Greetings, fellow divas....Laurie's shout out to AMERICAN IDOL has got me to thinking- you can't swing a dead cat in TV land without hitting another "reality" TV show. Wasn't this movement supposed to have died about 5 years ago? Do we REALLY need to see REAL WORLD 27: Witchita Falls...or SKATING WITH CONVICTS or whoever the hell they;'re skating with now?
I''ll cop to getting sucked into a few of these (the new SUPER GROUP on VH1 has the metal God in me all aflutter...and it's actually kinda fun) but here's the question:
What's YOUR opinion of , so called REALITY TV? Love it? Hate it? Ever had a close up experience with it? (I auditioned locally for SURVIVOR last year...and think this one was supposed to take place on the Moon, or something- thankfully, I wasn't chosen) Do you have a particular reality show that tickles your fancy? Do you think it's destroying the TV landscape?
Lemmee know!
btw- 85 points for the reference (as -HINT- that's how high my cable goes)
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41 comments:
57 channels and nuthin on.....
I hate it.
I am not a fan of any of the shows. I think Amazing Race would be fun to be on; Survivor brings out the worst in people; Idol is too much fluff with not enough substance, plus it's just way too cheesy; the rest of the bunch are not even worth mentioning.
On a sidenote, here's a clip from a contest I participated in last night in Cincy:
http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch_clips.php?clip=Josh_Branham_20060524
No pressure to watch it, in fact I hate advertising myself like an attention whore, but it's part of the business I guess.
JB
Hate reality shows - except for Dancing With the Stars, which I loved. Never have gotten into the American Idol thing or the Survivor thing.
I'm more a drama show kind of person: CSI, Without a Trace, and (ah, my favorite) LOST.
My life is way too much reality for me. I don't need to worry about anybody elses.
Well, for us who actually write drama for a living, I can tell you the reality binge of the last several years has not been a boon to the Writers Guild.
And the simple fact is reality TV is not reality. The minute you stick a camera in front of someone, it's stops becoming real...they all start "performing".
But then I can't stand to watch drama shows on TV much anymore either...Way too many commercials.
My TV pretty much stays tuned to TCM or DVDs. Tonight I watched a lovely DVD of a British televised production of GB Shaw's ARMS & THE MAN starring Helena Bonham Carter; followed by another Shaw, MAN OF DESTINY with Simon Callow.
Reality shows are all about the worst in people. And, we're getting as bad as Japan with regard to our enjoyment of others' suffering as entertainment.
"Faces of Death" was reality TV, folks. Way ahead of its time.
I admit I have watch a copule of shows.
The best was the Joe Schmo Show. Only one "real" guy, everyone else was an actor.
I REALLY like Project Runway. The only reality show I have seen all of.
True the vast majority of these things are crap, but we are talking about television. If they can sell ads for "Moping toilet stalls with the stars." By god you'll see it.
Wheat and caff baby!
-Russsll
I thought Project Runway was good. Although I only saw about 4 or 5 episodes of the first season. THAT ONE WOMAN WAS A TOTAL BITCH!! You know, that one? Who was a bitch? Yeah, she was a total bitch, man.
Remember when Bravo had that show Boy meets Boy a few years ago during it's "gay reniassance" period? A gay man has to choose between 20 odd other guys after a week or so of doing things with them, going out on dates, etc. The catch was that not all of the men were gay, so we got to see a show about finding romance and getting to use our gaydar at the same time. If one of the straight guys was chosen, he got some cash and prizes while the gay man had his heart broken and his faith in man, the Bravo network, and his sexuality shaken up a bit. In the end he did choose a boy from the right team and they went to Australia or some shit like that. But ultimately, they weren't made for each other. I tell you it was reality TV genious-osity!!
Those PBS shows Colonial House and The Manor (I think it was called) were interesting. And not as shallow. Probably because they didn't use plastic people from the MTV generation.
I wouldn't lose any sleep if reality shows were banned.
Adam points out another casualty of reality shows. I remember when Bravo used to be about Arts programming. I taped a slew of wonderful plays off the channel in its heyday...often some that had previously only been televised on British TV...I missed many more because I thought they'd come around again...most notably, The Age of Kings, a BBC production of the entire War of the Roses Cycle by Shakespeare with young, up and coming actors in it like Judi Dench and Sean Connery playing Hotspur.
I do wanna second the Joe Schmoe show Russell mentioned. It turned the genre on its ear. He was a genuinely nice guy and the curtain got pulled back on the whole operation. That show should have put a stake in the heart of all other reality shows. But, no... they still soldier on with TP on their shoes.
Possibly to the hoops. Not sure if we are going out of town tonight or not. I'll holler...
...and , uh Rick? Didn't I hear of you and Olivia watching a COPS marathon a few weeks ago? Wouldn't that classify as Reality TV? Hmmmmm?
YES! I remember. Joe Schmoe was actually really good. That poor guy was such a good sport.
That might be the most interesting defense of that show ever!
I personally hate the "caught on tape" crap (REAL STORIES OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL, THE WORLDS MOST AMAZING ACCIDENTS, etc...) HATE that shit...it's the TV equivilent of all the rubber -necking "Hey lets slow down so we can SEE the wreck" assholes out there littering the highways of America.Tuttle's FACES OF DEATH equation is right on the money! I find it grotesque...the other stuff, vile as it is, is still less harmful to society, imo...
I admit to being mildly interested in the REAL WORLD when it first came out, but after that first season, it becasme apparent that the producers were picking participants based on
"incompatability" in the house. (i.s. Puck and Pedro) and that all the contestants at some point just became wanna be actors desperate to launch a career (see Jacinda Barrett for proof)...I say Frak em all- I'm watching Galactica! It's actually more real to me than so called "reality"...
