Unreality TV
Mar. 29th, 2009 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarI 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....
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....
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-30 06:02 am (UTC)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.