TV series whose very existence drives you batshit insane

[Eve]

Long Island Medium. I have never watched it, of course, but the promos send me diving for my remote: some over-tanned, bleached-blonde Lawn Guyland chippie who "can't help it, I'm gifted!" and they always show brief clips of "skeptics" being won over by her amazing powers. "I didn't think it'd be fer real!"

I want to reach into the set, rip her eyes out and shove them up her nose.

[Taomist]

Anything 'reality'. It's all bullshit. And boring.

[silenus]

"The Biggest..."
"Real Housewives of..."
"... Wars"

[Eve]

Originally Posted by silenus

"The Biggest..."
"Real Housewives of..."
"... Wars"

I would totally watch The Biggest Real Housewives of Wars.

[Craz3d117]

Probably half the stuff on Discovery Channel and History Channel these days. Swamp People, Swamp Loggers, American Pickers, Ax Men, etc. Pretty much any show about rednecks, fishermen or people buying then selling things. It's not so much the shows themselves, it's the vast quantity of shows that are all the same and the fact they have absolutely no educational value like a lot of shows used to have on Discovery and History Channel.

[hogarth]

The Nostradamus Effect on the "History" channel. Could Nostradamus have predicated cattle mutilations after 9/11? Tune in for some gormless speculation!

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by Eve

I would totally watch The Biggest Real Housewives of Wars.

Ah, hell yeah!


But, I find most reality shows repulsive. And those 'actuality' shows are even worse. You know, Lizard Lick Towing, Hardcore Pawn, and other re-enactment type shows.

Oddly enough tho, there are some reality shows i do like. The Amazing Race, American Pickers, etc... I guess it's just the jerks+drama+hype+scripted+stupid shows that cause me vomitous outrage.

[well he's back]

Only recently moved into a place with cable. My first real exposure to many of the horribly sucky appalling shows already mentioned.
But the one whose very existence drives me batshit insane is "Toddlers with Tiaras". No explanation necessary, one would hope.

[Zeldar]

How long will it be (maybe I just missed it and it's already here) before we get an hour-long weekly show that features "Self-immolating Buddhist Monk of the Week"? I might watch one episode.

Maybe the show is already in the works: http://news.yahoo.com/dalai-lama-lam...211728012.html

[Morbo]

Finding Bigfoot, Ghost Hunters, etc. I feel like shouting "Hey! Let me save you all some time."

[aruvqan]

I agree about all of the feckless 'reality' shows. Even their damned commercials bother the hell out of me.

I just saw one for the crab fishermen, on a program I DVRd last year, and holy shit, doesn't OSHA have anything to do with fishing industrially? I see crap going on that I wouldn't pull or have done on any vessel I owned. I value my life and all my body parts

Same goes for the lumber shows - haven't they ever heard of personal safety?

[Alias]

Hillbilly Handfishin'

I thought it was some kind of parody, until I kept seeing the promos and realized it was real.

[Esox Lucius]

I can't suspend my disbelief in the supernatural, so any drama that uses supernatural powers to make the world right is off limits to me.

Any reality show, and I mean any. I even stopped watching Dragon's Den when I realized that some people don't have a hope in hell for their crazy business idea and are chosen just for the "entertaining" contempt they'll draw from the panel. (And that was confirmed to me recently from one of the horses' mouths.)

[FairyChatMom]

Parking Wars. Seriously? A show that follows meter maids and boot-installers? And then we get to hear a bunch of whiny morons bitching about what it costs to get their cars out of impound... Honest to goodness, I don't understand how my otherwise intelligent husband can watch this idiocy! Tho I'd have loved to be in the pitch meeting for this series.

[Drunky Smurf]

I love Parking Wars because of the idiocy. I love watching the idiots bitch and moan about how it's unfair their car is impounded because they have 86 tickets and no license and no isurance.

My favorite part is the meter maid part. One guy tried to argue that the no parking sign didn't apply to him because he parked on the sidewalk and not the street.

I can't really think of any shows that drive me insane.

[AtomicDog]

American Idol. I have never watched a single minute of the show, but I am innudated by so-called "news" reports about it.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by Taomist

Anything 'reality'. It's all bullshit. And boring.

Agreed. I've hated them since they started.

[salinqmind]

Always and forever, the Kartrashians. Just the sight of them, and they are everywhere, makes my blood pressure go up. There is no end to them. There is no end to the fakeness, the contrived situations, the weddings and parties, the massive houses, not to mention the whiny voice and gigantic ass stuck out at the camera. They spend spend spend millions and make make make millions and use it for absolutely nothing worthwhile but to show jellus peons how so much money can be spent on nothing worthwhile . It's like watching pigs in diamond tiaras rooting around in a sty scattered with solid gold coins, squealing and squabbling and jumping on planes to fun vacations. Everyone seems to loathe them, but that only makes watching them more irresistable? I just don't get it.

