What do you like better ~ 'reality' TV or 'actors' TV?
 

Are you sick of all the reality TV shows out there yet, or are you lovin every minute of it? Or do you tend to prefer TV shows that are done the ol’ fashioned way ~ with pre-written stories, actors, directors, reoccurring characters, etc? On the subject of 'actors' TV mimicking 'reality' TV, has anyone seen the ads for "I Want to Marry Ryan Banks” or "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton"? They're basically the same story! Seems like the influence of reality TV and Britney's blunder marriage.*TV weddings are big lately too... **Luke and Laura, Chandler and Monica, Trista and Ryan, etc...

I prefer documentaries - failing that, hbo. I have 2 dvd's worth of Family Guy coming tomorrow from netflix.... the baby cracks me up.

I don't care for reality tv. With scripts and actors, the producer and director can complete an entire composition exactly the way they want to. And their goal is to make it (the show or movie) enjoyable - we are the customer.

With reality tv, its little more than vicarious crap that they hope we get hooked on. They try to control the way people behave by creating certain situations but, to me, it falls so flat its just absurd. I guess the dead giveaway about reality tv is that the more reprehensible the people act the better they do on the show. Its the conniving folks that come out on top as evidenced by the first Survivor. After the way that show ended, I was done with reality tv.

My wife likes the bachelor/ette shows but I think they are hopelessly boring. I do watch fear factor from time to time but that's more of a contest than a reality show so I'm not sure it that counts.

Truthfully I don't care much for either. A typical sitcom is an adventure in cretinism.

That being said, I dislike reality TV even more. At first I really enjoyed it... I was caught up in the first season of Survivor like anyone else. But the problem is that now reality TV isn't even real anymore. For the competition style shows everyone knows the "strategies" for the proper way to talk and act, which completely wipes out any realism in their attitude. And the networks have figured out that people prefer to watch models, and wanna-be-actors fill up the casting calls so they can use the show for a career boost. AND THEN they script or edit everything to present some form of "engineered reality"...

pfft. You can keep it. I'll stick to NFL football and Fox News.

I'm not into reality TV. But I'm making an exception for "The Apprentice".

Where else do you get to see 15 assholes publicly fired?

When was it?

The first "reality" TV I can think of was MTV's "The Real World," which I recoiled from like a vampire from garlic. Rarely has a television program's name so contradicted its contents.

What's most wrong with TV is that money controls it too directly. Producers and directors aren't out there trying to make good shows, they're out trying to make money. That isn't inherently a bad thing, but it does make them extraordinarily cautious when coming up with new ideas. It takes all the life out of the creative process when you're funding is literally breathing down your neck for every decision you make.
Every once in a while they'll take a risk on the networks, but usually that risk gets cancelled (Family Guy, Firefly, almost the Simpsons back in the day). That's why the best shows end up on cable now a days, because the shows creators have some latitude with the way they spend money. Therefore they are able to try new and different (or, at a minimum, well done) shows.

And reality television is the bastard child of 'Days of Our Lives' and Bob Barker (I think we all knew the old man surrounded by hot women had to doing something with all that sexual tension)

I can't stand reality TV, I'm getting more and more into the Discovery, History & Learning channels. That said I simply will not miss any episode of Survivor.

Other top shows are MXC (most extreme elimination challenge...if you ever come across this do yourself a favor & check it out), Mythbusters, That 70's Show, NASCAR & Packer football.

All of the above on one channel & I'd never leave the house.

We don't get porno channels ;-(

re: MXC (aka hijack!)
 

Most Extreme Elimination Challenge is actually a Japenese game show called Takeshi's Castle that has been dubbed with completly new lines by SpikeTV.
If you can get ahold of the original Takeshi's Castle, watch that, as it is far, far, far stranger than anything seen in the West since that freakish lump on Hulk Hogan's breast in Wrestlemania two years ago.
</hijack>

I prefer writers TV, where the primary attribute is the good writing. Preferrably with one high-profile writer controlling the direction, but that isn't necessary.

I find that these days, my shows are primarily found on HBO.

