERACTIVE TELEVISION………………………….………………….49 2.9 CONCLUSION…..………………………………………………………….54 3.0 THE ANATOMY OF A REALITY FRANCHISE: TRACING GENERIC CODES IN MTV’S REAL WORLD PROGRAMMING………...………………58 3.1 FIRST-GENERATION: THE REAL WORLD and ROAD RULES (1992-1995)…………………………………………………………………62 3.2 ‘CUTTING EDGE TELEVISION’.………………………………………...66 vi 3.3 DEVELOPING AN ARCHETYPE…………………………………………69 3.4 FROM INDIGENOUS HOUSEMATES TO NOMADIC ROADIES...…....74 3.5 NATIVE INTERIORS……………………………………………………....78 3.6 THE MOST DURABLE CAST MEMBER: TRANSITIONING INTO THE SECOND GENERATION…………………………………………………..81 3.7 TRAVERISING FORMATS……….……………………………………….99 3.8 A MEDIATED HOLIDAY……………...…………………………………101 3.9 TRANSITIONING NARRATIVES……………………………………….103 3.10 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………...105 4.0 “A FAN CRASHING THE PARTY”: RETHINKING TELEVISUAL FAME IN MTV’S REALITY-CELEBRITY……...…………………………………...…..107 4.1 METHODS………..……………………………………………….………110 4.2 APPROACHING THE PERSONALITY PARADIGM………..…….……111 4.3 ‘I DIDN’T THINK I WOULD BE A REAL CAST MEMBER, I ONLY THOUGHT OF MYSELF AS A FAN.’ .………………………………...113 4.4 ‘THEY PARTIED WITH THE REAL WORLDERS, OR WHATEVER.’……………………………………………………………..119 4.5 ‘THEY ARE INTO IT. IT IS A DIFFERENT BEAST NOW.’...………...122 4.6 ‘YOU’RE JUST YOURSELF, BUT YOU’RE STILL FAMOUS.’.……...127 4.7 ‘YOU’RE JUST A FREAK.’…………….………………………...………131 4.8 CONCLUSION..…………………………………………………………...135 5.0 ‘I DID REALITY TV BEFORE IT WAS CALLED REALITY TV’: NAVIGATING GENERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS IN MTV’s REALITY- CELEBRITY…………………………………………………………..…………137 5.1 METHODS...………………………………………………………………138 5.2 ‘IT’S A VACATION.’..………...…………………………………………140 vii 5.3 ‘YOU CERTAINLY ARE THERE TO WIN MONEY, THAT’S WHY YOU GO.’……………………………………………………………….……….145 5.4 ‘IT’S MORE ABOUT THE ROCK-STAR APPEAL OF IT ALL AND MORE ABOUT CAMERA-TIME.’……………………………………….150 5.5 ‘REALITY TV MAKES YOU THE MOST POPULAR PERSON AT BURGER KING’………………………………………………………….159 5.6 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….....166 6.0 PEOPLE WHO ACT LIKE THEMSELVES: VIEWING AND PERFORMING REALITY TV…………………..…………………………………………………169 6.1 AMBIVALENTLY ENCHANTED: THE REALITY-PARTICIPANT’S AUDIENCE…….……………………………………………………….…172 6.2 SUTURE AND THE REALITY-PARTICIPANT……..………………….176 6.3 THE REALITY-PARTICIPANT AND THE GAZE..…………………….180 6.4 BRITNEY SPEARS: A LIVING DEATH’S HEAD……...…...………….187 6.5 BUSTING CHOPS AND CRYING ON CUE: PICKING PEOPLE WHO ACT LIKE THEMSELVES……………………………………………….191 6.6 THE REVENGE OF THE VIEWER: SITUATING THE REALITY- CELEBRITY’S LABOR IN PERFORMANCE……………………..…….194 6.7 CONCLUSION…..………………………………………………………...200 APPENDIX A: SUSIE MEISTER INTERVIEW PART ONE...…………………..203 APPENDIX B: SUSIE MEISTER INTERVIEW PART TWO……..……………..247 APPENDIX C: TIM BEGGY INTERVIEW………………………………………..295 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................…………………………………………………………352 viii LIST OF FIGURES 3.0 The tenth season’s control room…………………………………………………….75 3.1 The tenth season’s confessional room………………………………………………76 3.2 The first season’s exterior…………………………………………………………...82 3.3 The first season’s kitchen with cast…………………………………………………82 3.4 The second season’s front exterior……………………...…………………………..83 3.5 The second season’s rooftop deck…………………………………………………..83 3.6 The third season’s front exterior…………………………………………………….85 3.7 The third season’s living room……………………………………………………...85 3.8 The fourth season’s front exterior………………...…………………………………86 3.9 The fourth season’s living room with cast…………………………………………..86 3.10 The fifth season’s rear exterior…………………………………………………….87 3.11 The fifth season’s living room……………………………………………………..88 3.12 The sixth season’s front exterior…………………………………………………...89 3.13 The sixth season’s living room…………………………………………………….89 3.14 The seventh season’s exterior……………………………………………………...90 3.15 The seventh season’s living room………………………………………………….90 3.16 The eighth season’s rear exterior…………………………………………………..91 3.17 The eighth season’s billiard room………………………………………………….92 3.18 The ninth season’s front exterior…………………………………………………..93 3.19 The ninth season’s ‘voodoo bedroom’…………………………………………….94 ix 3.20 The tenth season’s front exterior…………………………………………………..95 3.21 The tenth season’s interior…………………………………………………………96 x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all the friends and faculty who have encouraged and assisted me with this project. I would especially like to thank Henry Krips and Jonathan Sterne for their guidance and mentorship. Additionally, the completion of this work would not have been possible without the input and generosity of Brent Malin. While writing, I also had the good fortune of being supported by the graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh who offered valuable feedback as this project took shape. In particular, I would like the thank Steve Llano, Michelle Gibbons, Michael Vicaro, Mark Porrovecchio and Ian Reyes. I would also like to thank my close friend Stacy Rosenberg for her ongoing willingness to help me edit my work. Thanks to RealWorldHouses.com for giving me permission to use their images. And I would like to extend a special thanks to my participants Susie Meister and Tim Beggy for their time and stories. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my grandfather and my mother for their unwavering support and belief in me throughout the years. xi 1.0 INTRODUCTION Reality TV’s use of participants is what distinguishes it most from other television programming. However, if we define reality TV in this way – if we identify it as any kind of programming that is about people being themselves on-camera – then most television is reality TV. News programming, talk shows, game shows, cooking shows, travel shows, infotainment and a variety of other types of nonfiction programming fit this description. We might, then, argue that reality TV showcases amateur performers instead of television personalities. But thinking about the participant solely as an amateur performer potentially ignores the way television has always depended on ‘ordinary people’ (who often transition into television personalities) for talent. This analysis of the participant