I hate reality tv...

[YellowRubberDuckie]

It's just cheap television and I hate it.
Although I like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces.
Duckie

[Dem Agog]

1. So...

You hate the reality TV that you don't like... :D

Yeah, I'm that way too. I hate reality TV except for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, the Apprentice, TAR, TBL and once upon a time, Survivor. :)

Reality TV is an intriguing genre that I think will one day burn itself out somewhat. It's just so easy for Hollywood to produce! I think that sitcoms are on the downswing right now. Eventually the tide will turn again, but it will take awhile.

We do have some surprisingly quality shows out there that aren't Reality TV these days. Shows like Scrubs, Desperate Housewives and Arrested Development are (IMHO) groundbreaking. Things like CSI and Law & Order, they've practically become brands with nothing but tons of spinoffs. They bore me.

Reality TV when done well can be quite entertaining. Nothing like watching your "fellow man" go down... :evilgrin:

[Longhorn]

2. I hate certain kinds of reality TV shows.

I do like The Apprentice, American Idol, and Queer Eye and will sometimes watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But I never got into Survivor and I have absolutely no interest in all the different dating/marriage shows.

I guess for me, the bottom line is whether the show is exploitive of its participants and whether the competition is something meaningful -- subjectively, of course. ;)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. EM: HE makes me cry.

Ty Pennington is so hot and he really helps to do great things for families that soooo deserve it. The best one I've seen is the one where they redid the home of the family whose father had passed on. They gave the kids a stage and lights in the backyard. I just love seeing children happy after they've been through so much.
Duckie

[dr.strangelove]

3. Good Reality TV ain't easy

The shows you mention, like Extreme Makeover, are costly and time consuming. They will likely continue to some time. I still love survivor and have rekindled my feelings for the Amazing Race.
Both fall in the difficult and costly program list.

[Mojambo]

5. Reality TV

I've done a pretty good job weaning myself off this shit.

I loved the Joe Schmo show (Spike TV) and Mad Mad House on (Sci-Fi) but in both cases these shows mocked reality TV as much as anything.

Right now I'm down to Scare Tactics (Sci-Fi) and the fat people show (NBC I think) because it's just so funny when they torture them with a mountain of cupcakes...

[Biased Liberal Media]

16. I refuse to watch The Biggest Loser

Shame on the producers and more so, shame on the people who signed up for that BS. I'm totally for weight loss, however, it's exploitation IMHO...not to mention, from the stupid things I have seen and heard, it's like the temptations are just another way of cementing the stereotype that all obese/overweight people overeat. What about those with thyroid conditions?? Gland problems?? Insulin resistance?? It just pisses me off...but this is coming from a gal who has had the hardest time losing weight for the past 4 years bc of Insulin Resistance.

[Piperay]

6. I'm hopelessly addicted to it

though I admit some of it I am getting tired of like the Bachelor and American Idol and a couple of others but some I really like such as Amazing Race, Survivor and the Apprentice.

[Qanisqineq]

15. DITTO!

I am also hopelessly addicted to it: Survivor and Amazing Race are my main two addictions. I also like Queer Eye. EM:HE, and the Apprentice. I watch a few others once in a while, too. Now that I think about it, between the reality shows and real shows (cooking, science, etc.) I don't watch much else (Cold Case is all I can think of).

Hello, my name is ... and I am an addict.

[lazarus]

7. reality TV

is just another genre. I have no idea why people get so worked up over it.

Nobody ever gets worked up over sitcoms or cop shows or soap operas. But reality tv gets huge debates.

Yeah, a great deal of it is crap. So are most sitcoms and, basically, most everything on television.

As another poster said, the ones that put effort into it, such as Survivor and Amazing Race, tend to be a lot better. Something like Fear Factor really is very, very cheap to produce, and you can tell.

[RedEarth]

8. yep, I've wondered the same thing...

I think it must be cool be bash reality tv. Why, I don't fully understand, since it is just another genre. I certainty don't feel I'm slighting myself by watching Survivor or Amazing Race instead of the newest sitcom or Desperate Housewives(from what I understand is basically just an evening soap). Nor do I feel that it's a "guilty pleasure" to watch reality tv......I enjoy it.

[Mojambo]

9. I think the reason it catches flak

is because it is such false advertising. Reality TV. These shows don't come within a million miles of reality.

I envision a day, not too far off, where we'll see professional RTV participants.

"And now introducing Frankie... Frankie's resume includes stints on Big Brother 18, Survivor: Brooklyn, and last season's smash hit, Laundry Strike (8 people in a house, the last one to do a wash wins!)"

At least sit-coms, cop shows and soap operas deliver what they bill, even if the quality ranges from awful to exceptional.

Reality TV feels like professional wrestling to me, everyone admits it's fake, but they still get all worked up about it.

[lazarus]

10. ahem

Who admits it's fake?

Is it "reality"? Well, obviously it can't be, because reality doesn't feature film crews or people on islands voting each other off.

Better to call it "unscripted", really. If it was called Unscripted TV, would you be able to accept it better?

And I'd be very, very interested to see some evidence that "everyone admits it's fake". What part of it is fake, exactly? The situations? As I said, nobody claims the situations are real. It's the reactions we look for.

And the fake ones die, fast. I can think of one or two shows that were, in reality, scripted or faked, and they disappeared in a hurry.

[Mojambo]

11. I don't mean fake in the strict sense

It is my contention that when these people agree to do these shows they enter a mindset that is different from their normal mindset. They are performing under very unreal circumstances. Their reactions become (to me, at least) less interesting when you take this into account.

I'd rather go to the zoo and watch the monkeys.

[lazarus]

12. So

you've moved the goalposts.

Of course they have a different mindset.

But very few people can fake a whole new mindset over the course of a month or so. The real you is going to come out.

And I don't care if this is how they'd behave at home. It's how they're behaving now. And if everyone's in the same situation, what does it matter?

I can't think of anything more boring than watching actual "reality" tv.

[Mojambo]

13. They don't feel genuine to me at all.

And I thought that was the main draw for watching.

Look, I'm not here to argue for their abolishment. America quite clearly needs a wide variety of entertainment sources and everyone wants to be famous here so it really is a good fit.

Not for me though.

[lazarus]

14. Nope

The main draw for watching them is something most people don't realise.

The unexpected can happen.

Same reason Seinfeld was the last great sitcom. You never knew what was going to happen. Any standard sitcom these days, I've heard the jokes, seen the situation, and can pretty much write the script.

Same with dramas, cop shows, everything else. There are only so many plot lines, and most of them are simply retread.

But with reality TV, you have no clue what's going to happen. And that sense of newness, that unpredictability, is what draws people, whether they know it or not.