ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that business entertainment programming can be placed within a continuum that features lightly-constructed documentaries at one end of the scale through to highly-formatted reality television at the other. This has resulted in two mains strands of business entertainment being established in the form of the troubleshooter format, which has its roots in the documentary tradition, and the business gameshow, which is derived from the more recent emergence of reality television. It must be noted that although there is some crossover between these two types of programmes, each of these strands share specific elements that allow us to group them together into a larger category while also beginning to map out the various narratives, representations and visual characteristics on offer. The troubleshooter format thus takes an existing business that is experiencing trouble and brings in an expert to assess the company and offer advice on how to turn things around.