...but all that said, how can I NOT watch a show with Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, and Sebastian Bach all thrown into a house for twelve days to come up with the ultimate Rock song? Dude I'M THERE!!!!
I hate to admit that I love "Biggest Loser," but as a former chubbette, I do. Except for the title, which is kind of misleading in its negative slant, the show at least gives its participants a generally positive experience, if not a life-changing one. I find it kind of inspiring, actually.
Also really like "Project Runway," because something interesting is produced by every participant every week, and you do sort of get a peek at those peoples' creative processes. The whole show is pretty fascinating for the costume designer in me.
Please let me know if there's to be a karaoke outing! I'd love to see a repeat of X and Joy busting up the joint!
Springsteen!? Of course! Now I get it!
Okay...since I inspired this post...I must comment.
I am fascinated with the human psyche and the actress/voyeur in me is always jazzed at watching people when the cameras or eyes are on them. It can be a trippy psychological study in the long run.
That being said..Idol interests me for several reasons...if u watch from start to finish and squirm your way throught the cheesy bits, it becomes a STAR IS BORN in a very loud and brassy American way. AND it is interesting to watch these folks "change.." plus there is some talent in there.
I used to watch Cops in the old days and loved the "people -watching" there. Rednecks under pressure? Drunks trying to act sober? Men in dresses trying to be nonchalant after a prostitution sting? It was all there and I watched it like a train wreck and with a morbid fascination.
So, do I think things have gotten a bit ridiculous? Yes. Do I need to see "Cooking with the Stars" or ANY of the dating/marriage shows or the next thing the networks are trying to make a buck off of? No.
But do I have my few select guilty pleasures..sure.
I want to be on the Amazing Race. Why? It looks fun. And I will keep studying people live first, but I get to see some damn funny shit on the rest of it.
Josh!!!!!!!
Excellent work my friend! I enjoyed very much..my dog started to whimper because I was laughing so much, she thought something was wrong with me. But good for you! I miss you..you look great!
L
Thanks for watching, Laurie, I am ecstatic that you liked it.
The Chef at Buddy's was talking to me about the LSF last week and started talking about this girl that used to come to Buddy's every now and then. He said she was a beautiful actress, classic beauty, but she lives in Florida now...do you know who he was talking about ;)
JB
X - thought you might enjoy this. I sucked. I only got 35.5 but I know you and Mike will do better....
http://www.yetanotherdot.com/asp/80s.html
THanks, ERin...
btw- I scored a 96.5!
Hey Erin, cool test -- jogged loose the rust in a few places. I'm not surprised you scored so high, X. But I scored a respectable 92! I'll have to get my man to try it.
I got an 89. And the majority of those songs stunk.
Agreed, AL
I am rather shocked...I scored 107.
Useless odd memory finally good for something!
One of them gave me ten points and I was surprised...but it was my first kareoke song.
Yes...many bad songs....why do I remember the words?
X, if you'll pardon a bit of a tangent, those of you who like to mix music and politics should check out the latest entry at Nero's Fiddle: http://www.neros-fiddle.blogspot.com/
The National Review recently did a list of what they consider to be great "conservative" rock songs. This Nero guy makes what I think are some very good comments and arguments against their choices.
Damn skippy, Nat. and may I suggest the post as well... that list is a piece of work!
Thanks.
I got a 121, by the way. How sad is that?
I need to take it again when Mike isn't talking to me and distracting me. :)
I can't BELIEVE I missed the Sunday Bloody Sunday lyric. I need to take on a morning where my infant son hasn't kept me awake by kicking me in the ribs all night!
Reading the lyric is completely different from hearing it. Some of them took me forever, and the ones I left blank were ones I should have known. And I would have if I heard the music. I guess this means I'm an auditory......guy. You know what I mean.
Me too, Adam. Totally. That's why I only scored 40 even the second time I took it! Suck.
A 137 baby. I am surprised.
Curses! Foiled again!
I don't get it..how high do these scores go? I thought I got almost all of em right? it's GRADE INFLATION, dammit!
In the interest of science, I went back and put in all the correct answers *and* found the max bonus for the age question (which you get if you say you born after Monica-gate). The highest score possible is...
223.5
Without the age bonus, it's 173.
I must protest the scoring on #2. The line is clearly "Whoa, hush, voices carry," not "Hush, hush, voices carry."
That is all.
Several of his answers are wrong, sometimes just due to spellings. For example- My reply:
"26. Make you wonder how the other half dies."
He scored that as incorrect and corrected my entry to...
"Makes you wonder how the other half die.. from Devil Inside? INXS?"
Bullshit! Points were very skewed (10 points for knowing Hotel California?) Typos could kill you ("whoa, we're helfway there" lost me a point or so), so you were toast on this one, huh X?
All in all, it was fun. I know a bunch of us take our pop culture and music references very seriously. Once upon a time, a few friends of mine and I played a game that I just loved. Someone had a dictionary and picked a word (kinda at random). There were two teams. Each team could confer amongst themselves and come up with a song that included that word. You had to SING the piece of the song with the chosen word in it. You went back and forth between teams until one team was left holding the bag when the timer ran out (did I mention the egg timer?). The opposing team got a point. God, that was a fun evening.
And were all those songs from the 80's? I coulda sworn I saw a few late 70's early 90's tunes in there.
Oh, you picky sons of bitches. Just enjoy the link I sent and shut up. :) Geeks.
I am coming to LEXvegas again 1st 2weeks of July. This is early warning....I would love to see as many of yous guys as possible.
Yes!!!
Yes!!!
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