Reality TV-your opinion?

[Spot's Meow]

Reality TV bores me. I am honestly astonished that anyone can stomach it.

There are many different types of what is now considered 'reality TV.' There are the talent shows (American Idol, Dancing with the Stars), the dating shows (The Bachelor, Tila Tequila), the informational shows (Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, Ghost Hunters), and the competitive gameshows (Big Brother, Survivor, Amazing Race).

"Informational reality TV" is a convoluted way of saying "documentary." Except when they are faked documentaries like Ghost Hunters, I don't know what the hell to call that. The other three categories are just one category - they are competitions. Reality TV is nothing more than an elaboration on the game show/talent show concept.

That's why I called them "informational tv" instead of documentaries, because the term documentary carries more authority with it.

And I do think that those categories are very different. Yes, they all involve competition, but in very different ways. I enjoy Big Brother, for example, because it is almost entirely about strategy, logic, and how different personalities have different ways of reasoning and of interacting with others to get to a specific goal. I find it very fascinating. People who haven't seen the show seem to think it's more like a Real World type experiment, and it's really nothing like that at all. Anyway, another show that involves competition but in an entirely different way is something like The Bachelor. It's not about strategy and reasoning, it's about going on dates and tryng to fall in love with a total stranger. These two shows could not be more different. So I have a really hard time lumping all of the competition type shows into one category, because they have little in common. I don't think anyone who's seen both would say that Survivor is anything like Dancing with the Stars, for instance.

 

[The Evil Dead]

People are watching them which means they're enjoying them. I personally don't watch them (used to watch Big Brother but haven't been able to stomach more than 10 minutes of an episode the past 3 seasons) but I don't mind them being on the air.

 

[Mistral]

I've only watched one "reality" show- Dance Your Ass Off. It was edited to make it more appealing to viewers but was a straight-up competition. I know this because I'm friends with one of the finalists. Too many of the other shows I see are...ludicrous, like Ghost Hunters, to actually sit through an episode.

 

[LeahBoBo]

The only 'reality' show I watch is DWTS. I watch it because I like dance, but they are working my last good nerve. They've been increasing the amount of crappy filler material (that I have no interest in seeing) each year. And the 5 hours of coverage this week sucked. They didn't need 18 'stars' competing. We don't need guest judges and all the other crap I hear that they're incorporating this year. If they keep it up I'm hitting the road on this show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If reality TV actually *was* real - if, for example, Survivor really did involve dropping a bunch of schlubs off on an island with no contact with the outside world - it might be somewhat less offensive to our intelligence. As it stands, though, there is basically no such thing as reality TV. It's all fake, scripted, pre-planned. Kind of like celebrity romances.

That being said, there *are* shows that are (to borrow TruTV's slogan) "not reality - actuality". Like one of my favorite shows, Disorderly Conduct, which is basically a collection of footage shot by police car dashboard cameras. Now THAT is real. There's narration (by the uber cool Robert Patrick, I might add), but that's the only thing that's written. The actual things you see on the show are what is really going on out there. Not so for so-called "reality TV".

 

[Kelthaz]

^ That's my main problem with this so called Reality TV. I loved the idea of Survivor at first, but it turned out to be nothing what I was expecting. I was expecting real people, you know, surviving, not playing the dating game.

If they would stop casting super attractive models constantly trying to get laid I might be more interested. As it stands now it's all just so ... shallow. It's practically soft core porn.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I admit I would actually watch a real version of The Running Man if one existed. I actually got kind of scared when I realized that. Does that make me a bloodthirsty bastard?

I suppose they could find a way to make it non-violent though. If the runners don't get killed, but just 'tagged' or something.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I admit I would actually watch a real version of The Running Man if one existed.

You should watch this feature film from 2001 that is made to look like a TV show.
"Series 7: The Contenders"

SUMMARY:

Ever seen the show "Survivor" and wished they would just start killing each other?? Series 7 literally gives its contestants the guns. The film is not merely a satire on reality TV. It is an example of just how far people will shamelessly go for fame. 6 contenders are pitted against each other in a no holds barred, kill or be killed contest. The reigning champ is Dawn, a hard-nosed, mother-to-be. We go back and forth between Dawn and the other 5 contenders to see if someone can dethrone Dawn and become the new Champion.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

--DELETED

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Ah, but jeffriestubes, that show is still fiction, in and of itself, innit? Oh well, at least it admits that it is, unlike most 'reality TV' which is still no more real than pro wrestling.

I wonder, though, could a show about contestants killing each other (or a real Running Man) actually be made, for real, but the contestants don't know that it's not real?

Meaning: Let's say that a show like you described actually existed. It was really about people killing each other. All of the contestants, as far as they're concerned, are really involved in it, and they think they are really killing each other. But when the show wraps up production, the producers reveal to them that it was all faked, and everyone that was supposedly killed turns up alive (of course they would have to rig things so that when somebody appears to be killed, they are whisked offscreen by the show runners and not allowed contact with anyone until the end of the show). Could something like this ever be done? At least that way, no one would 'really' die, but the reactions of the people involved would be genuine.

