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