The topic of recent work on reality tv came up not long ago on this list. I believe all the "back issues" (so to speak) can be accessed at the Screen-L website. In any case, I'll reiterate what I said then, which is that there's an entitled "The Seen of the Crime: Violence, Anxiety and the Domestic in Police Reality Programming" by Edward R. O'Neill which appeared in a special issue of *CineAction* called "Murder in America" (no. 38). O'Neill's main thesis seems to be (I say "seems" because he has a number of theses, and their relationship isn't always altogether clear) that police reality programming represents a particular configuration of the public space of the media and the private space of the home, a configuration which is anticipated by structures within melodrama. In particular, O'Neill sees in police reality programming an invitation to the spectators to identify with an intrusive policing force and its gaze. The spectator identifies with this position of power, even though it is anxiogenic--anxiogenic insofar as the penetration into the private domestic sphere that we witness could in principle happen to anyone sitting at home watching the show, and the very explicit invitation of shows like *America's Most Wanted* is for the viewer to be alert for suspicious activity on the part of neighbors. No doubt O'Neill's argument is marred by a kind of fashionable pessimism and irony which pose as being beyond pessimism and irony, but there may be some interest in his argument. R. Mutt UCLA ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]