ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the show-within-a-show format of UnReal simultaneously represents the rural South and comments on reality TV as a social phenomenon. UnReal premiered on Lifetime in 2015, and depicts producers who will stop at nothing for ratings success, which often means humiliating their cast members, implying that nothing titillates TV audiences more than seeing reality stars coming unhinged. UnReal not only represents the rural South, but also provides a meta-commentary on reality TV as a social phenomenon. UnReal provides urban audiences with an imaginary means by which to manipulate rural America, and ultimately, to rehabilitate it. UnReal reveals the urban, liberal posture toward conservative, rural America at a juncture in American politics, and American television culture, when liberals imagine they must save rural America from itself, lest the nation risk even greater polarization. UnReal’s prestige programming approach to rural America on reality television does the fantasy work of unmaking the American South.
