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Post by Galactus on Jan 19, 2006 20:59:10 GMT -5
I despise reality shows. I hate every single one of them. I just don't give a shit who lose more weight or shimmy up a palm tree while being pelted with alligator eggs for some extra fish for your team. I honestly never thought TV could sink any lower then day time talk shows. Prime time reality shows proved me wrong.
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Post by chrisfan on Jan 20, 2006 9:10:05 GMT -5
There are certainly some crappy-ass reality shows on TV, and I'd never argue that there are not. Personally, I think that American Idol hit an all new low on Wednesday when they devoted so much time to mocking an obviously gender-confused 16 year old. But I don't think it's fair to write off ALL reality TV as sinking low. IMO, Amazing Race is a pretty damn high quality show. With just a couple of exceptions which caught the producers by great surprise, they've never resorted to the mocking people in order to get ratings. I think that's why many people who don't care for reality TV are hooked on it ... and why many reality addicts don't care for it.
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Post by Kensterberg on Jan 20, 2006 9:14:24 GMT -5
Hey Chrisfan, have you ever watched Project Runway on Bravo? I got sucked into that a few weeks back, and it's incredibly compelling. I know just enough about fashion to understand that aspect of the show, and the personalities on here are just fascinating. Deserves all the good things I've heard about it. Check it out if you get a chance, I think you'd definitely find it interesting.
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Post by Galactus on Jan 20, 2006 9:27:35 GMT -5
I've never seen the Amazing Race....but i think you could almost consider it a game show, couldn't it. People are actually doing things that don't actually benefit from being a shallow greedy moron. They try to pass alot of the reality shows off as game shows, so sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. I wouldn't really consider AI a reality show either, maybe this year though, I've read they want to show more about how the contestants "really" interact instead of pretending to like each other like in previous years. I aslo don't mind the home building shows.
Actually I lied, I do like a reality show. I like Miami Ink. Tattoos and why people get them...I dunno I find that interesting.
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Post by Paul on Jan 20, 2006 10:23:55 GMT -5
I despise reality shows. I hate every single one of them. I just don't give a shit who lose more weight or shimmy up a palm tree while being pelted with alligator eggs for some extra fish for your team. I honestly never thought TV could sink any lower then day time talk shows. Prime time reality shows proved me wrong. I think "reality" is just as bad as most network sitcoms....In some ways I'd rather watch something like the Apprentice than some lame formulated sit-com. I'm not a huge fan of reality TV, and most of it is just plain awful, but in some cases it's OK. The first few episodes of American Idol are pretty good, to me...Once the contestants get to Hollywood I could care less what happens, but the audition phase is quite entertaining. It amazes how low people will go just to get on TV.... |
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Post by chrisfan on Jan 20, 2006 10:34:50 GMT -5
Ken, I have also gotten hooked on Project Runway this year! Last year, I got hooked on the final two episodes, but missed most of that season. This year, I thought I'd try it out, and it's suddenly become a must watch show for me. I'm kind of like you - I can look at the designs and say "I like that" or "I don't like that" without a lot of technical critique. But the personalities (especially the joy that comes from HATING Santino) makes for some great TV. Have you ever gone on Bravo's site for that show? If not, each week, they have viewers rate each design and you can see the poll results of each one. It cracks me up how often the winner of the competition is very low rated, and some of the designs slammed by the judges get top ratings. Just goes to show you how there's the high-fahsion thought on fashion and it rarely matches up with your average joe's thought on fashoin.
Mantis, I think that reality as a genre has to be broken down into several different areas. You've got candid reality and you've got competition reality, and then you have a hybrid of the two. Candid reality puts people in a situation and monitors how they react to it (Real World, Airline, Newlyweds, etc). Competion reality has people competing for a specific prize (American Idol, Fear Factor, etc). The hybrids bring people in for a competiton, but a good part of the show's content also portrays how the people interact with each other (Survivor, Project Runway).
Now if you go by the technical definition of a game show, then none of these shows are technically game shows. To technically qualify as a game show, the audience has to be able to play along. You can watch Wheel of Fortune and try to guess the puzzle as the contestants are. You can watch Price is Right and try to guess the prices as the contestants are. Newlywed Game and Let's Make a Deal are technically not game shows.
So by that definiton, no Amazing Race is not a game show because you can't play along. And it's quality comes from the fact that it's designed for the reward to be more than the money prize at the end. Phil Keogan, (sp) the host has this entire philosophy about pushing your boundaries that the show is based around. He's done other shows and written a book about the same philosophy. I met him one time and I can tell you from talking to him that he's FAR more concerned with the experiences that contestants have and discovering they can do more than they thought they could than he is the cash prize. That is exactly why I think the quality of that show is so strong. You see a housewife whose only adventure each week is to go bowling struggling to scale a rock wall after standing at the bottom saying "I can't do that, I'm afraid of heights" and succeed, and it's much more fun to watch then a bunch of idiots eating roaches in order to get a few thousand dollars.
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Post by luke on Jan 20, 2006 10:56:58 GMT -5
Some great thoughts on the differences between game shows and reality TV, Chrisfan, but I can't say I entirely buy the whole "the audience must be involved" bit.
Fear Factor is 100% game show. Just made for the kids who grew up on Double Dare and Wild and Crazy Kids. Both of which were game shows that often fell outside the realm of "audience participation."
