Anatomy of a Format

Abstract

Standardized reality television formats proliferate across the globe. It is important to examine the production contexts and discourses of formatted programming, and in particular, reality TV formatting, to fully consider how national cultural expression is being reshaped due to changing economic, political, technological, and cultural demands. This article, first, investigates how concerns over formats are implicated in Canadian reality television. Specifically, the formatted reality program So You Think You Can Dance Canada will be analyzed. The article attempts to understand the production context of this program as a cultural product that has originated elsewhere but has been adapted to suit a local/national context. Second, the project aims to investigate how this show engages in discourses of nationhood, or, how Canadianness is discussed, represented, and performed on formatted TV through commercial nationalism. The article raises questions about the place of formats in Canadian television programming, policy, and culture.