Reality Shows: Your opinions

[CCamfield]

No, there isn't. OJ shot down those rumors.

Thank god!

 

[Darius101]

I heard on the radio that due to the popularity of Reality shows there is going to be a new Reality Cable Network...ewwwww.

I remember when Real World was the first Reality show?
I like survivor but have gotten away from watching it. Lasat season was it for me for that show.
I also began watching Fear Factor when it first started but they really do some sick stuff on that show now...man can't watch that anymore either who would really eat that stuff..not reality to me.
Another interesting show that had potential was that High School reunion show but it seemed scripted or something after the first 4-5 episodes.

The rest of the 'new' crop of reality shows are junk although I also like Junk Wars because it is a fun show and it has been around for a long time.

Here is a question: Are game shows reality shows? They seem to fit the criterion for a reality program. American idol can be considered variety not reality TV or it can be considered a gameshow with the top prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd not to mention the fact that there are judges.

Just some minor ramblings,
Darius

 

[Mallus]

My biggest problem...

...with reality shows is that they are so darn cost-effective I'm affraid we'll see them, as a genre, begin to squeeze out traditional scripted progamming --isn't this happening already?

 

[uv23]

There's nothing more pathetic than reality TV and the people that are obsessed with it. I witness enough idiocy, back stabbing and general rudeness in real life to more than fulfill my daily quota of reality. I watch TV for an escape from thhat crap, not a reminder of it.

 

[Chauzu]

You know its getting bad when they start having a bunch of different reality shows, hosted by people like Monica and MTV, and every commercial sounds like an instant replay universally. Even more buggy is that the channels have been recently raising the volume on their commercials higher than the actual shows, not to mention that once the show comes on they still play commercials by running them across the screen. Nothing bugged me more than trying trying to watch the Simpsons and such while Joe Millionaire and the girls took up have the screen while they chased after him. Soon TV is going to be like the internet with a bunch of pop-up ads.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Re: My biggest problem...

...with reality shows is that they are so darn cost-effective I'm affraid we'll see them, as a genre, begin to squeeze out traditional scripted progamming --isn't this happening already?

On a short term basis reality shows are cost-effective. What they are finding however is that these shows can really only be aired once and have no repeat ability whatsover. Joe Millionare was a top ten show in its first airing and about 60-80 in its second. Networks are begining to realize that traditional scrippted shows while more expensive in the short term allow 2-3 airings durring prime time, plus if they last 5 years they have the potential to be cash cows in syndication. Thus on a per airing basis traditional shows come out cheaper. This does not mean that Reality will go away, but at least it wll not take over and will likely be relegated to the summer when new shows are not around or to fill in gaps when shows are cancelled.

 

[Jemal]

Re: Re: My biggest problem...

On a short term basis reality shows are cost-effective. What they are finding however is that these shows can really only be aired once and have no repeat ability whatsover. Joe Millionare was a top ten show in its first airing and about 60-80 in its second. Networks are begining to realize that traditional scrippted shows while more expensive in the short term allow 2-3 airings durring prime time, plus if they last 5 years they have the potential to be cash cows in syndication. Thus on a per airing basis traditional shows come out cheaper. This does not mean that Reality will go away, but at least it wll not take over and will likely be relegated to the summer when new shows are not around or to fill in gaps when shows are cancelled.

Exactly. That's what's keeping me from panicking and thinking "reality tv's taking over!". Sure it's cheap and they make some good money, but I'm pretty damn sure they'll never be close to making as much as X-flies, Star Trek, Pretender, Buffy, Simpsons, Law&Order, and the other shows that aren't just 1-shot views.

 

[ssampier]

I watch them ocassionally (I caught every episode of Joe Millionaire and thought the ending sucked big time), such as Blind date, Fifth Wheel and the like. Sure they are trash, but I have to admit they are darn funny.

When the network execs get their head out of their bottoms and put some decent programming on the air, it'll nearly kill the so-called reality tv-show.

As for how real they are, for realism, stick your head outside and walk down to your neighborhood bar, normal people don't act like that. People alter their behavior when their face is on camera (except maybe Cops, those people probably are that weird).

 

[MaxKaladin]

I hate reality shows, which have little to do with reality.

The closest thing to a reality show that I've liked was those one-shot specials Discovery Channel has had where first they got a bunch of people together and tried to accurately recreate a Roman chariot race and then they did the same thing for a medieval joust. I'd love to see a series where they just went around trying to recreate various things from the past to show how things were in bygone "reality".

Conquest is sorta in this vein, but doesn't go quite as far. It's mostly been just weapons, though I had to move and don't get the history channel anymore so I don't know about later episodes.

 

[John Crichton]

As for how real they are, for realism, stick your head outside and walk down to your neighborhood bar, normal people don't act like that. People alter their behavior when their face is on camera (except maybe Cops, those people probably are that weird).

Actually, there ARE people who "act like that." But they don't normally do so in public. And as for the reality label not being true: let's not kid ourselves. Just because someone is in front of a camera it may alter their actions. And just because it does, that does not make their reactions to situations any less "real" than if they were not being taped, just different because the situations are usually different than what their everyday lives are like. And yes, the people on these shows are placed in these situations to get a reaction, that is why they are popular. No one wants to see everyone getting along all the time, that's not entertaining (just look at non-reality TV).