Re: re: MXC (aka hijack!)
 

Right you are Ken.

And the REALLY ironic part was I was living in Japan when this was on the air originally, and never saw it.

Those crazy Japanese.

I agree with all y'all.

TV has run into a dead spot in our culture or something. Maybe it's overproduced, overtested, etc. I have a TiVo and full cable and I find that I never want to watch anything except Comedy Central. Nothing is truly compelling.

It's like - nothing is the least bit honest and real. Post Seinfeld, no sitcom can pretend to be about "real life", because Seinfeld did it so well. But all shows depend on some connection to reality in order to be a basis for comedy. So what's left is either grounded in the past (That 70s Show), cartoons, cartoon-LIKE (Malcolm)...

And all drama is anti-climactic to 9/11 real drama.

So then we demand reality shows in order to return to some level of reality... and what happens: they're overcast, overproduced, overtested, overedited, with every outrageous premise getting run up the flagpole, I vomit, the end...

Bleh. I have enough drama in my own life to satisfy right now, and if I want well-done characters I just come here.

I hardly ever even bother watching anything on my Tivo... I stick mostly with DVDs. (Though I have a backlog of those too....) I watched the first bit of The Simple Life and of Battlestar Galactica. Neither was interesting enough to get me to come back for more.

reality tv pretty much sucks. albeit i heard some funny things about the "surreal life" or whatever. i'm into discovery, learning channel, fox news, and as far as "normal programming.....24 on fox ROCKS!

Let's admit it - we like reality tv - or at least we like to hate reality tv - either way - they got ya - cause you're talking about it. hey I may like obscure movies - but I admit that i like some mindless entertainment ever now and then - more "often" than "then". and some of that stuff is funny. So I wish that people would get off their high horses... aren't blogs, and chat rooms and bulletin boards - the ultimate in reality... just not reality tv - i leave my soap box now - knowing me... more like fell off

i don;t think i've ever watched any reality tv......turns me off. maybe i caught a little of the 1st survivor series at work one night, but i was not impressed. i know more about them from listening to Howard Stern on my ride to work. Not appealing. of course, other than football and movies and the occaisional episode of the simpsons, i rarely watch tv....much too busy harrassing you people!

I sorta like the original reality TV - home videos, candid camera, etc. I never tuned in, but I might linger if flipping past. I haven't tuned in to any of the recent "candid camera stretched out for 15 hours" or "what would you do for $1000000 stretched out for 15 hours" shows, though. If I'm gonna watch a whole season, I want a writer.

Most TV is only tolerable while simultaneously reading the Cellar.:)

Oh, and welcome to the Cellar, Mad. Those black&white shoes look real uncomfortable.;)

I like a little of both, in relation to reality tv i find it enjoyable to watch episodes you can just sit and its over in one episode or so.. example:
Wife Swap(Families swap wives for 1 week ) and
7 Years (a person is interviewed at age7, 14, 21, 28 etc.)

I find these type of reality shows interesting, i can learn from them, and enjoy the show in an easy 1/2 hour sitting.

HOWEVER survivor, idol, big brother.. i will not watch. its too fake, its too boring and i hate they way they drag these stupid shows out. they make a 5 episode show into a 40 episode show. too much padding for me.

Normal tv and sitcoms i dont really like, they all just use the same jokes/storylines over and over again. ones i do enjoy however are : Malcom in the middle / Kath and Kim / Neighbours / Sex and the City / Ally McBeal / The Wonder Years.

I hate mindless shows like everybody loves raymond, 3 guys and a girl, most cartoons and sci fi. total insult to my intelligence, and a waste of my time.

Thanks bruce - I always thought those banners from blogger would come in handy eventually... the shoes - stlyle over comfort while you can do it - digressing....

Seems everyone who has written here has seen at least one reality show - more importantly... even when you hate it... you still watch it just a little - so you can remember why you hate it! Admit it... come on....

I watch more TV than I should. I like most of the shows on NBC, and I've been watching a lot of HBO and the Discovery channels since getting digital cable last summer. I've been watching less TV over the last 4 months though, and I'd like to keep going in that direction.

