Honk if you're fed up with (UN) reality shows

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Gordon_Sims said:
Count me as one who’s had his fill of reality shows. One of the things that got me to finally quit watching altogether was finding out how scripted/setup both Pawn Stars and Storage Wars are. Pawn Stars uses items on loan from other shops to drum up business for them, .
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I know some E-Bay sellers that have been contacted by Pawn Stars. The show’s producer searches on-line selling sites for odd/unusual items and asks the sellers if they are interested in selling the item on a TV episode. The show doesn’t pay any expenses except if the item is actually purchased by the pawn shop. The trade off is you get to appear on TV! However, even that is not guaranteed, even if they filmed you in an episode. So yeah, it’s only a semi-reality show.
 
The only “real” reality show is Antiques Roadshow.
They’ll come right out and tell you your junk is really genuine junk. 😃
 
meltzerboy said:
The Cleavers would be too sanitized for most of today’s audiences, and was itself not really representative of many families.
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Leave it to Beaver was aimed at children and was never intended for adults. Hugh Beumont, a Presbyterian minister as well as an actor insisted each episode have a moral lesson to it.
 
I will admit to watching American Pickers, but that is only because Mike Wolfe does a good job explaining the ancient items he searches for. Otherwise I have never expected it to be an actual depiction of reality. AP seems to be a “reality show” aimed at people who don’t like “reality shows”.
 
I don’t like any reality shows and thank God I don’t have cable to be subject to even more of them. I only watch dramas, old movies and public broadcasting shows.
 
Son_of_Niall said:
Leave it to Beaver was aimed at children and was never intended for adults. Hugh Beumont, a Presbyterian minister as well as an actor insisted each episode have a moral lesson to it.
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Gee, I sure am embarrassed 😊 I was a huge fan of the show, and it ended the day after my 25th birthday. However I do believe Meltzerboy hit the nail (no pun intended) on the head. The main problem is the audiences not the shows. If people didn’t watch, they wouldn’t air them. Unfortunately the so called adults watch with their kids in the room, engendering a new a new generation, that thinks this is how one is supposed to behave.🤷
 
We don’t have cable but if I was traveling and stuck in a hotel room, I’d watch Say Yes to the Dress and/ What Not to Wear. Only for the clothes, and mainly to critique them. I found the hosts of both shows to be obnoxious and condescending.
 
I never have understood the attraction to them. I am fed up with them usurping educational channels, that much is sure.
 
I admit that I have been watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills lately. (Um, is Giggy the new Benji? :D) However, I do believe there are too many talk shows and “reality” shows (many of the latter soft-scripted) on American television these days. In fact, I personally wish that both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars could get cancelled this year. If the latter show has to stay on the air, why can’t TPTB get someone like John Cena or Triple H to be a contestant?
 
Honk! Honk!

Brain rot!

Cable TV: “We Hold A Vaster Wasteland Than Has Been.”
 
As a fan of musicals and musical theatre, I had such high hopes for Dancing with Stars, American Idol and their ilk. While I am still thrilled by the story of Susan Boyle (and watch her first appearance every now and again to pick myself up), I am so disappointed

I rarely watch them (as in, I think I’ve watched less than a full program of any of them) but…
  1. The so-called “dance” competitions are little more than strip shows. Yes, a dance routine can be sexy but does every female competitor be dressed in little more than a smile? And do all dance routines have to be sexy? What every happened to fun numbers (think, Triplets from the movie The Band Wagon) or romantic numbers (think, Dancing in the Dark (again from The Band Wagon) or Heather on the Hill (Brigadoon)?
  2. The singing competitions are almost always what I call belters or wailers. Can anyone put some real emotion in a song or show a vocal range without screaming their lungs out or inflicting us with extended wailing?
I know, having not really seen many of these programs, I guess I don’t have license to talk, but this is why I don’t watch them.
 
carmelitenovice said:
We don’t have cable but if I was traveling and stuck in a hotel room, I’d watch Say Yes to the Dress and/ What Not to Wear. Only for the clothes, and mainly to critique them. I found the hosts of both shows to be obnoxious and condescending.
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Do you mean the UK or US version of WNTW? I really like Stacy and Clinton (US). Trinny and Susannah (UK) could be much more… blunt.

I still watch Project Runway. Even though it gets worse with each season, I just can’t let it go!
 
Maxirad said:
I admit that I have been watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills lately. (Um, is Giggy the new Benji? :D) However, I do believe there are too many talk shows and “reality” shows (many of the latter soft-scripted) on American television these days. In fact, I personally wish that both American Idol and Dancing with the Stars could get cancelled this year. If the latter show has to stay on the air, why can’t TPTB get someone like John Cena or Triple H to be a contestant?
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Dancing with the stars has to be the dumbest idea for a show Ive ever heard of! LOL Cant believe anyone watches it. Who cares if some washed up celebs from years ago, can dance or not? If you want to watch dancing, Im sure there are probably much better alternatives on some channel.

Seems to me, most of these washed up celebs only get on here to get back in the limelight for a little bit, or to try some kind of comeback…sad.
 
@DeniseNY:

I’ve never seen the UK version, though I recall giving a book from that version to my mother that did have excellent tips. (Not that my mother needed them. I gave it to her because she enjoyed the show. Which I believe was the UK version.)

To each his/her own concerning Stacy and Clinton, I suppose. I remember Clinton wearing some stuff that really made me go :confused: “And this is a fashion expert? Yuck!” I also remember one time he and Stacy, during the trash-the-entire-wardrobe portion (all the “victim’s” clothes are supposedly put on some wardrobe racks and then dumped into the trash while the hosts drop their snarky comments). Anyway, Clinton says, “Hey Stacy! What’s worse than one mock turtle neck? How about two mock turtle necks!” (What, may I ask is wrong with a mock turtle neck?)

Also, something about Stacy just strikes me as particularly condescending. I’m not always crazy about her own clothing choices or the final outfit in the big reveal either.

On a related topic
The has-been celebrity talent show discussion reminded me of one called Skating with the Stars. I’m a figure-skating fan from way back. I only watched a few episodes and I was sooo disappointed when Lloyd Eisler ended up breaking up his marriage (his wife was pregnant to boot) to hook up with whomever his Skating with the Stars. He was an Olympic Pairs Medalist with the most thrilling routines with Isabelle Brasseur.

At least one season of Dancing with the Stars seemingly came out honestly: The season in which Kristi Yamaguchi and her partner won. If she hadn’t, I would have cried “foul”. Before she won an Olympic Gold for women’s figure skating, she was a junior national pairs champion with Rudy Galindo. You don’t get that far without learning something about dancing. (FWIW,I didn’t watch the show but followed the weekly results.)
 
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