[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'140704\' date=\'Dec 15 2006, 09:25 PM\']
Has anyone seen/read/bought the following books?:
• Rules of the Game: Quiz Shows & American Culture
By Olaf Hoerschelmann (Hardcover released July 2006) $24.95
[/quote]
I'm (finally) reading this one now, in softcover. It certainly is very academic, not at all intended to be entertaining or mass-market, but it offers some insights into how gameshows influence, and are influenced by, the culture of the day. The author is identified as "associate professor of media theory and criticism at Eastern Illinois University."
The author gives a great deal of space to the original "Vox Pop" and casts it in much greater historical significance than I think I've seen elsewhere. (Edit to add: He also gives the same treatment to, of all things, "Singled Out.")
Later chapters venture into the political arena, discussing the rise of "family values," the conservative influence on some 1980s titles, and the general lack of same-sex couples on dating shows, to name but a few points.
The volume is a bit thin -- 155 pages of text, plus another 45 pages of footnotes -- and the price is certainly steep in that regard. But it's a level of writing about the genre that usually isn't published, and the author gets a +1 for at least including a passing reference to "Idiot Savants."
