Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe demonstrates this perfectly, using the same footage and completely flipping the tone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI h

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe demonstrates this perfectly, using the same footage and completely flipping the tone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI The prologue of This American Life episode 458, "Play the Part" provides good testimony about this process from someone who worked in editing. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/458/play-the-part http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/458/p... Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" has a chapter on the Real World, "What Happens When People Stop Being Polite." It'd probably be the most work to seek out, but it's my highest recommendation, well worth it. He's a pretty entertaining writer, and has some great insights here. He tracks down one of the early stars and points out a few frightening ways that real life interactions mimic reality television shows.