Have you seen the nature of reality TV for the last twenty years? People love reality shit.
And the Next Cancelled Show is...
- Thread starter Guy Gardener
- Start date
Sad thing is, there’s absolutely nothing “real” about any of it.
But some of them like First Dates are funny even though you know parts of it are scripted to a degree
They are not really people.
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Indeed. I meant to use quotation marks but then I spaced and forgot. I've never been a fan of that genre of television and I will never fathom why it's so damn popular.
Sad but true.
They're cheap to make, that's why they're so popular and why there are so many. I can't stand the fake drama though. And the 'Stars' that end up famous through it such as the Kardashians end up being the TV equivalent to the heavily manufactured bands created for certain demos.
Tell me about it..... I have watched or rather tried to watch a few of these kind of shows and it's just something I can't invest in. Having said that occasionally I do find First Dates funny even though that too is somewhat scripted I think. It's funny just to point and laugh at some of the dumb shit that comes out of the mouths of the couples on the show. They know they're getting paid to be on there so why would they care, obviously they don't care people are laughing at them as they watch the show. It's the same for nearly all the dating shows, even Beauty & The Geek where the "Geeks" are heavily made over and exaggerated.
Oh and a real life version of squid game minus death. Why?
It does make me wonder something like that or Bloodshore where convicts do a battle royale on an island is only the next logical step if a TV network could get past all the legal obstacles. It is bound to happen one day the way society is. Sad
I prefer the ones where you can actually learn something. My favourite one was Ice Pilots NWT, following pilots flying DC-3 passenger and cargo plains in Yellowknife, and even while there was some drama, they were still real people doing their jobs.
Could you call Mythbusters reality TV?
I really miss those days tuning in every week to see what they would do on the show.
I have to admit to loving Married at first sight Australia, I know its rubbish just a bit of a guilty pleasure.
This is ultimately where this will end up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Sex_Olympics
Its actually quite creepy how prescient the Year of the Sex Olympics was.
I just couldn't watch that one I tried. It made me physically cringe.
They design the show for conflict so I'm waiting for the day there is a massive assault on camera, that girl almost went their when she broke that champagne glass, unless that was scripted.
Eeeeww but the dating shows have that already or do you mean actually watching the sex and rating it? Eeeeeewwww
I don't think so, no. Not in my eyes anyway. It doesn't seem to meet most of the criteria one expects out of reality TV. There wasn't much in the way of manufactured drama between any of them. Sure, there were minor disagreements, and then you had the butting of heads between Jamie and Adam, but if there was any drama between cast members, it was mostly left to the background and we often heard about it after the fact. What they did show was the building and them having fun while reacting to their experiments, which contrast that with something like American Chopper, makes it look like Disney.
I'd consider it edutainment.
Exactly. The only drama was whether their experiments worked or not and how they would overcome any and all setbacks. That's what made it such a compelling show.
That and the explosions.
And even the supposed "drama" behind Mythbusters is basically that Jamie and Adam haven't spoken to each other since the show wrapped because they were people paid to do a show together, and that was it. They respected each other's abilities, but they weren't friends. Which is fine; they gave us 14 seasons of awesome TV. They didn't have to be drinking buddies to accomplish that.
I would consider the contrived drama reality shows just one subgenre of 'Reality TV'. But shows like Mythbusters are more like educational entertainment, kind of like a grownup Beakman's World.
Reality TV to me is any show that has the pretense that the camera is observing people acting naturally in whatever situation they are being put in. So shows where people are performing for the camera in a deliberate way are not reality shows, even if they are unscripted.
Reality TV to me is any show that has the pretense that the camera is observing people acting naturally in whatever situation they are being put in. So shows where people are performing for the camera in a deliberate way are not reality shows, even if they are unscripted.
Another favourite of mine just came to mind is Restoration Garage out of Toronto. Counter to the usual format of having car builds featured over the course of a single episode and then never seen again, this one flipped it on its head by having them feature builds for a seasonal arc, where you could see what was really going on over the course of several months. It made for a more rewarding watch, and I honestly wish more shows would do that rather than the same old format.
When it comes to reality shows, I really miss Face Off. There was the occasional dramatic meltdown of one of the contestants breaking a critical mold or some-such, but for the most part it was drama-free and focused primarily on the skills and talent being shown, making some pretty amazing makeup and fabrications. There was another show, Hot Set, in a similar vein, specializing in stagecraft and set design (an early passion of mine in my very younger years). Both were from Sci Fi.
All gone now. I guess "reality" shows trying to demonstrate real actual talent don't make the kind of revenue from sponsors that puerile temper tantrums and other self-delusional bullshit bring in.
All gone now. I guess "reality" shows trying to demonstrate real actual talent don't make the kind of revenue from sponsors that puerile temper tantrums and other self-delusional bullshit bring in.
