Reality TV and the Decline of Civilisation.

[winchable]

Just wondering what everyones take on the relatively new advent of reality tv.
Personally I think some of them border on exploitation until I realise that these people willingly participate in this.
The sore point for me is watching "Amish in the city" I feel so bad for these Amish kids, watching them experience a modern young adult "Dramatic Moment"
Just the look of sheer terror and social angst in their eyes when the non-amish kids are going "NUH UH YOU AINT NOTHING" to each other.
I dunno...Honestly I just felt so bad for the Amish kids, then I was reminded they did volunteer, but I doubt they really understood what reality tv was when they signed on the line....
Anyway...I'm just beginning to wonder how long they will milk the old shows (IE Survivor 30 "On the Moon") and how many new shows they could possibly come up with, seeing as they've seemingly left no stone unturned in regards to pushing the line.

I figure eventually there won't be one genre of reality tv that hasn't been done, and hence, no aspect of peopls personal lives that is private anymore.
What is everyones take on the rise of reality tv?

 

[Jarnhamar]

i got a rant for ya
I can't stand those shows. Their total trash.
What is the goal of 99% of those shows? To lie your face off, stab people in the back and step on your "friends" on your way to the top. Everything is about winning.  Making friends with people then exploiting them to get your way.


Even if their not stabbing people in the back it's materialistic.
My wife loved the show 'who wants to marry my dad'. I'd get into fights with her because i said it was trash and she loved it.
Heres a show where 3 daughters get to decide who marries their father.  On the first episode all the girls claimed to have deep deep feelings fo rthis stranger. Episode two and three had them fallen in love with the guy. The 3 daughters with probably zero life experience would drag up dirt from the girls past and judge them on it. They would kick a girl off the show for cheating on her highschool prom date but didn't seem bothered that their father was sucking face with each and every girl.

If a show isn't about stabbing someone in the back it's about digging up their past and embarassing them infront of an ooohhing and aweeeeeing audience.
Now their capitalizing on the amish? Throw them in some bathing suits and give them some CD walkmans to listen to, real classy.

 

[Lexi]

I think they're stupid.
I can't stand them.
They're pointless, and I bet 80% percent of them are comprised of actors and actresses on a script.
They're a waste of time and money, and it goes to show that TV is going to hell in a handbasket.
I don't even understand how the shows get on TV....

Anyway, I hardly watch TV nowadays.
If it weren't for that MXC show on Spike, (The Japanese one?) I'd chuck my TV out the window.

That's all I've got to say,
Lex  ;D

 

[skura]

There's no decency left...wasn't there a woman a couple of years ago who VOLUNTEERED to live in glass house for a month...there must have been no less then 50 people outside of her house day and night...she quit and some guy moved in (needless to say the crowds left him alone...lol)

But I agree with all of you 100%...reality T.V. shows are crap for one big reason, they're NOT reality T.V.

Survivor is more like being stuck on a beach with benefits...who wants to marry my dad has got to be the stupidest show I've ever had the displeasure of hearing about (and for that matter any "Love Connection" reality T.V. show)...that newly wed show with Jessica Simpson and her husband...bah, don't get me started...

 

[Jarnhamar]

Anyway, I hardly watch TV nowadays.
If it weren't for that MXC show on Spike, (The Japanese one?) I'd chuck my TV out the window.

Thats the best show ever

 

[winchable]

they're NOT reality T.V.

Agreed, if anything they're hyper-reality tv.
Reality TV would be "Che goes to the bank, and scratches his arse in line."

There's something called the "Simulacra" I think really pertains to the advent of reality TV.
The jist of it is that the modern human lives in a simulated world(Simulated flavours, simulated flying, simulated sex). Las Vegas is a great example of it actually, you can visit just about everywhere in the world there, without ever leaving the continental US.
A person could go an entire day in Vegas without actually ever experiencing reality.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

EDITED FOR LANGUAGE (sorry, thought this was in one of the closed areas of the forum!)


