My god reality shows are scarping the bottom of the barrel

[Polarity27]

I do like a lot of competitive reality TV, the shows that are basically a modern version of a game show. I love the talent-based ones like Top Chef or Project Runway, where the contestants have some skills and you get to see something created. I also love Amazing Race (get to see neat places!) and Survivor, where it's fun to armchair-quarterback their strategy.

I avoid ones where there's no contest involved, and anything that involves surgery or dating. Although I confess to having watched Paris Hilton's BFF for trainwreck value. The contestants were all rather loathsome, and Hilton was surprisingly good at coming up with inventive ways to torture... I mean, TEST... them for entertainment value.

 

[Nouw]

I like some reality t.v. shows. You just have to find the right ones!

 

[Last Hugh Alive]

The concept of Reality TV itself isn't bad, its just that almost all of them suck. My sister watches a lot of trashy MTV ones which I would list here if I bothered to look up the names. I like Reality shows where there is actually a task or some kind of objective, something where the contestants have to put their differences aside and work together... Or implode. Not just garbage where emotional teenagers get put in a house or something. Its painful to watch and there is no reason to care.

The only reality show I like (and one of my favourite Tv shows in general) is Survivor. That show has social strategy involved and its fun to watch people deceive each other for a tangible purpose. But pretty much everything else I've seen just angers me.

 

[Ympulse]

that sounds like Top Gear. I LOVE TOP GEAR

I lol'd way too hard at this.

 

[photog212]

that sounds like Top Gear. I LOVE TOP GEAR

Sarcasm?

Because two rednecks comparing their shitty trucks sounds like the polar opposite of Top Gear.

It is Top Gear. The crappy American one.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

There was this one reality show about indie film makers, that was the one reality show I liked. It lasted one season...

 

[thiosk]

In defense of The History Channel, they kind of ran out of ideas for new episodes of Modern Marvels about five years ago. It used to be stuff like the Hoover dam and the Empire State Building. Now it's stuff like sausage, the toilet, and packaging -- all of which are real episode subjects. No defense for the rest of it; the Military channel now has more history than the History channel.

Well, the funny thing about modern marvels.... I can watch any episode on any topic (even the god awful truck stops) over and over...

i like assembly lines... i guess?

 

[DarkishFriend]

I gotta say the only few reality TV shows I've probably ever enjoyed was Dog The Bounty Hunter, Dirty Jobs and The Deadliest Catch. Idk, maybe it was the cool opening theme, and the catching criminals thing. I hate every other reality show because they don't really offer much to the table as far as entertain go. I guess they can offer outlooks into things you didn't know existed, which is why I loved Dirty Jobs, and possibly it could be something you're interested in. I mean, some people are into the History channel but that channel is nothing but reality.

 

[demoman_chaos]

Reality TV is cheap and easy to make. Pick up a few people who either A-are attractive or B-are so unattractive you can use that as your spin to be original despite copying everyone else, throw them in some unfamaliar environment, film them all day, maybe throw in a few random challenges to make it seem more interesting, remove 1 every episode or so until the finale.

Or go the Cops method and just film what are essentially glorified documentaries about people's jobs (like ice road trucking or fishing for crabs).

 

[ace_of_something]

My wife watches Hoarders and Intervention constantly. It's my own fault because i liked watching 'the first 48' which preempts (or used to) Hoarders and Intervention.

Intervention is okay, though most of the people they have on the show are middle-class selfish cry babies rather than kids who grew up on the mean streets and had no choice but to get into drugs.

Hoarders... it's amazing how repetitive that show gets.

I'm not going to jump on the 'reality shows are so stupid' bandwagon. I will say that 'reality based GAME shows' are really stupid.

 

[SonicKoala]

If these shows are so god awful, then why do so many people watch them? I'm not suggesting that they are objectively good because they are so widely viewed, but what I am suggesting is that they must contain some inherent value (as mediums of entertainment, anyway) in order to warrant such high a viewership. And if your immediate reaction to this question is "because most people are stupid", then you best pull your head out of your self-righteous ass and take a good, hard look at your smug, arrogant self in the mirror, because that is most certainly not the reason. If you think it is, please refer to my previous sentence.

I don't watch reality TV that often, but it can be quite entertaining at times. And OP - come on, Storage Wars is freaking AWESOME.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Jersey Shore and Toddlers and Tiara's are really really fucking stupid. Jersey Shore because it's the equivalent of monkeys throwing shit at each other and Toddlers and Tiara's is just fucking gross.