Reality Television is it rubbish ?

DeletedUser16008

Reality television has become very popular over the past decade. Shows such as Survivor, Big Brother and The Apprentice get big audiences and make a lot of money for broadcasters. But reality TV is also often a hot topic, with some people believing it is worthless and bad for our society. There have been calls to cut the number of hours given over to reality programmes, or even to ban them completely. Others argue that people should be allowed to watch what they like, and that reality programmes make good TV. Reality television is quite hard to define. At its most basic it means programmes that show things really taking place, rather than drama or comedy that follows a script. Typically reality TV involves a group of people who are not trained actors being filmed in unusual situations over a period of time.

Sport and news programmes are not considered reality TV. Documentaries that explore aspects of society are a grey area, with some closer to news reporting and others blurring into reality TV because they set up situations which did not already exist. Recently celebrity versions of reality shows have made definition even harder, because they show the private lives of professional singers, actors, sportspeople, etc as they cope with new situations.

Reality shows are driving out other sorts of programmes, so that often there is nothing else to watch. Reality TV is cheap and series can go on for months on end, providing hundreds of hours of viewing to fill schedules. TV bosses like this and are cutting back on comedy, music, drama and current affairs in favour of wall to wall reality rubbish. This is even worse when reality shows crowd the schedules of public service broadcasters. Stations such as the BBC in the UK, France Télévisions, or Rai in Italy have a duty to inform and educate the public. They should be made to meet that responsibility – as Rai has by saying it won’t have any more reality shows.

I dumped my TV about 6 years ago now, couldn't be happier and find much more time to do stuff and watch far more programmes of substance than previously. My daughter as a result dosn't have a love for mindless crap and the only problem she seems to have is relating to her friends mindless reality show gossip, no bad thing.

Get rid of the thing or at least consider what a waste of time most of it is, or as another poster recently termed something garbage in, garbage out.
 

DeletedUser

I've never been a fan and don't watch them much. I got into Survivor for one season, but it's really the same thing over and over again. It could actually have a good message about survival and cooperation, but mostly it's about making alliances and stabbing your allies in the back, which is pretty much the case for all Survivor-type reality shows.
 

DeletedUser

You mean you dumped your TV cable? :D
Yeah I am with you. Some of them could be enjoyable if there wasn't for all the fake crap drama and exaggerations. The problem (in my book) is that they are not 100% real. I really think there is at least 1 show for any type of audience. The issue is that they try to stretch it so they reach a higher audience than just the ones interested in the specific subject. I would really enjoy watching some of them if they would just cut out the drama and the faking and the exaggerations...
 

DeletedUser16008

You mean you dumped your TV cable? :D
Yeah I am with you. Some of them could be enjoyable if there wasn't for all the fake crap drama and exaggerations. The problem (in my book) is that they are not 100% real. I really think there is at least 1 show for any type of audience. The issue is that they try to stretch it so they reach a higher audience than just the ones interested in the specific subject. I would really enjoy watching some of them if they would just cut out the drama and the faking and the exaggerations...


Nope I really do mean I dumped my TV and took down the Ariel I don't own a TV in the house or have a TV card in the computer. :D

We would call it ham acting, much like children do when asked to do something they don't want to...
 

DeletedUser

It doesn't make any difference to me; I don't have a tv either.
 

DeletedUser20688

I got rid of cable about 2 years ago. All I can contribute here is that many of my students (traditional college age) seem to exist in a constant state of "reality TV". Like Duduie mentioned the drama llama abounds with that age group. I think TV has always had that effect on young people. I used to imagine I was Jason from G-Force (circa 1980) fighting bad guys but replace that fairly reasonable and abstract fantasy with being Paul "DJ Pauly D" DelVecchio or Snooki...well yeah that's pretty screwed up.
 
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DeletedUser

People are bored with their lives and seek things like reality TV, video games, facebook, etc as a fix.
 

DeletedUser

I'm bored with your life, but you don't see me tuning in to your webcam. ;)
 

DeletedUser

There are a few reality shows that are educational like Duel survival, but the majority are just pointless drama.
 

DeletedUser28032

REALLY? You are going to put TV drivel on the same grounds as the bible

I must have missed the bible part because that quotes from Shakespeare
 

DeletedUser16008

Actually his quote was from me from another thread. He is just trying to discredit me because he is threatened by my intellect;)

Now thats some TW Reality show right there.

Does anyone here actually want to admit being a TV reality show addict ?
 

DeletedUser

Does anyone here actually want to admit being a TV reality show addict ?
Oh go on, I'll take your trolled bait.
I wouldn't consider myself an addict, but I do enjoy shows like "The Apprentice" & the very early "Big Brother". I find it fascinating to watch how ordinary-ish people react in real-life (tho' admittedly staged) situations. I think it's possible to learn from their mistakes and skills. There's a kind of rough morality to them too - the schemers nearly always get found out and shamed and the decent ones end up with the prize.
As a format it realies on people 'being themselves'. The more knowing the participants become in terms of playing to the camera, role-playing in staged situations, how the public will perceive them, what financial opportunites await as a spin-off, how people fared in past series etc. etc. the more detached from reality and like a bad drama the programmes become.
After a series or two, "Beauty and the Geek", "Playing it Straight" etc. become samey and formulaic, and the production team have to keep intervening with ever-new twists and manipulations. But, yeah, they're fun when they're fresh for me.
 

DeletedUser16008

I get what your saying and its like anything they see a buck and they go mental on it. Ya I saw the first big brother and it was novel, until they started showing it 24/7 even to the point of you could watch them sleeping ??? bizarre.

I do remember candid camera being extremely funny which is a form of reality TV i guess as its all done on the public.

All in moderation guess im saying which went out the window years ago dunno what % it is now
 

DeletedUser28032

Well i never watched Big Brother but the thing that got me was that by the end of its run it had turned from a group of "Normal" people in a house to purposefully throwing polar opposites together in order to cause a fight such as a homophobic white supremacist and a flaboyantly gay black man.
 

DeletedUser

....who end up getting on quite well, because they both hate the chavvy princess.
 
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