The great American dream of individuality.  G.S. Patton Jr said it best - "This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap.  The bilious bastards who wrote that (stuff) for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about war than they do about (fornicating)!"  Or words to that effect.  The bilious bastards who produce dreck like Survivor don't know any more about life than they do about....whatever.

I think about our greatest success stories in the military - Vimy Ridge, D-Day in Normandy, even Medak Pocket is a current success story, or how about the latest tour coming home from Afghanistan without having a single casualty despite the (idiots) who advised the country to be ready for "body bags" to come home?

What is the common theme, here?

TEAMWORK.

These so called "reality" shows are a joke, but I may be a bit ill-equipped to comment since I've never had the stomach to sit through an entire hour long episode.

I don't miss the bad old days of TV where male oriented TV execs decided that fast cars, explosions, and bouncing (breasts) were all you needed to make a good show.  But it seems like the females have taken over completely with all the love triangles that invariably go into these "contests", be it the Greatest Race or Survivor or whatever.

Sadly, the professional women I work with - nurses, mostly - eat this stuff up and have Survivor pools to make it more interesting. 

 

[AlphaCharlie]

Honestly, I miss the good old fashion shows like McGuyver, Miami Vice, Seinfeld, Newsradio, MASH... THOSE were TV shows, not this crap we have today. Albeit they still have reruns, but it's not the same.

 

[Fruss]

AC: you forgot KnightRider!!!  ;D

I think I'm lucky I don't have a TV..  seeing all this crap you're talking about..  But I can't watch TDV as well  :crybaby:

But did you know that you can change channel if you don't want to watch a show..    I'm pretty sure that if there's so many shows out there, it's because there's a "need", people wants to watch it..  A sad thing a syou don't learn anything from these shows, but it's the people choice, that's what a free country means too.

 

[clasper]

The following has nothing to do with reality TV, but is definitely involved in the decline of civilization:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/08/09/dogsupport_040809.html

EDMONTON - For the first time in Canada, a court has ordered a man to give his ex-wife monthly support payments for their dog.

Kenneth Duncan, a truck driver in Edmonton, was told to pay $200 a month in alimony towards the upkeep of Crunchy, a St. Bernard.

Alberta Justice Donald Lee rejected Duncan's request to pay a monthly $25 towards feeding the big four-year-old, arguing a dog the size of a St. Bernard would eat quite a bit more than a small breed.

Had Crunchy been a child, the monthly payment would have been $691, based on Duncan's annual salary of $84,000.

The court also ordered Duncan to make a retroactive payment of $2,000, and did not give him visiting rights. Besides food, the money will go toward health bills and general caregiving.

But U.S. courts are increasingly ruling pets are more akin to children. American judges have begun to rule on joint custody, visitation rights and support payments.

The result is a whole new branch of litigation and legal websites dedicated to fighting for the rights of a pet in the event of a divorce.

------------------------------------------
Freakin' lawyers... :

 

[atticus]

Seems to me we are heading the way of the Romans. They were the same way, they ate up gladiator shows and what-not, the bigger and more gruesom the better to them. Seems to me that people today want more shocking things such as switching mothers and getting married to somebody you barely know. Seems like a waste of time to watch this crap to me.

 

[Marine837M]

I may be hitting a different angle on replying to this topic....but I hate reality TV....It is so unreal it is unbelievable........Here in the UK they do so many programmes but as this is a military sight we will start with the military reality TV shows.....well to be honest.... I dont watch them...for my own sanity....they take you.. far, far, far, away from the truth of what is real and is no way a reflection of what life or people are like in the armed forces......

Example:" SAS Are you tough enough "was a doucumentary on SAS Selection. It portrayed civilians partaking in British Special Forces selection.The course was scaled right down,people were crying and moaning and these were fit or supposed to be fit people from society,runners,fitness instructors,endurance athletes...it was a joke to see those pathetic people struggling,it was not even funny and to be honest it reflects badly on the forces when theseTV companies attempt reality TV shows. They think for some reason beyond me... they can copy and docusoap life in the SAS....Fu**ing joke.

