Not Here to Make Friends magazine on reality TV
Not Here to Make Friends magazine is obsessed with reality TV. It was started as a student project in 2019 when Elena Foraker was studying graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design. But it wasn’t until the following year, after she’d graduated and before she’d found a job, that she found she had the time to return to the project, and the first real issue of the magazine was released.
Issue three was published earlier this year, and we delivered it to Stack subscribers in September. It’s come a long way from its origins as a student project, but there’s an almost academic tone to the writing that remains a core component of what makes Not Here to make Friends so distinctive.
“It originated out of a grad programme, and my audience essentially was my professors and my peers,” Elena explains. “At the time some of my professors were pushing back against the idea that this was something worth spending time on, so I was like, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong! Reality TV is actually something that’s worth talking about.'”
I’ve never seen that first issue, but these days the academic approach results in clever, funny, and reflective stories that help to reveal the world in a fresh light. And there are surely fewer people today who doubt the value of taking a critical approach to reality TV. As editor Everett Epstein points out, the medium has never seemed more relevant to American life:
“Our president was a reality TV star. He is an incredibly television-oriented person. Like Pete Hegseth was someone that he just watched on TV and wanted in his cabinet. So I think a big part of the political reality of our time is informed by reality television.”
I had a great time speaking with Elena and Everett at last month’s Stack Magazine Club, and you can catch up on that conversation below. Take a look to see their thoughts on the cosiness of British reality TV, the plague of AI-generated pitches, and some extremely deep cuts revealing the secrets of issue three’s cover.
And if all this makes you want to experience Stack for yourself, sign up and we’ll start sending you our surprise magazines, and inviting you to join our monthly Magazine Club evenings. The magazines are waiting…
