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Reality show overload

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Zach6848 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zach6848 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 7:21pm
I think the quality shows have just become more concentrated. Like, most of the shows we see now are sh*t, reality shows that the networks can pump out quickly and VERY cheaply. But if you look at some of the shows that are touted as great by most everyone, almost ubiquitously, the production values and quality of those shows are probably better than they've ever been. Sitting down to watch some of these shows is akin to watching a movie for the first time, due to the great cast, the effects and costumes and sets, and some great writers. So it's just become more concentrated, much more potent, in some cases. So while you have to tread through a sea of absolute sh*t, reality shows, awful carbon-copy sitcoms, contest shows, etc. when you do find a legitimately good show, you can bet it will be excellent.

Most networks are catering to the lowest common denominator, but there are a few networks who take a break from that and give something to us, viewers with a discerning eye, that's worth watching.

Reality shows are generally cheap, formulaic, easy to produce, easy to come up with, and very easy to get viewers. Look at Hoarders, for an example. There's no lack of content there. There are plenty of people with houses filled to the ceiling with worthless junk, and people are heavily drawn to the 'freakshow' aesthetic. As in, 'look at what these dysfunctional people are doing, isn't it strange?' sort of thing, and people love that sh*t and eat it up. Even those of us here who are more perceptive probably tune in to some of these shows, just to see what insanity is happening on the screen. It's like rubber-necking when you pass a bad car accident on the interstate. It's almost an irresistible instinct.

In-general, the shows that actually take alot of money to make, and alot of effort from the people involved, turn out better than you could imagine. Obviously, there are a few outliers to every trend, but it seems to be the case to me that when you discover a good show, it's usually sort of mind-blowing, but you've got to dig through a mountain of bullsh*t to find the diamonds.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 8:20pm
Originally posted by Zach6848 Zach6848 wrote:



Reality shows are generally cheap, formulaic, easy to produce, easy to come up with, and very easy to get viewers. Look at Hoarders, for an example. There's no lack of content there. There are plenty of people with houses filled to the ceiling with worthless junk, and people are heavily drawn to the 'freakshow' aesthetic. As in, 'look at what these dysfunctional people are doing, isn't it strange?' sort of thing, and people love that sh*t and eat it up. Even those of us here who are more perceptive probably tune in to some of these shows, just to see what insanity is happening on the screen. It's like rubber-necking when you pass a bad car accident on the interstate. It's almost an irresistible instinct.



I admit to liking a few of those.  I've watched Hoarders and some show about 600lb people.  And yes, it's basically to gawk.

I also agree with the rest of your post.  There've been plenty of good shows over the past few years.  The one I like most is The Walking Dead, but Mad Men, Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey and others are considered quality stuff, too.  Even the commercials during those shows seem better.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote i8acannibal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 8:42pm
You can't forget Breaking Bad. AMC has a great lineup of top quality shows. Or Sherlock on PBS. I can't wait for the next season to finally get here.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 8:48pm

I wished I'd gotten into that one (Breaking Bad) at the beginning.  At this point, I'm not going to watch 5 seasons of it on some binge.  I got into the Walking Dead on a weekend binge, but it was only 17 episodes worth.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote i8acannibal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 9:12pm
I got into it when AMC did the Breaking Bad one night a week marathon. All seasons were split over a couple months. Awesome show that is definitely worth watching if you like Better Call Saul.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote peachblossom666 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2015 at 9:35pm
Game of Thrones.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 May 2015 at 2:31am
There's very few reality shows I like. Mainly shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars. My family has to watch Dancing with the Stars EVERY Monday night...and the main reason? Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec! Yes, we watch "Shark Tank" and I like Robert...he looks really handsome, and gives off some good deals. Can't stand that Mr. Wonderful Kevin O'Leary. He's the only one that gives royalty deals and too-narrow-of-specifics. "$250,000 for 13%, but I want 75c for each product you make until I make up my $250,000, and then it's 40c...oh and I'll give a 7% royalty on top of that!" If I was on the show, I would ignore Kevin's offers. No fine print.

There are specific "Hoarders" and "Hoarding: Buried Alive" episodes I enjoy - mainly ones where people hoard antiques and electronics. Who knows how many tens of thousands are in antique hoarder's estates. If I had to clean an estate like that, some items would go to me and some items would be donated to antique stores! Unless they are broke, they wouldn't go into the landfill.
There were a couple of episodes where hoarders had large lots (thousands) of VHS tapes laying around...plus several VCRs to boot. One hoarder had home-recorded tapes dating back to the early 1980s...imagine how many vintage and rare shows were on those tapes, plus commercials to boot. VHS is slowly becoming a "vintage" video format.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad nauseous Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2015 at 12:54am
Oh great....