[secretsmile36]

Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged?

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by AtomicDog

American Idol. I have never watched a single minute of the show, but I am innudated by so-called "news" reports about it.

Well, for that matter, "news" programming in general.

ALL of it.

News doesn't belong on television screens (and the people who put such programs on the air apparently agree with that assertion, as demonstrated by how much of their content can be accurately pigeonholed as terror, titillation, and various combinations of the two).

I take my lunch break at work at about 3:15 in the morning, and if "World News Now" is playing on the television when I enter the break room I will ALWAYS switch it to channel 5.3 to watch a rerun of Mr. Ed. Because clueless Wilbur Post caving to the stupid demands of a talking horse is LESS insulting to my intelligence than the concept that Pamela Woon telling me what most Yahoo! searches for the past week were about is information about the world that I or anyone else needs to know.

[voltaire]

Originally Posted by Craz3d117

Probably half the stuff on Discovery Channel and History Channel these days. Swamp People, Swamp Loggers, American Pickers, Ax Men, etc. Pretty much any show about rednecks, fishermen or people buying then selling things. It's not so much the shows themselves, it's the vast quantity of shows that are all the same and the fact they have absolutely no educational value like a lot of shows used to have on Discovery and History Channel.

I'm most of the way with you on that, and agree with everything you listed, but I really like Gator Boys (which ain't fake) and I somewhat like Pawn Stars. (which somewhat is)

Originally Posted by AtomicDog

American Idol. I have never watched a single minute of the show, but I am innudated by so-called "news" reports about it.

This, I can totally get behind. I haven't watched a minute of that show or all the others like it, but somehow I still have to hear about them from multiple sources as if they were somehow important or significant topics worthy of discussion.

[voltaire]

I can answer this without ever having watched the show.

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead?

No. (It's "here" BTW)

How can you explain the things she knows about people?

It's bullshit combined with cold-reading skills.

Is it all staged?

Yes, probably combined with the con-artist and cold-reading skills.

[Nawth Chucka]

Originally Posted by Eve

I would totally watch The Biggest Real Housewives of Wars.

Or - The Biggest War of Real Housewives. That'd sell tickets.

COPS bugs me as do all the aforementioned 'reality' shows. Hell, the shows on truTV are re-creations, even worse than scripted shows.

[JohnT]

COPS
"Redneck TV"
Ghost Hunters

[secretsmile36]

Originally Posted by voltaire

I can answer this without ever having watched the show.

No. (It's "here" BTW)

It's bullshit combined with cold-reading skills.

Yes, probably combined with the con-artist and cold-reading skills.

Yes thanks I couldn't have figured the difference between here and hear on my own. You're right. If you haven't watched the show you really can't give an educated opinion on it.

[Kimballkid]

Originally Posted by salinqmind

Always and forever, the Kartrashians. Just the sight of them, and they are everywhere, makes my blood pressure go up. There is no end to them. There is no end to the fakeness, the contrived situations, the weddings and parties, the massive houses, not to mention the whiny voice and gigantic ass stuck out at the camera. They spend spend spend millions and make make make millions and use it for absolutely nothing worthwhile but to show jellus peons how so much money can be spent on nothing worthwhile . It's like watching pigs in diamond tiaras rooting around in a sty scattered with solid gold coins, squealing and squabbling and jumping on planes to fun vacations. Everyone seems to loathe them, but that only makes watching them more irresistable? I just don't get it.

Imma jus' gonna leave this here.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

Yes thanks I couldn't have figured the difference between here and hear on my own. You're right. If you haven't watched the show you really can't give an educated opinion on it.

I have seen the show, and she's a piss-poor cold reader.

[luv2draw]

Oprah. Thank god she's off network TV and has her own station I can avoid.

Sooooooo sick of her holier-than-thou I-know-how-to-deal-with-life attitude. And, especially, annoying when she speaks with someone she repeats her statement/question. Yeah, I know it's a technique for emphasis. I just find it freaking annoying as do I her best friend Gayle.

Make them both go away. Please.

[Morbo]

There's one I saw an ad for that blew me away. It's for people who bid on unclaimed luggage left at the airport. I mean, seriously? That's interesting to enough people to warrant having a show about it?

"Clothes, socks...a watch! Jackpot!"

[Rubixcube]

Has everybody forgotten the worst and most rotten shows on the face of the planet? All of the parents involved in both Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms are on my list of people who need to thrown in a cage full of angry honey badgers. That is a very short list. Other than that the shows that bother me most are the ones like Idol or the Kardashians, which get an incredible amount of gossip and news surrounding them, to the point of virtually drowning every other subject.

