Am I the only one that doesn't "get" these reality TV programmes?

Cobra

Cobra

In Memoriam. TPer Emeritus
Admin
Messages
115,214
Name
The real Chris
Edit My Images
No
I rarely watch TV anymore ( with good reason it seems) but occasionally I may catch part of something quite unintentionally.
Or people on my FB feed will be rating and raving about the start of some such nonsense,

"I wanna be a celebrity get me in the jungle" Yeah OK eat these meal worms and we'll see what we can do (y)
And then of course there are other reality programmes with "big stars" that no-one has heard of, unless they saw the other reality programme they were booted out of,
for acting like a spoilt brat!
But My "favourite" has to be the family watching a tv and commenting on what they saw / are seeing.

Surly it has to be a social experiment, to see how much crap the viewing public will put up with, hasn't it?
Or maybe its some form of mind control to keep the population compliant ?
( :D )
 
Your "favourite" which I think I have seen the trailer of, makes me think of the b*stard child of Animal Farm, 1984 & The Truman Show.

As you say, it comes across as social/society experiment on the masses :runaway::runaway::cautious:
 
I echo your feelings 100% , I watch the odd good movie but general programs are Shiite , even pu5 on sky news this morning as I thought there might be some timing worthy to watch with all the bad weather , they had a blonde bimbo news reading she was totally unintelligible to me and speaks without emotion or even moving her lips WTF is going on .
 
I find them pretty poor to be honest. Not least because at best they may only have 1 or 2 people that you have vaguely heard of in the past.

The only one I do like is a rather obscure one called Southern Charm. I guess its a bit like TOWIE but in Charleston, South Carolina. My wife spent 6 months there when at Uni and we spent part of our honeymoon there and have since been back at the end of our Disney trip last year (she also went there for a few days a couple of years previous). Its a bit out the way (in terms of no direct flights to UK) but so, so pretty and lovely. Watched it just because it was set in Charleston and got hooked!
 
I'm glad its not just me then, interestingly, talking of social experiments, we are yet to hear from a female
Perhaps they are watching the baking programmes?
(That's me in the s*** for stereotyping :D )
 
Last edited:
The reality shows leave me totally cold as well. I do not have a clue what type of person watches them. The worst aspect of the whole thing is that the people who go on these shows then find themselves on other shows, and are regarded by some mono brain cell people as "celebrities".
 
Watched ten minutes of Big Brother when it first started, that was enough thanks.
 
Watched the first 3 Big Brothers and was entertained at the time, but once that tailed off so did all my interest in anything remotely related.
Don't watch any of them, nobody in my household does which saves a load of aggro, now if I can just get her in doors off these police camera action things, I'll be a happy geezer.
Sick to the back teeth of that crap.

oh....does GP's behind closed doors count, I like that......for the moment..:cautious:
 
It's horses for courses. If you don't like it, don't watch it. I've never seen the point in trying to pigeon hole those who do watch them, people do so for different reasons. Escapism, check-your-brain-at-the-door entertainment or "people watching".

We watch The Apprentice, Bake Off & Masterchef, have no interest in X Factor, Strictly, Big Brother or I'm a Celebrity so just don't watch them.

Also, saying that TV is crap and basing that judgement purely on reality shows is somewhat narrow minded,plenty of other content to watch. Some very good dramas around at the moment.
 
Yep I agree about the reality shows awful rubbish
Agree with Mark in that there are some good drama series being made
Apart from those and films though we have given up on television and either go out or in the evening play Xbox
There's quite a few games now that you play as a team with people cooperatively and chat
 
Thank god we have separate TV rooms! I can close both doors and leave her indoors to watch all that garbage.
Thank god for Netflix/NowTV/BT Sport etc! 'Normal' TV is pants.
 
Whatever it is - and it is probably a combination of what you mentioned - it is also a mirror of the society health and current national values. It is very dire in this light.

In big part the reason for such shows now is simply because it sells and people watch it. It is truly shocking that people spend their valuable time watching this nonsense, and effectively not using the time for something better like talking to each other, reading, creating, learning, or even going out for a walk to the woods. Furthermore, they seem to know all the little facts about the show, while being ignorant and uneducated on the real things that matter. Just imagine if everyone used their mental capacity for something "progressive" (and no I don't mean this in the context of political "progressiveness"!) we would be so far ahead as the species.

Is this something new? No not all. It is at least 2000 year old tried and trusted trick only in a digital realm. The Roman Empire used games to the same effect. It worked well until the whole thing disintegrated in a very spectacular fashion as the empire rot from within. We are well on course of this path.

Is TV mostly crap today? Most certainly. Does it have to be crap by design? No, not at all. Youtube in a way tried to replace what TV stopped doing a long time ago. OK, not youtube, but all the little people uploading to youtube. Now it is shutting everyone down left and right and just trying to become a Nextflix clone with all its bugging premium push and Chinese style censorship. Worry not, Google is not the end of the world just like crappy TV. New things are going live every day replacing the old goblins.

You choose if you want to be a mind controlled couch potatoe or join the creatives and do something useful with your time. TV has no place in my life.
 