CBS is premiering a new reality show called The Briefcase. Its where somebody opens a briefcase and its revelled what's in it. I wish I making this up. Now they're pulling "ideas" straight outta their asses. Sigh it'll probably be one their "most watched" shows on "America's most watched network" blegh.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2015 at 9:19pm
Oh really? I thought "The Briefcase" was not going to be another frickin reality show. Based off the promo, I thought it was a revival of "The Millionaire" from the 1950s, where an anonymous person gives money to random people...this time in a briefcase.
Looks like CBS has run out of summer options. Of course, Big Brother will be the "most watched" show this summer...bleh. Am I already talking about that show? Wow...time flies, it's almost summertime. ABC is hawking The Bachelorette like crazy...which for me, who cares.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad nauseous Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2015 at 9:44pm
Scripted TV isn't much better. "Under The Dome" is back and a new series where animals are turning vicious by James Patterson called "Zoo" is premiering. With that much selection I WILL be looking forward to mowing the lawn to distract me from all this TV crap.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 May 2015 at 11:37pm
WOW!
A reality show is cancelled...one that I did not watch at all, and was on ABC, being pummeled by The Big Bang Theory and the rest of the CBS Thursday lineup.
http://www.eater.com/2015/5/8/8575273/the-taste-cancelled-abc-anthony-bourdain-nigella-lawson-ludo-marcus-sammuelsson

And that "Briefcase" show...a family will receive $101,000 in a briefcase and they have to decide to either keep it all or keep nothing and give it to another family. Is CBS sort-of trying to revive that 1950s show "The Millionaire"...but with less money? We'll see how long that show lasts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote madwoman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2015 at 4:38am
Originally posted by crainbebo crainbebo wrote:

WOW!
A reality show is cancelled...one that I did not watch at all, and was on ABC, being pummeled by The Big Bang Theory and the rest of the CBS Thursday lineup.
http://www.eater.com/2015/5/8/8575273/the-taste-cancelled-abc-anthony-bourdain-nigella-lawson-ludo-marcus-sammuelsson

And that "Briefcase" show...a family will receive $101,000 in a briefcase and they have to decide to either keep it all or keep nothing and give it to another family. Is CBS sort-of trying to revive that 1950s show "The Millionaire"...but with less money? We'll see how long that show lasts.


I'm convinced that there are so many "reality" shows because Hollyweird hasn't had many original concepts in years. One network comes up with a concept ("hey, dwarfs!") and suddenly ALL the networks copy it.

Dwarfs
Pawn shops
Storage lockers
Hoarding
Vocal competition

And on, and on....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 May 2015 at 2:52pm
Talk about overload! Last night America's Got Talent premiered, Extreme Weight Loss premiered, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? came back with Jeff Foxworthy after about a 5-year absence. Tonight it's Bullseye on Fox (YUCK!), Celebrity Wife Swap on ABC (double yuck!), a rerun of another stupid reality show called I Can Do That! on NBC and The Briefcase over at CBS. Do the big 4 networks think no one watches TV in the summer? HBO has been my friend so far with movies. Ah, paradise from reality BS.

-crainbebo
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote usmaak Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 May 2015 at 4:56pm
IMO, one reality show constitutes reality show overload.  I wish they'd all die.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote i8acannibal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 May 2015 at 11:48pm
At least 19 Kids and Counting is getting cancelled. So there's one less. I'm sure 2 will pop up in its place.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad nauseous Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 1:31am
Originally posted by usmaak usmaak wrote:

IMO, one reality show constitutes reality show overload.  I wish they'd all die.


Agreed! I can't even stand watching The Voice anymore its gotten so bland!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 2:54am
Originally posted by i8acannibal i8acannibal wrote:

At least 19 Kids and Counting is getting cancelled. So there's one less. I'm sure 2 will pop up in its place.
Seems like they've already got a new family of freaks with an elastic vagina on their roster.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 2:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 2:50pm
Yes. The Duggars will premiere a new spin off about one of their daughters, I think. More reality trash, more cameras following them 24/7/365, more BS. 
Would HBO ever do a show on the Duggars. NO!!

Here's the thing, if TLC ever tried to stick a camera in my house, I would kick the cameraman and everyone else working on the show out of my personal life. There are too many dimwits who are the "look at me! I'm so (insert expression) so I need the whole world to see what I'm like" type.

-crainbebo
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tiz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 11:17pm
Originally posted by madwoman madwoman wrote:



I'm convinced that there are so many "reality" shows because Hollyweird hasn't had many original concepts in years. One network comes up with a concept ("hey, dwarfs!") and suddenly ALL the networks copy it.

Dwarfs
Pawn shops
Storage lockers
Hoarding
Vocal competition

And on, and on....

Anything about Alaska is hot right now. And digging for gold.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote i8acannibal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2015 at 11:31pm
Way, way, too many Alaska/gold shows on tv now.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 2015 at 7:12am

"Smile".

Series premier tonight.  

Two people with gnarly teeth go to a dentist for dental implants and then their teeth aren't gnarly anymore.

Seriously.  They made this into a TV show.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Papa Lazarou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 2015 at 7:50am
^So basically, 30 minutes of disgusting teeth and the one sound no one in the universe would ever willingly subject themselves to?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 2015 at 1:37pm

^  No.  60 minutes!  LOL

They didn't spend much time on the procedure itself.  Most of the time was spent on these people discussing their feelings of low self-esteem due to their nasty-looking teeth.  One teenage girl was missing teeth because they never even grew---not even baby teeth.  A middle-aged guy had gotten hit by a flying baseball bat as a teenager.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tiz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 2015 at 11:16pm
^^ Dead A whole hour of people wishing one day they can eat something other than apple sauce.
These people don't have that problem. My 600 Pound Life, going on 3 seasons(why?)now.
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