Unreality TV

[badstar]

I can't even begin to properly describe my deep, unending loathing for all things "reality show".

I don't get it. Clearly, TV producers have absolutely no creativity anymore. they should all be fired and replaced by...you know, I don't really care, it doesn't really matter. Drunken wombats could do a better job of coming up with original programming than the fucktards that are in place now.

Who in the fucking hell watches things like a TV show to determine the country's greatest dog-groomer? This isn't "reality". These shows are all just a bunch of rivalries forged by petty bickering and provocation by the producers pandering to the lowest common denominator in order to garner ratings- which, unfortunately, it seems they get as evidenced by the fact that these shows continue for multiple seasons, and every network is flooded with them.

And don't even get me started on American Idol. Why won't that show go the hell away? Why on earth should anyone win their musical contract on a game show that amounts to a an overly-glorified, seemingly-unending round of karaoke? They all sounds just like every other act on top 40 radio. Why do we need more cookie-cutter "music"? Why do we need the endless merchandising...all of the branded products that have spawned from this show, and all the obsession it creates- two years ago, I wanted to kill most of my department at work because they were all obsessed with who won every week and wouldn't stop talking about the really girly Indian guy whose sister was also on the show and whose name I can't remember and can't be bothered to google. It was all they talked about.

This is just one of the reasons that I've all but given up on watching TV (and really, the only thing I'm waching these days is Lost, videotaped by Gavin...I haven't even caught House in a couple of months. Other than that, whatever she has on is largely background noise for me, every now and then an episode of one of the various Law & Orders or Psych- which is really pretty amusing- will catch my attention, but that's it.) The fact that I can't even see the commercials for upcoming shows without my stomach being turned by the utter stupidity- on just about every network that ever comes up- is pathetic. I'm not expecting to like everything on TV, or even a lot of it, but really, happening to be in the same room when commercials are on...it shouldn't be a punishment for horrific crimes I never committed.

'Scuse me, I need to go re-order my multiple Netflix queues....

Comments

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

All reasons why I don't own a television, much less pay for cable.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

We have cable TV largely because there are things that Gavin watches that are on cable- and she's home a lot more than I am (she asks that I make it very clear that she doesn't watch reality TV) and because we have cable internet- I know, it's possible to have cable internet without the TV, but- around here anyway- the cost makes it a little silly not to have both. I've already gone through the three DSL providers in the area in the time I've been living in Maryland, and have had so many problems that the problems that I've had with Comcast are minor in comparison- and hey, when I have had ongoing problems, Comcast even gave me free months of service, which Verizon, Cavalier and Earthlink never did.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Time Warner knocks like $5/month off both TV and Internet service, but that's about it. Of course, if you threaten to switch to another service they'll do almost anything to keep you in. I'm quite sick of their constant phone and door-to-door operations, especially because they are generally not done by people that actually work for TWC.

[friggasgirl.livejournal.com]

People look at me like I'm an alien when I say I have never watched a single episode of Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, Survivor, ad nauseum.

Wife Swap once contacted the Heathen community for their show. Everyone refused because they knew the producers would take everything out of context to make Heathens look unreasonable and devil worshippy. They wanted no part of it. These shows are far from "reality."

Now...give me a good documentary and I'm all set!

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Aliens unite! :)

Mainstream journalism has this bad habit of spinning the truth in such a way as to sell more advertisements that trusting anything dramatized to resemble reality is beyond foolish.

I know of someone who landed on a major talk show and was pretty well set up by everyone so that they could have a nice big poke at polyamory. It pretty well trashed her relationships and her reputation. Let's face it, Richard Nixon got it right - the truth just doesn't make a good movie.

[chironcentaur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me neither. I might have seen an episode here and there when I'm visiting my mother who does watch that crap, but that's about it. Could always be worse, for a while I worked with someone who made me sit through Flavor of Love followed by Rock of Love followed by Meet the Kardashians. If you don't know what any of that is, don't Google it, its not worth it; let's just say I'd rather sit through a 24 hours Survivor marathon, it would be far less painful.

Just give me a crime show, I'll be happy. :-)

[needa.livejournal.com]

...and similarly, I don't bother with television anymore. I own one for the occasional DVD and some of my reference materials which come in video format. I also have Cable internet. But I've never bothered to run a line back to the TV, and I can't see a reason to do it.

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am not alone, I see! Really, I cannot stand those kinds of shows. I don't watch much TV compared to many other people, but I could live without the endless bickering, talentless, worm eating sensationalism. UGH. Oh, and it's just as bad - if not even worse - here in the UK.

[chironcentaur.livejournal.com]

I would imagine, since I'm pretty sure most if not all of our "reality" shows are imports (because that is just how little creativity we have here anymore). I'm really not interested in watching a bunch of pathetic attention whores humiliate themselves on national television, or the latest trend the oh so eccentric people with the really wacky jobs (see The Exterminators).

[neowiccan.livejournal.com]

i'm totally with you.
well, except for deadliest catch.
but that's it!
:D
khairete
suz

[shockwave.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of what you said, though I do admit to watching VH1 reality shows as a guilty pleasure. I'm not proud, but I also don't expect anyone to share my obsession.