I don't watch those reality shows or any of the soaps, can't understand what people see in any of them.


Cobra said:
I'm glad its not just me then, interestingly, talking of social experiments, we are yet to hear from a female
Perhaps they are watching the baking programmes?
(That's me in the s*** for stereotyping :D )
Click to expand...

First female and I don't watch those damn baking/sewing etc programmes either :bat:
I do sometimes watch Masterchef, fascinating to see what some of them can produce
with ingredients they are given
 
I think there are enough channels on TV now to avoid watching such programs if you don't like them. Some people do, so I'm happy for them to let them get on with watching it. FB on the other hand, what a total load of tosh... but you seem to like using that. Live and let live I say :)
 
Gremlin said:
I don't watch those reality shows or any of the soaps, can't understand what people see in any of them.
Click to expand...

I may not be 100% accurate maybe but I will come pretty close by saying that those people don't have great or at least interesting personal lives and they try to live out their days through TV in the imaginary world (similar reason to drinking, etc). That's a lot of unhappy people out there!
 
I watch Gogglebox on Friday nights with my daughter, it's become a wee tradition, it feels a bit of a chore but she enjoys it. Through that, and that alone, I get glimpses of these horrible 'reality' shows - they make me want to spew, the cringe is almost unbearable. But we have fun taking the p*** out of them, I swear she gets more entertainment out of my moaning and criticizing than she does from those shows. She watches X factor, and I'm a celeb etc ... but even she draws the line at the likes of BB, she can't stand strictly either.
 
No "reality" shows here.
No semi scripted regional attention whore programmes.
No soaps.
No "talent / cooking / celeb-doing-whatever" shows.

I like to watch a film, and there's the odd drama that appeals, and I have the BBC news on in the morning whilst getting ready for work.
 
The thing that bothers me is when I look up from the i.pad at night when reading replying to you lot , the missus is inevitably watching those murder and mystery shows where the wife bumps off her old man , should I be worried ?
 
I think it’s interesting that most of the reality tv shows are now full of “celebrities”, who only became “celebrities” through other reality tv shows. I don’t bother with the majority and couldn’t give a toss about them. (Although I did watch the recent Bear Grylls one because a friend of mine was on it).

I have to say though that I can’t agree about Gogglebox... it’s brilliant! :D
 
I've not watched TV (either live or catch-up) at home for over a year, but when working away from Home I can usually find something to have on in the Hotel at night.
I've never been so desperate to see more than a couple of seconds of any reality show & soaps are just as bad, A film I've seen 250 times before would probably still be preferable (I don't think there are any I've seen that often though 25 times is possible for a few).
 
the black fox said:
The thing that bothers me is when I look up from the i.pad at night when reading replying to you lot , the missus is inevitably watching those murder and mystery shows where the wife bumps off her old man , should I be worried ?
Click to expand...

YES :)

But they always get caught in the dramas so maybe you are safe
 
Not just you. Telly really have been dumbed down with this simplistic format trying to pass itself off as "real life" . . . and the sad thing is I swear I'm seeing people starting to mimic it in real life.

The one series I really don't get at all is GoggleBox where people watch a programme about people watching programmes. What the heck is all that about?

But I will be honest and say I do like my evening soap routine (Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders but I do draw the line at Hollyoaks, Casualty and Holby City) simply because I know it's just a story line thing, like reading a fictional book.
 
Last edited:
Let's flip this around - what are the shows that are genuinely good educational, informative or very high production value content like Planet Earth used to be? Can we fill at least 5 hours in the whole coming week?
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I may not be 100% accurate maybe but I will come pretty close by saying that those people don't have great or at least interesting personal lives and they try to live out their days through TV in the imaginary world (similar reason to drinking, etc). That's a lot of unhappy people out there!
Click to expand...
Why am I not surprised you dont comprehend the myriad of reasons human beings want to be entertained
LongLensPhotography said:
... - it is also a mirror of the society health and current national values. It is very dire in this light.
Click to expand...

As I’ve never encountered anyone with worse values... I find this hilarious.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Let's flip this around - what are the shows that are genuinely good educational, informative or very high production value content like Planet Earth used to be? Can we fill at least 5 hours in the whole coming week?
Click to expand...
When Planet Earth was aired, you wouldn’t have found 5 hrs of TV of that quality that week.

You sound like one of those old farts who only remembers the great pop music from their youth, completely missing the fact that the Beatles shared the charts with Tiny Tim, The Sex Pistols with The Dooleys etc (insert your own idea of ace music / crap music)

There’s some excellent factual TV being produced nowadays, as good as it ever was. And some of the drama has production values unimagined 10 years ago.

The other side f the coin is that theres 200 channels fighting for the same audience and with not much more budget where there used to be 4
 
tijuana taxi said:
Don't really watch much at all, but thoroughly enjoying Killing Eve, shouldn't really find a psychopath so amusing.
Click to expand...
This^

An example of the excellent drama we get nowadays that is head and shoulders better than what we got even 10 years ago.
 
