What Not to Watch - Reality TV Rant

[Deano]

........ erm ......... but reality tv isn't REAL

'Contender' and 'Ultimate Fighter' looked pretty real.....bits of it at least....

[Str8 Jacket]

Quite frankly reality programs like these are great. I mean everyone needs to know what to wear and how to wear it. I need to know that Im looking great and wearing only the best.

[McJim]

Like post on KB????

Ooooh self deprication there Scumdog - mandownunder has around 5,000 posts and you have over 7,000!

Back on topic again. TV programmes live or die based on their popularity. A commercial TV channel is therefore representative of what the general viewing public actually wants to see.

The increase in these so called 'Reality' programmes is alarming (and many of them are clearly staged and or heavily edited). It's like rubbernecking in your own home. Compulsively viewing people who are badly dressed in this instance but in others it's dysfunctional marriages etc.

I don't watch reality TV as a rule but I can see it's benefits....once my wife is glued to Rockstar/Wife Swap/Pop Idle or whatever I say - TV is shite tonight then dear - Just taking the bike out for a spin/to get fuel/warm the chain up so I can lube it etc.

[James Deuce]

Ooooh self deprication there Scumdog - mandownunder has around 5,000 posts and you have over 7,000!

Back on topic again. TV programmes live or die based on their popularity. A commercial TV channel is therefore representative of what the general viewing public actually wants to see.

No it isn't. It is an amalgalm of what TV Producers are willing to stump cash up for, and what advertisers spend money on.

TV content has nothing to do with the viewing public.

[skelstar]

I dont want to denounce all R-TV...only the stuff I dont like .

Reality TV is a boom for TV programing, its damn cheap as it doesnt have to pay stars lots of money for each episode. Maybe a million dollars for one 'winner' at the end. Bleh, its gross.

[Patrick]

I really enjoy Trinny and Suzannah.

Its funny when they grab each others boobs...

[skelstar]

I confess that I saw about 10mins of that episode on a Sunday arvo once (bra fitting or something).

[crashe]

Dear ol' Trinny and Suzannah... they love to grab tits and bum whenever they can... they enjoy doing up people... or else they wouldnt be doing it.. would they?

The women get nominated to go on the shows... and some really want to be made over and learn to dress to their own age to be a bit more dressed in a modern style.

There have even been men on their show having a make over.

How many folks (men and women) out there stay in the same style of clothes year in and year out ... why? cos it is comfortable to wear.

But I have watched dear ol' Trinny and Suzannah off and on over the years... when they themselves were naturally huge to when they have lost heaps of weight recently (after having a baby).

They have even used their own bodies in the show to help describe what type of clothes different shape people should wear. They take the piss out of themselves all the time.

There are times at the end of their shows.. I go YUK at what they believe the person should wear. But then they are using UK latest styles.

They did a few episodes in the States... I dont think the yanks liked their tits and arse being grabbed.....

Now as to other reality shows.... enough is enough...... bring back good drama's and decent comedies.. and wonderful documentaries...

[Skyryder]

There were two English lasses doing something about showing woman what to wear and how to choose clothes. Not too sure if this is the show that being discussed here but these two woman did not make any of their guests look foolish. I think they were on tv a Saturday in the evening. Watched it a couple of times. They also did a show with men.........but on that they had no idea. Had this guy all dressed up with his shirt tail hanging out. Might be all right for the chicks but not the blokes.

Skyryder

[skelstar]

Could have been the one, Ive technically only watched one episode (non-bra fitting related), and it was very poor. Pretty much like I described above. Lots of crying.

[Winston001]

Its funny when they grab each others boobs...

Er...yes. In fact I clearly remember the episode when they tried on various bras to show the correct style for comfort and....um....effect.

But well said Skelstar. Mightn't entirely agree but enjoyed your post. However this show is relatively benign compared with the American makeover reality shows.

Trinny and Susannah are simply saying, as Crashe pointed out, that many of us stay in the same comfortable clothes for years. Nothing wrong with that if you are completely self-confident but for many women, their self-image and poise quietly evaporates. They lose touch with how to dress and present themselves.

We can tell ourselves that looks are meaningless but that doesn't change the fact that good-looking well-dressed people attract attention. I hate it a lot but have been forced to admit this basic fact. What you see on the outside can be an indicator of the inner person.

So if some people feel inspired to go out and get new clothes by a show like this, what harm is there. Good luck to them. The show is popular so that says something.

[Virago]

Oooooh, spooky Skelstar, I was mentally composing a rant on the same topic, when I found yours........

I occasionally enjoy a bit of escapism in REAL reality shows - fly-on-the-wall stuff like medical docos, cop-type docos, etc. But they are few and far between these days.

Today's reality shows are anything but reality. They are invariably contrived nonsense, usually involving setting people up in some way and filming the result. Or worse still, pitting vulnerable people against each other for entertainment.

Reality? It's like putting a wild animal in a small cage, poking it with a sharp stick, and filming it as a "wildlife documentary".

The most sickening aspect of these TV shows, is the focus on the LOSER. The most important aspect of elimination-type shows, is to see the humilation of each loser in turn - the actual winner at the end is secondary to the elimination process.

I will not watch anything that seeks to victimise or abuse participants. It is voyeurism and pack-victimisation at it's very worst.

Where is the public empathy? True empathy for victims involves wishing that they weren't victimised in the first place.

I won't watch.

[jrandom]

I really enjoy Trinny and Suzannah.

I'd totally do Trinny.

They wrote a book, you know. Even included topless photos of themselves. Now that takes balls, which, as far as I can tell, they both have in spades. Giant hairy ones made of solid cartridge brass.

The balls, not the spades.

Not that I don't suppose you couldn't make a halfway decent spade out of cartridge brass if you really wanted to. Not much point in it being hairy, though.

[Beemer]

I don't actually mind Trinny and Susannah because they don't state the obvious - which is "you are fat and have a bad haircut" - instead they show people how to make the best of what they have got. Although the contestants moan and whinge about it, they volunteered to go on the show, no one forced them, and they end up with 2000 pounds worth of new clothes and shoes, and a new haircut and makeover! Christ, I wish they'd come and pick on me like that, god knows I could do with it!

I bought a couple of their books (sorry guys, not the ones with naked boobies in them!) and trust me, it did wonders for my dress sense. And despite not losing a gram of weight, I looked heaps skinnier and taller too.

Save your hatred for the ones where people are made to look stupid rather than one where people end up looking and feeling better. And who made you watch it?

[skelstar]

Read the first and subsequent posts and it explains why I had to watch it. I also explain what options I will be exercising in future. Last victim show I read a bathroom catalogue. Point.