tenblade2001

We have been flooded with reality TV shows and I must say that 99% of them are really stupid. What is even more alarming is the plethora of the shows in which the contestants undergo plastic surgery i.e. the swan, extreme make over, etc. They do nothing but promote the "easy way out" mentality..... yes, liposuction is hell of a lot easier than 6month of dieting and hard core exercise. Not to mention the shallowness of it all; "I just don't feel pretty and so my life is a failure".. BOO HOO. There was a guy that wanted to go out with a female co-worker (I guess he didn't get the memo on sexual harassment) but he was frumpy and fat. Instead of (1) realizing he's a good person and saying "her" loss (2) diet and exercise, he goes on the make-over show, gets all sorts of implants (cheeks, chin, etc) and lipo and for what.... she still didn't go out with him. Here's the kicker; in about 10yrs or less, he will need revisions of those implants...how's he going to pay for it? Second, when people get older and their face thins out, those implants are going to be REALLY visible.... guess he didn't get the memo on that either.
Better yet are the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows; talk about fantasy land. People wonder why the cute little couples don't stay together.... um, maybe a little thing called reality sets in. They're no longer given all these wonderful, all expense paid dates and now, they have to REALLY see what the other person is made of. I guess they didn't get the memo about real life sucking compared to TV fantasy land.
In short, I can't stand these shows that do nothing more whisk folks away into some fantasy land. They give people false expectations and worse, reinforce shallow values i.e. style over substance.

Now, with that said, there are some good ones. The Extreme Make Over Home Edition...where they help people redo their house to better fit their needs or give them things that would make their life easier, but they could never afford i.e. they put an elevator in a house where the child was a paraplegic. Better yet, on PBS there is a show called the New Immigrants. It follows several families while they try to make a new home in the US. Wouldn't it be nice to see more reality shows with substance? What about a show called "Second Chance" where they take a homeless person, clean them up and chronicle them trying to get a job and get their life in order...plenty of real life drama there.
Just my 2 cents.... thanks for listening to the rant.

OhioRacer

Boy, I couldn't have said that better. I am proud to announce that I have not seen 1 minute of one single reality show. What a pathetic waste of resources. What scares me the most?...there are millions of people who watch this garbage and LIKE it.

ralper

I don't watch a lot of TV. I don't seem to have the patience or time for it. I haven't seen any of the reality shows but from what I've heard they are not worth watching.

What I find really striking is that everyone claims to avoid these shows yet they seem to do very well in the ratings. Who is watching?

OhioRacer

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ralper
What I find really striking is that everyone claims to avoid these shows yet they seem to do very well in the ratings.

Smokee

The answer to your title is: NO

tenblade2001

Well, like I mentioned... The New Immigrants on PBS is very interesting. But there are no fatties that get lipo and then marry prince charming. Its just watching these families struggle to make it in the US, both financially and culturaly.

anarky

I came to believe that the end of western civilization was near when I first saw American Gladiators.

Most reality shows, even the PBS variety, don't really portray any "real" situations. The fact that producers, camerapersons and crew are present change the reality (quantum physics). I got sucked into the "Joe Millionaire" drivel and wound up disgusted with myself. After that debacle I swore off any reality TV except for Celebrity Boxing.
Except I want to see the boxing with battle axes. The world could use fewer celebrities.

Smokee

My parents have one of them there new fangled round anteni on their roof. Last time I was home I was flipping through the 1500 channels and ran across this cool little show. Cliffy from Cheers, in a motorhome visiting American factories.


Made in America

Muz

We're in about the 4th season of this crud...

http://bigbrother.ten.com.au/

We've also had...

Survivor (Aus version)
Survivor (US version)
Boot Camp
American Idol
Australian Idol
Pop Stars
The Batchelor
My Fat Obnoxious Fiancee (or whatever)
...and a host of others.

And coming up soon INXS decide to make a reality show out of hunting for a new lead singer.

tenblade2001

Oh for the love of Pete! You can't be serious.... I hope the ghost of Michael Hutchins comes back and kicks their ass!