Phil V said:
An example of the excellent drama we get nowadays that is head and shoulders better than what we got even 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

The Bodyguard has to up there too, final episode left a lot of questions unanswered, can't wait for the 2nd series
 
Gremlin said:
The Bodyguard has to up there too, final episode left a lot of questions unanswered, can't wait for the 2nd series
Click to expand...
Night manager
The crown*
Victoria*

The list isn’t quite endless, but there’s plenty of quality drama to be found.

I haven’t watched GoT, that zombie thing, breaking bad etc, but I know plenty of people who think they’re brilliant.

ANd I’m borderline republican
 
tijuana taxi said:
Don't really watch much at all, but thoroughly enjoying Killing Eve, shouldn't really find a psychopath so amusing.
Click to expand...
I've not seen any of this yet, but it's on my list.
 
Back to the OP and ‘reality’ shows...

It’s a mixed bag, I wouldn’t describe the cooking, singing, sewing, model railway* competitions as ‘reality’ shows, theyre a twist on the talent show format.

As for the big brother type format, I was initially intrigued (I love people watching) and watched the first couple of BB series, but then the producers realised that filling the house with ‘characters’ (people who just wanted to be famous and were prepared to do anything) it began to fail.

All of the ‘celeb’ shows, hold no interest to me (with the exception of Masterchef - I have a soft spot for foodies, I don’t care if they’re celebs).

* who the f*** came up with the idea of a model railway challenge competition?
 
Marc said:
Some very good dramas around at the moment.
Click to expand...
And my favorite go to channel for drama's is .........................TP.
Some people will always make a drama out of a thread, even a light hearted one :D

rick448 said:
I think there are enough channels on TV now to avoid watching such programs if you don't like them.
Click to expand...
I have about 200 and there is very little there to hold my interest, its an update on Pink Floyd's famous line
"I got thirteen channels of s*** on the T.V. to choose from"...

boogie man said:
I think it’s interesting that most of the reality tv shows are now full of “celebrities”, who only became “celebrities” through other reality tv shows.
Click to expand...
Exactly the point I made at the start . (y)

Ian D J said:
Not just you. Telly really have been dumbed down with this simplistic format trying to pass itself off as "real life" . . .
Click to expand...
If that's real life Stop the world, I want to get off.

Ian D J said:
and the sad thing is I swear I'm seeing people starting to mimic it in real life.
Click to expand...
So which came first? :D

Gremlin said:
First female and I don't watch those damn baking/sewing etc programmes either :bat:
Click to expand...
That's because largely, people of a certain age, actually know how to do these things, its not some mystical art that has *us* fixated ;)
 
I too can't find anything interesting in the reality shows, though I think they should have a different name. From what I have heard and read about them they are far removed from most people's reality. The need to get the contestants to do more odd things indicates, I think, that there is nothing worth watching.

I do watch Life Below Zero which is closer to reality, though there is some managing of events to make it more interesting.

Cobra said:
That's because largely, people of a certain age, actually know how to do these things, its not some mystical art that has *us* fixated ;)
Click to expand...

This comment reminded me of something I heard yesterday morning. There was part of an old Raymond Blanc cookery programme where he was going to roast some meat. The voice over then explained what 'roasting' meant!

Dave
 
Phil V said:
The list isn’t quite endless, but there’s plenty of quality drama to be found.

I haven’t watched GoT, that zombie thing, breaking bad etc, but I know plenty of people who think they’re brilliant.
Click to expand...

We're a bit behind but are part way through:

Bodyguard
Killing Eve
Strangers

All excellent so far. We also have The Cry in the planner which looks rather good.

Game of Thrones is great, The Walking Dead was good but it's gone on a bit to long for me. Breaking Bad is one of the best TV shows I've ever seen!

As for factual, The Supervet is compulsive watching. We came to it rather late so are catching up on repeats. We currently have 25 episodes in the planner! :D
 
Many years ago, I was in my twenty's, so around fifty years ago; I read an article in one of the broadsheets about television and the type of programmes being broadcast. The writer made the following statement which is as true now as it was then. "It should be remembered that the purpose of most television programmes is to provide chewing gum for the mind."
 
Last edited:
Tringa said:
I do watch Life Below Zero which is closer to reality,
Click to expand...
I "fell over" that late one night and did watch a few, As I was fascinated by how people survived in those temperatures,
but then I Googled it to find out what happened to Chip, there was some mention of "prison".
I became quite disheartened with what I found.

They are all worth a lot of money, from "other interests" That guy that lives by the lake on his own, Glenn, is a real entrapenuer!
and spends half the year with his family in civilisation..
That was the end of that for me!

Tringa said:
The voice over then explained what 'roasting' meant!
Click to expand...
That doesn't surprise me at all TBH :(
 
Marc said:
As for factual, The Supervet is compulsive watching.
Click to expand...

Really, I find it irritating to say the least, since he found fame it's got even worse
 
Cobra said:
That's because largely, people of a certain age, actually know how to do these things, its not some mystical art that has *us* fixated ;)
Click to expand...

Well ready meals weren't that varied when I started cooking for myself :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top