As far as reality shows, "The Apprentice" is interesting, and I watch "The Real World" and "The Osbournes" for their humor. But the only other reality show I've ever enjoyed is "Lost" (6 episodes on NBC just after 9/11). The rest of it is just absolute crap to me.

Shameful confessions
 

I watched and liked Big Brother 1 and 2, but either the hamsters in 3 and 4 were unappealing and shallow, or my personality changed to where I coudn't tolerate that sort of thing any longer.

I watch all of the Osbournes.

Dave Attell's Insomniac is kind of reality-based. As is Crank Yankers.

I watch an enormous amount of cable news, which has about as much connection to reality as the reality TV shows.

If there's one thing Ozzy isn't in touch with, it's reality. ;)

The closest thing to reality TV I'll watch is Viva La Bam, which is staged stunts and ridiculous antics wedged into a reasonably realistic setting (a tranquil Chester County neighborhood).

Those *are* reality TV.

I admit to having watched the first episode of the first Big Brother...just to see what it was like. I hated it, but occasionally watched because my roommates' wife was addicted to the point that she subscribed to the website and spied on them all the time.

I have not watched a reality show since. At all. Unless you include Trading Spaces, While You Were Out and my current favorite TV show, Junkyard Wars. Oh, to be on a JW team...

Anyway, I spend 90% of my TV time on TLC, Discovery and History. If I could get Discovery Wings without also getting digital cable and a box (for more money) I would be happy.

Reality shows take big bites of sh*t sandwiches. IMO

Brian

I have been exposed to the pseudo-reality shows only because of the vile tv viewing taste of my coworkers ...

I have never voluntarily watched any of these programs.

I do not expect to do so in the future.

What little tv I do watch is usually FoxNews, History Channel, Law & Order, and CSI.

I have archive tapes or DVDs of a few other series I enjoyed, including Wiseguy, Stingray, The Prisoner, Oz (season three is being released on 2/24/04), and joy of joys ... I just scored the DVDs for the ORIGINAL Outer Limits series. :yum:

The problem with most reality TV is that it encourages people to exploit their own base nature and lowest qualities for an easy buck. It encourages us, the audience, to support such idiotic behaviour. I like the fact that movies are starting to poke fun at the reality TV concept. This is the movie I was referring to before: http://marryryanbanks.com. Read the plot and then read the plot to "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" (www.winadatewithtadhamilton.com). The plots are almost identical. The first one is about this celebrity who tries to save his career by letting viewers choose which bachelorette, or everyday fan, gets to marry him. The catch is that the celebrity's best friend falls in love with the girl who is supposed to marry the celebrity. (Jason Priestly, Bradley Cooper and Emma Caulfield are the primary characters, so I'm anxious to see who wins the girl.)

As far as I'm concerned, all TV is missable. I only turn on the TV when it is immediately followed by turnnig on the DVD player. Of course my wife loves TV, so I get some second-hand television from time to time, but luckily she has the same low opinion as I do when it comes to reality TV.

I have never watched any "reality TV" (though I DID design a website for one of the Bachelorettes from Season 2 of the Bachelor, having never watched the show), but I have read a little about them out of morbid curiosity. I am convinced that almost all of them are fully scripted. I just don't think people will do that crap while a camera is pointed at them, transmitting their actions to the world, unless they're following a script. Frankly, if it wasn't scripted, I don't think things would be interesting enough to make a TV show out of.

One exampe is the shudder-inspiring "reality show" called "Temptation Island." Do you really think someone would voluntarily cheat on their significant other on national television? They'd be labelled a whore (or man-whore) for the rest of their days, and never have hope for a meaningful relationship ever again.

Or maybe I'm wrong. It happens frequently.

Maybe you should check out Television Without Pity.

I don't think so, Steve. That just rminds me why I avoided watching in the first place.:)

Reno 911.

One reality show I really hate is Big Brother.....that is the most stupidist thing ever to hit TV and they are running out of idea's


Big Brother 4, what the hell is that?