I really can't stand though the reality shows on network TV. ESPECIALLY American Idol. There's so little creativity in most mainstream music and American Idol just adds to that. I don't understand the appeal of it at all.

[falnfenix]

the drivel on TV is the sole reason why i refuse to pay for it. we will watch a handful of shows, and they're all available on Hulu.com - since we set up a computer and hooked it up to the TV, we don't even have to deal with sitting at a desk/in front of a laptop to watch.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind doing that if we had a newer TV and a computer that could handle it, but we don't and neither of those are in our budget.

I assume that you have DSL?

[fuego.livejournal.com]

(or FIOS)?

[falnfenix]

i WISH we could get FiOS. seems like Verizon is dragging ass on that one.

[falnfenix]

nope, WiMax. it costs us about $50 for the equivalent of two lines coming into the house - Chris is using the modem, while i have a USB stick that allows me more mobility (since i have a laptop). we added a wireless card with an external antenna (it's like a super antenna on this thing...) to the box downstairs.

the TV came from my richer days...a couple of years ago, when i got my own apartment for the first time, i "needed" a new TV.

the computer's about 2-3 years old, built out of an old Dell Optiplex.

[corpslave.livejournal.com]

Intervention and Hell's Kitchen are the only reality shows I watch. I got sick of American Idol a few years ago.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

Erg. personally, I think Intervention looks like one of the particularly horrid ones...from what I can see, it looks like nothing but exploitation of people in bad situations for the sake of entertainment. Personally, if I were in a situation like that and someone staged an intervention to be broadcast on international TV, I'd walk off and never speak to them again. when someone's in a situation like that, unless they really want the attention that badly (and I'd have to wonder what the problem is to make them want such attention), broadcasting it for millions of people to watch on TV is just horrid and cruel. I know that sometimes people need to face utterly wretched things before they'll get help, but there's a difference between losing everything you have...and losing everything you have while the world pays to watch it on cable.

[corpslave.livejournal.com]

Now that I'm in grad school to be a social worker and I want a career in mental health, I've come to think of Intervention as educational television. Not sure that I would want to work in a drug/alcohol rehab facility, but I'm sure that I'll have clients who are addicts wherever I end up working. Most of the families that contact the show care about the addict and don't know what else to do to keep the addiction from killing their loved one. Having the show pay for all the costs of treatment makes one less burden for the family to bear, especially when insurance companies can be so stingy about mental health coverage. I have my DVR set up for it so I won't miss it.

[heartofmoon.livejournal.com]

I never liked reality tv. Then I almost auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance, naively believing I might meet other nice dancers and do some networking. And learned that all anyone wants is to be famous (no thanks!), and they're even worse. That almost-audition was really one of the worst experiences I've ever had. Gross.

Reality tv is stupid. The media just likes to make it 'cause it's cheaper--they don't have to pay actors OR writers!

[pinkpolarity.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's always so much fun when a mass of people diss your entertainment, and by "fun", I mean the opposite. I like reality TV. I watch a LOT of reality TV. If that makes me commodified or an idiot, so be it. (And I'm always amused at people who hate reality TV, but like internet snark/wank/drama comms. Which are, basically, Internet Reality TV. :P) I'm semi-picky about my reality TV, though. I prefer shows where it's perfectly clear to all participants that they've signed on to be contestants in a game show. Survivor, for instance, is a game show pure and simple, and Rob and I love discussing the strategy we think people should take, and whether it's okay for non-athletic "under the radar" players to win. I also like profession shows, where talent matters at least somewhat (not American Idol, where they pluck people off the street, but shows like Project Runway where you're expected to already be proficient in fashion design).

I avoid dating shows like the plague. I refuse to watch Fear Factor. I refuse to watch shows with participants who are being shamed and manipulated without their consent-- the occasional moron who goes on Survivor and actually seems to think it's about "making friends" excepted, because that show is clear enough and has been around long enough that anyone who doesn't get its purpose but goes on anyway has only themselves to blame.

I don't think they're any more "stupid" than any other kind of TV, and sometimes scripted TV bores me. Reality TV is less predictable, sometimes the "characters" are more interesting. I like rooting for people when I'm not sure they're going to win. I like seeing people really call on their creativity to meet challenges-- I especially love all those wacky "make a dress from muslin and stuff you find at a flower shop" challenges on Project Runway and Top Chef, and adore some of the incredibly gorgeous things that come out of them. I deeply miss a show called "Rock Star", it was sort of the anti-Idol, with singers who were actually quite good, and covers of rock songs and original music-- some of which are among my favorites, even now. (Yes, I'd rather hear Marty Casey do Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" than actually hear Pink Floyd do it. I know, I'm insane, but he was incredible. So was Jordis Unga with "Man Who Sold The World".) They put it up against So You Think You Can Dance, and it died.

Yes, I think some reality TV is idiotic and insipid, but I had to stick up for one of my favorite genres here because it's clear nobody else was going to.