TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE


PROMO FOR  7/20/2008 "Life as Entertainment"
* Today's entertainment industry is shrinking the gap between real life
and fantasy.  Popular television shows like Big Brother turn ordinary
life into an engaging drama.  Virtual worlds like Second Life give users
a chance to recreate themselves with the click of a button.  But how
real is reality entertainment?  In this hour of To the Best of Our
Knowledge we'll explore the gray area where real life meets
entertainment.


PROGRAM RUNDOWN:   "Life as Entertainment"


0:00 - 17:52        SEGMENT 1: (17:53)
            Nick Hitchon is one of the participants in Michael
            Apted's Seven Up series of documentaries that checks in
            on the lives of ordinary people every seven years. 
            Hitchon is now a 49 year old engineering professor at the
            University of Wisconsin.  He talks with Anne Strainchamps
            about the project and the effect it has had on his life. 
            We also hear clips from the Apted series.
                    
            Segment One Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

17:53 - 18:22  LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)
            
18:23 - 34:35       SEGMENT 2: (16:14)
            Emily Gould became an Internet celebrity for her writing
            on Gawker, a popular New York City blog.  She talks with
            Anne Strainchamps about the far more revealing writing
            she did about her personal life at another site, her
            personal blog - Heartbreak Soup. Gould has written about
            her blog experience for the New York Times Magazine. 
            Also, Tom Bollestorff is an anthropologist at UC Irvine
            and author of "Coming of Age in Second Life."  He
            describes what virtual on-line worlds like "Second Life"
            are and how they work. 
                    
            Segment Two Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

34:36 - 35:05       LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

35:06 - 53:00       SEGMENT 3: (17:54)
            Laurie Oullette is a media scholar at the University of
            Minnesota and co-author of "Better Living through Reality
            TV."  She tells Steve Paulson how reality TV manipulates
            the lives of its participants. But we watch it anyway:
            she got hooked on reality TV the first season it started. 
            Also, Bill Wasik is a senior editor at Harper's magazine. 
            He tells Jim Fleming about the craze he started   flash
            mobs   seemingly random gatherings of complete strangers
            doing something out of the ordinary.
                    
            Segment Three Outcue: PRI Audio Logo


For a copy of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
7-20-B.