I love a good sitcom. I was raised on them (and other guilty pleasure shows from the 80s like Dynasty, Dallas, etc.). I loved "Titans" for the brief time that it was on...it was soooo campy, a la the nighttime shows that I just mentioned. I don't give a fuck that to some people it's mindless...hell sometimes I need that. My life is too damned serious as it is, so every once in a while, I could use something that will take my mind off of things.

I'm not the biggest fan of reality TV. Syc and I watched the first season of Fear Factor, but after that, it just became to gross and stupid. But now, The Apprentice and America's Next Top Model are my shows (yes, I DID say the model show...AND?!?). ;)

Re: What do you like better ~ 'reality' TV or 'actors' TV?
 

I hate reality tv. I wish they would make it the way it used to be. And all the shows I watch most are ending like SATC and Friends. YUCK.

Aries872

I don't see much reality in reality TV. Reality TV would be a TV show that follows a person or group of persons around without them knowing it while they go about their normal business. The closest example I know was a movie Called "The Truman Show"

I've never been much of a fun of "reality" TV shows. My theory is that just by having a process of selection alone negates the idea of "reality."

When The Real World and Road Trip were auditioning in Atlanta a few years ago, a bunch of us went there to check it out. In the car, however, I realized that MTV would never select me or most of my friends. We just don't fit the character of those shows - I feel like they tend to pick morons or emotionally over-dramatic people because that makes for the most interesting program. I'm mentally stable, ambitious, intelligent - and I, like most of my friends, have an answer for a good proportion of the problems I encounter in my life. Watching one episode of Road Rules (don't know what I was thinking), I could have single-handedly completed their entire challenge by myself and in less time than the six of seven of them did. But what aired over 60 minutes was much more dramatic and interesting than my life would ever be, even with shock-appeal editing.

So in that light, the competition shows like the Apprentice and Survivor I think are fairly unnatural. I had faith in Average Joe, but was completely let down by Melana's choice in the end. And some of those average joes were far from average anyway.

I do think American Idol is a pretty good show though, which is why it's been on for so long.

Pais and Nikki Hiltons farmyard reality show hit our screens in Australia last night, how sad are these girls!?!?

They are making fun of them selves by using the most embarrasing form of media possible.

They give a once upstanding chain of hotels a very bad name. :rolleyes:

Everything in Moderation
 

Some of the responses here remind me of people who say, "Oh yea, my daughter is a vegetarian, but she eats chicken." A few peeps here say, "I HATE REALITY TV. but I love the apprentice, or big brother." Well, duh. Guess you don't hate reality tv then.
AND THAT'S OK. I'm just keeping ya all on yer toes.

I used to work reality TV. I am not going to tell you anything you can't find out by watching the closing credits yourselves. Nobody is making any bones about the fact that there are Directors, Story Editors and Story Supervisors, and you'll see who they are in the opening and closing credits.

Well what do you think that means? Most of what you see and hear on reality shows are events that are manufactured in Post Production. The shows you're watching consist of scenes that are pasted together with clips and voice overs culled from HOURS of footage over a 6 week shooting schedule. Very little of what actually happens happened in real time, and if you're really savvy, you can see this yourself on any reality show.

The actors (notice I say actors) are often asked to do re-takes of practically everything. They are spoon fed dialogue by directors, often results in flat, bogus and contrived scenes, but the average TV viewer isn't observant enough to notice. Indeed, reality tv fools 95% of the public.

With digital editing, skintones and physical imperfections are tweeked and manipulated just like all TV shows--you're no longer watching real people--like anything in print and/or visual media, they've been digitally enhanced. Some would argue that the end result of this is nothing HUMAN whatsoever. There are websites that will help you get onto a reality show if you send them pictures and your resume. What does that tell you?

The one interesting thing I notice is how BRILLIANT it is when real, scripted shows ripoff all of this reality shit.

Reno 9-1-1 and Arrested Development are 2 of the shrewdest shows i've seen in awhile. They are completely scripted, but they're shot and edited to mimic a reality tv show. I highly recommend tuning into both of these shows, and change the channel on Survivor, American Idol or Bachelor. They are not REAL at all.