The Basic Desires of Malaysian Audience in Watching Reality Television: The Case of Akademi Fantasia

This article examines the popularity of reality television in general and Akademi Fantasia in particular from the perspective of basic desires of television audience which was advanced by Reiss and Wiltz (2004), i.e. that people watch reality television because of their basic motivation and desires most important to them. The question here is which of these desires are applicable in explaining the reasons why Malaysian audience watch reality television and what is the relationship between the motivation profile of the Akademi Fantasia viewers and the basic desires.