Its embarrassing.

Not proudly yours of Britain making a joke of British SF.

Marine837M

 

[Armymedic]

With reality shows getting more ridiculous every season, we are probably not far off from the society featured in Arnie's film The Running Man.

 

[bossdog]

For the most part I hate those shows too but everynow and again something like Joe Schmo comes along and I laugh my ass off. It's like a car wreck, you're concerned, curious and can't help but to stare in awe.

Nobody is forcing these guys to participate. If they wish to expose their semi-private lives than sobeit.

btw, I love the expression "hyper-reality", that hits it right on the head.

 

[bigwig]

Does anyone remember that "Boot Camp" reality show? LOL, I got a good chuckle out of that one.

 

[JBP]

You folks forgot one awesome show or... Set of shows. STAR TREK. I didn't like the originals with James Kirk, TNG 2 with Cpt. Picard was the best!

C'mon, you can't deny Star Trek kicked but for the LONGGGESSTT time! I'm not sure but that is possibly the best "fictional" TV series I've ever watched.

We need more channels like the Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel..

Speaking of them, anyone notice how the Discovery channel has all this "American Chopper" crap on it all the time. I didn't turn it to the Discovery Channel to watch ANYthing American, let alone about motorcycles or houses or buidling crap. To learn, and heck. Those shows have Drama inserted all the time. BS... They need ratings I suppose..

Anyway,
Knight Rider, Air Wolf, MASH, Viper, Star Trek. All great shows!

 

[Jarnhamar]

So i stumbled across this show.

The WBs superstar USA marathon.

What they do is get people to try out and sing, american idol style

The people who are good singers get told that they suck and are garbage and sent away.
The people who are horrible are told they are great singers and invited back with a view to embarassing the hell out of them on live TV.

What a wonderful show eh?

I hope the judges are robbed on the way home tonight and the police pretend to do an investigation and laugh at them behind their back
assholes

 

[cpl forrester]

the worst ive seen and it made me sick to the bone it got turned of ..............something about Merriam it was called 12 lads goal to get a date with a Brazilian model ................the one i watched made me sick all these guys trying to impress the model for a date one of them a British marine...only to find out that the model was a man (sex change) where do they get of doing that that to those guys sick nasty and so very wrong.....................whats next sending 20 people through basic and sending them to war so we can see who gets k.i.a.......sick....reality t.v why not take the cam beat the s**t out of them and say but its reality?

 

[Gunnerlove]

Seems to me we are heading the way of the Romans. They were the same way, they ate up gladiator shows and what-not, the bigger and more gruesom the better to them

We have been the same way for as long as history has been recorded. From NASCAR to Boxing it has kept the masses entertained and therefore quiet for ages. Have you looked at a WWE match? The stands are full of people. Now hold on tight, Hockey would be my choice for Canadian gladiator sport. I wonder if more people watch hockey or vote in Canada?

My opinion of TV programming as a whole is quite low. We seem to be replacing violence with voyeurism. Is this good? Well if violence on TV causes violence in the streets (debatable) then with reality TV we might become a bunch of nosey perverts. Lets wait and see.

All in all I would rather American Chopper than Friends.

You guys forgot that guy who paints. Wow there is some entertainment for the masses.

My favorite shows in the last few years have been TV Nation, and The Awful Truth. Go figure a left wing wacko like me likes Mikey Moore. Both had incredible ratings and were canned by the advertisers, or lack thereof.

 

[skura]

lmao Joe...the Star Trek's with Captain Kirk and Captian Picard are the only Star Treks I can watch...

The WBs Superstar USA, though it was cruel, was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen...at least the "winner" was a good sport about it and they still gave her $100,000 American or whatever it was...it's just like that Joe Schmo show, they tease the shit out of the contestants but in the end they give them every prize they competed for plus the 100 grand or whatever it was...

So as mean as they appear to be, at least they don't stay completely cold hearted in the end...