I think a bigger difference between "reality" and "game show" is the importance of the characters versus the importance of the game. The Newlywed Game, Fear Factor, and that show where they used to run around with grocery baskets are all game shows because they are a competition and we only see the characters for a single episode. The focus isn't on the interaction of the contestants (although that's a plus) so much as it is the game that's going on.
Whereas with Survivor or Idol, you have a competition, but you are more focussed on the people and character development, not the game.
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Post by tuneschick on Jan 20, 2006 11:28:31 GMT -5
Whereas with Survivor or Idol, you have a competition, but you are more focussed on the people and character development, not the game. Interesting thoughts, all. But luke, I don't know that Idol is a great example in that last sentence. I mean yeah, you see the same people every week (once they get to the actual competition part, not just the initial auditions). But there's no character development to speak of, besides learning that Johnny is from Indiana and was born with 12 fingers or whatever. There's no real interaction besides them hugging onstage, is there? You're really just watching to see who sings well and who sucks. ... which is a lot different than that Rock Star show they did (which I admit I watched every week) - because the competition was there, but they focused a lot on the competitors relationships within the house they shared. I don't know, it's a tricky differentiation. |
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Post by luke on Jan 20, 2006 11:38:39 GMT -5
Agreed, tunes, but with Idol, you still have the focus on the competitor. They make their rounds in the tabloids, their sex scandals are revealed, they're on talk shows all the time. The prize is a big deal, but I think it falls more toward reality than game show because there's more focus on "how will she react to Simon's harsh words" than the actual singing itself. It's certainly a "competitive reality show", but not a pure game show like Fear Factor.
It's a fuzzy line though, no doubt.
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Post by chrisfan on Jan 20, 2006 11:40:20 GMT -5
Luke, the differentiation between game show and reality show that I was working from is the distinctin used for consideration of things like Emmys. If Fear Factor were ever up for an Emmy, it woudl be for reality show, not game show.
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Post by luke on Jan 20, 2006 11:44:16 GMT -5
The Emmy's, then, are completely wrong and confused in their voting. There's nothing "reality show" about Newlyweds or Fear Factor.
On a side note, while there's only so much Fear Factor I can stand, Joe Rogan is so awesome on that show. I love the way he actively looks down on the contestants like they're complete scumbags. He parodied the show when he was hosting The Man Show, and he goes off about how stupid it and the contestants are in his stand-up. I also love how he's so open that the only reason he does it is for the huge paycheck and that he gets a kick out of making people do those things.
Rogan is the real fucking deal, though. He's not the announcer for UFC just because he's a celebrity. He is a shoot fighter who has trained and battled in MMA all over the world. He's a fighter, a comedian, and a damn good television host. A talented man and a true bad ass.
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Post by chrisfan on Jan 20, 2006 11:52:43 GMT -5
The reality aspect comes from the entertainment coming from real people, and not a script written by WGA writers with SAG actors.
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Post by tuneschick on Jan 20, 2006 11:53:22 GMT -5
Agreed, tunes, but with Idol, you still have the focus on the competitor. They make their rounds in the tabloids, their sex scandals are revealed, they're on talk shows all the time. The prize is a big deal, but I think it falls more toward reality than game show because there's more focus on "how will she react to Simon's harsh words" than the actual singing itself. It's certainly a "competitive reality show", but not a pure game show like Fear Factor. It's a fuzzy line though, no doubt. Hmmm - true enough, luke. Didn't think of it that way. And wait a second - when you guys are talking about Newlyweds, are you talking about that Jessica Simpson show? As a game show? I think I misunderstood something here... |
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Post by rockysigman on Jan 20, 2006 11:56:06 GMT -5
The Emmy's, then, are completely wrong and confused in their voting. There's nothing "reality show" about Newlyweds or Fear Factor. On a side note, while there's only so much Fear Factor I can stand, Joe Rogan is so awesome on that show. I love the way he actively looks down on the contestants like they're complete scumbags. He parodied the show when he was hosting The Man Show, and he goes off about how stupid it and the contestants are in his stand-up. I also love how he's so open that the only reason he does it is for the huge paycheck and that he gets a kick out of making people do those things. Rogan is the real fucking deal, though. He's not the announcer for UFC just because he's a celebrity. He is a shoot fighter who has trained and battled in MMA all over the world. He's a fighter, a comedian, and a damn good television host. A talented man and a true bad ass. Jeez, get a room with Joe Rogan already. I've always thought he was kind of a jackass, but I gotta say, that's pretty sweet that he's so open about how stupid the show is, and how stupid the contestants are (although anyone who tried to insist that the contestants weren't complete idiots would obviously be full of it, but I would expect him to just stay quiet on it). Really, there's no reason to go on Fear Factor other than to be a show off/asshole. The money is way less than on other game shows, and those other shows with bigger pay offs all involve things that aren't as gross or stupid or both. It's all just an exhibitionist pagent. |
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Post by chrisfan on Jan 20, 2006 12:00:22 GMT -5
And wait a second - when you guys are talking about Newlyweds, are you talking about that Jessica Simpson show? As a game show? I think I misunderstood something here... No, the Newlywed Game - the one with Bob Eubanks where 4 couples answer questions to predict what the other will say, with one obligatory question about "making whoopie" in each round of questions. THe couple who gets the most right wins a fabulous prize which is typically a room of furniture. |
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