Don't tell me that there aren't people out there who actually would sign on for a show like that if they thought they could really kill people...

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I wonder, though, could a show about contestants killing each other (or a real Running Man) actually be made, for real, but the contestants don't know that it's not real?

There was a reality show in 2001 that aired 8 episodes on FOX:
"Murder in Small Town X" .
It was shot in Eastport, Maine.

Murder in Small Town X is an unscripted drama series in which ten ordinary people compete to track down a fictional killer in a town filled with improvisational actors playing the suspects and witnesses.

Reality series in which 10 players are moved to a small town where they attempt to solve a fictional murder mystery while being stalked by the "killer."

It was more of a 'whodunnit' show but still interesting as the entire real town did not know what they were actually shooting. Since it had a competition whodunnit aspect to it I assume all the crew and on-camera talent were under Non-Disclosure Agreement.
I don't think any show had been done before or since like that.
I tuned in for a few episodes. Part of the show had a CSI/"Alias" feel to it when the players were show evidence.

It was remade in 2003 in England:

According to the Guardian, the BBC will launch a new reality show, The Murder Game, which will begin in the next few weeks. The Murder Game is a reworking of the 2001 flop Fox reality/mystery series Murder in Small Town X and will feature 10 amateur sleuths competing for a first prize of 25,000 pounds while trying to stave off elimination by the killer.

more about "Murder in Small Town X" here:

Although classified as a reality television series, given the format's unique nature, it was more accurately a hybrid of reality TV, game show, and mystery drama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_Small_Town_X

There are 45 videos on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=900B47F39C637989&search_query=Murder+in+Small+Town+X%22

 

[Kegg]

They're not reality, and it shouldn't be TV.

Glib, maybe. I mostly don't care what's on TV or not (heck, if it's popular it's clearly doing the business for a lot of people so good for them!) but definitely not something I have any interest at watching at all.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Fuck It!!
the faster it goes away the better.
I'd rather watch paint dry.

 

[Angel4576]

Love The Amazing Race, but everything else is awful.

 

[LutherSloan]

Personally I enjoy Ghost Hunters, but I hate all of the other reality shows. At least on Ghost Hunters they don't always find any evidence, whereas on other paranormal shows they miraculously discover TONS of activity, every single time. They are also not trying to PROVE a haunting, like the other shows do. They spend a good amount of time debunking claims, which is what happens in the majority of the cases they take on.

 

[TGTheodore]

"Reality/competition shows" are just game shows which are exempt from the laws and practices which regulate the integrity of TRUE games shows. (Therefore producers can "nudge" things along, and edit episodes to serve their purposes.)

The only way ANYTHING can be called "reality" is if every participant on camera is completely unaware that he or she is being taped. Period.

And the true sign of a classless show is allowing the public to vote in any way.

The term "reality-based" is a perfect oxymoron.

--Ted

 

[jefferiestubes8]

The only way ANYTHING can be called "reality" is if every participant on camera is completely unaware that he or she is being taped. Period.

Hence the sub-genre

Hoaxes (Prank shows) also referred to as 'hidden camera shows'.

Think "Candid Camera" & "Punk'd"

 

[broberfett]

Personally I enjoy Ghost Hunters, but I hate all of the other reality shows. At least on Ghost Hunters they don't always find any evidence, whereas on other paranormal shows they miraculously discover TONS of activity, every single time. They are also not trying to PROVE a haunting, like the other shows do. They spend a good amount of time debunking claims, which is what happens in the majority of the cases they take on.

It doesn't disturb you when they always jump and say,"What was that?!"-then it is just a spider? They do that in almost every episode.

 

[Supreme Admiral]

To my knowledge, I can never understood why Americans like me are obsessing over this reality shows. To telling you what, I'm so tired and sick of all that crap that it has been for over the years. I knew from the very beginning that reality shows was never real at all, it was scripted.

Mind you, I was obtained to read the scripts not too long time ago, I figured that they want us to believe that this is completely real, but I'm too smart for that shit anyhow, this is unacceptable that we're watching all that crap that has been eaten up from our television.

20th century was our golden century, because our past generation knew what they were doing with television in the past. I bet that the past generations are very shamed of what this generations' doing with reality shows. It's time that we kick reality shows out of our television and going back to '80's and '90's where we've had really good shows before!

I love family matters, full house, you can name it. All the networks executives don't care about that anymore, I find it very sad. I hope that one day that reality shows get to be banned from television!

 

[Spot's Meow]

And the true sign of a classless show is allowing the public to vote in any way.

--Ted

I don't necessarily disagree, but I wonder why you feel this way?