Reality Shows are easy winners

[Delta4Embassy]

But if reality television is such a sure-thing, why haven't we gottenr eality shows about things people would like to see the inner workings of? I'd watch a show showing the inner workings of a tv network, how they choose shows, and that sort of thing. Sort of a "West Wing" or "The Newsroom" but set in tv corporate culture.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Why is NASCAR, football and World Wide Wrassling so popular? All three are fixed and controlled by big business. People know that. So why would anyone watch cars turning left for hours at a time? Does it get dumber than that?

Why is TV so bad? So mind-numbingly dumb?

Because its what people want.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Why is NASCAR, football and World Wide Wrassling so popular? All three are fixed and controlled by big business. People know that. So why would anyone watch cars turning left for hours at a time? Does it get dumber than that?

Why is TV so bad? So mind-numbingly dumb?

Because its what people want.

Says a guy with a tv in every room.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Why is NASCAR, football and World Wide Wrassling so popular? All three are fixed and controlled by big business. People know that. So why would anyone watch cars turning left for hours at a time? Does it get dumber than that?

Why is TV so bad? So mind-numbingly dumb?

Because its what people want.

Says a guy with a tv in every room.

Nope. Just one.

We've got every station Direct TV offers and there's still nothing to watch. We'd like to be able to stream only what we want to watch but we live out in the middle of nowhere. Heck, even our internet connection and cell signal is iffy.

TV programming is terrible. It just is.

 

[BlackSand]

But if reality television is such a sure-thing, why haven't we gottenr eality shows about things people would like to see the inner workings of? I'd watch a show showing the inner workings of a tv network, how they choose shows, and that sort of thing. Sort of a "West Wing" or "The Newsroom" but set in tv corporate culture.

Some reality shows do good ... But some that try to get too close to reality fail miserably.

An example would be Utopia which was ditched mid-season. Based on the concept of taking 15 strangers and working out their own civilization ... The show was mired in crap. Decent concept ... But they doomed the show in original casting. You cannot take 15 strangers with wildly conflicting ideologies and expect them to cooperate with each other towards a common goal.

I don't know how you could do a reality show produced by a network ... About that network ... Without it being scripted beyond reality.

.

 

[whitehall]

NASCAR is real but Wrassling is fake. Most of the History channel junk might look real and it probably passes the legal test for reality but it is mostly scripted stuff. How could a reality show pass ATF scrutiny and follow alleged moonshine illegal whisky makers around? The moonshiners get a federal permit and pretend to be evading local and federal law for the drama. It's entertaining enough and probably similar to watching old Clinton political appointees pretending to be unbiased journalists. .

 

[blastoff]

For many reality shows the producers have to create a plot for the show to revolve around each segment. So-and-so is going about doing whatever it is so-and-so does (the beginning). Then something happens. Something that adds some drama to things and that so-and-so better get straightened out...or else (the middle). But alas so-and-so finally firgues out/solves the something, generally just in the nick of time, and all is well until the next week (the end).

And the way to judge the success of a reality show is whether someone else rips off its initial concept - living in Alaska, e.g. - and comes up with a name for it that would sort of remind viewers of the name of they show they're duplicating.

Like anything else some shows are good and some are bad. But my good might be your bad, and vice versa. Thus there is no shortage of reality shows.