Producing 'glocal' reality programs : a project on the localising strategies of Singapore Idol and the future propects of English reality programs in Singapore.

Abstract

This project looks at the genre of english-language reality television in Singapore and makes recommendations for the future directions for english-language local reality programs. In a television format adaptation, the cultural aspects of the society where the programs are broadcasted in play a significant role. A format originally developed for a certain Western culture calls for the cultural gap to be filed between the format and the viewers to suit the local context. This project employs a historical survey of the reality television genre in the United States and Singapore and examines a few case studies of model reality programs and their format adaptations.