[bouv]

Originally Posted by Eve

I would totally watch The Biggest Real Housewives of Wars.

Elenore Roosevelt by a mile.

[voltaire]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

You're right.

Now you're learning!

If you haven't watched the show you really can't give an educated opinion on it.

You don't need to watch some stupid reality show to know that speaking to the dead is bullshit and mediums are con-artists. In fact, the less of that kind of show you watch, the more educated your opinion on the matter would tend to be.

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by voltaire

Now you're learning!

You don't need to watch some stupid reality show to know that speaking to the dead is bullshit and mediums are con-artists. In fact, the less of that kind of show you watch, the more educated your opinion on the matter would tend to be.

Hear here!

[secretsmile36]

Originally Posted by voltaire

Now you're learning!

You don't need to watch some stupid reality show to know that speaking to the dead is bullshit and mediums are con-artists. In fact, the less of that kind of show you watch, the more educated your opinion on the matter would tend to be.

You may think that not watching reality shows puts you on some kind of pedestal. It does not.

[secretsmile36]

Originally Posted by NoClueBoy

Hear here!

I thought this thread was about TV shows?

[Eve]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged?

I have a tiny, mild curiousity as to whether she is delusional or a straight-out con artist, but finding out would involve watching her show, which might prove fatal (then she could tell me directly!).

[Nawth Chucka]

Originally Posted by bouv

Elenore Roosevelt by a mile.

My money's on Queen Elizabeth having the stamina to outlast Mrs. Roosevelt.

[NoClueBoy]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

I thought this thread was about TV shows?

Entertainment is where I find it.

[panache45]

Every single show mentioned in this thread.

[Peter Morris]

Jeez, you people are really driven batshit insane by the mere existence of these shows?

A lot of these shows I have no interest in watching at all. So I don't. That's all it takes. Just don't watch them if you don't like them. If other people like that sort of thing, let them watch. No skin off my nose that the show exists.

So far, the only sensible objection is the fake medium show.

[Dewey Finn]

Originally Posted by salinqmind

Always and forever, the Kartrashians.

Similarly, Jersey Shore. Amazingly enough, the cast of that show get at least $100,000 per episode. And MTV airs this show instead of music videos.

[Boyo Jim]

The Discovery Channel ran a brief reality series called Impaled a few years ago. Yes, it's as bad as you think, though IIRC it only featured people who survived. Searching for it reveals only a couple of message board comments on it -- I think Discovery buried the program in shame.

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

You may think that not watching reality shows puts you on some kind of pedestal. It does not.

Correct.

WATCHING them, OTOH puts one in some kind of a pit, which does establish non-watchers as being on a higher level.

[Accidental Martyr]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged?

In case you haven't figured out yet what cold reading is (as others have pointed out).
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_reading

[ExTank]

Originally Posted by salinqmind

Always and forever, the Kartrashians. Just the sight of them, and they are everywhere, makes my blood pressure go up. There is no end to them. There is no end to the fakeness, the contrived situations, the weddings and parties, the massive houses, not to mention the whiny voice and gigantic ass stuck out at the camera. They spend spend spend millions and make make make millions and use it for absolutely nothing worthwhile but to show jellus peons how so much money can be spent on nothing worthwhile . It's like watching pigs in diamond tiaras rooting around in a sty scattered with solid gold coins, squealing and squabbling and jumping on planes to fun vacations. Everyone seems to loathe them, but that only makes watching them more irresistable? I just don't get it.

This is what I came in to say, but you said it so much better.

[secretsmile36]

s

Originally Posted by Accidental Martyr

In case you haven't figured out yet what cold reading is (as others have pointed out).
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_reading

I am familiar with the term. She doesn't just do cold readings though. She often knows things that no one else would know about the person. I'm not saying I believe she talks to the dead. I said before that I'm wondering if it is staged and if the people she does the readings on are in on it.

[ZPG Zealot]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged?

She's good at reading non-verbal cues and has probably done some basic research about common history of the recent past and basic psychology/counseling. A lot of things many people think are very specific to them are actually common life experiences.

[Roadfood]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

You're right. If you haven't watched the show you really can't give an educated opinion on it.

That is incorrect. Or, ok, partially incorrect. It is true that without having watched the show, I cannot really have an opinion on its entertainment value.

However, the question you asked was whether that medium can really talk to the dead. And on that I can most certainly have a highly educated opinion that she most certainly cannot. I am educated enough about physics and chemistry and biology etc. to have the firm opinion that talking to the dead is as close to impossible as anything can be.

Without having seen the show, I would ask you this: Has this medium ever related something from "the dead" that some other currently living person did not already know? I will bet you that she has not, and that therefore the most likely explanation is that what she relates does not come from the dead but rather from the currently living. If you watch such a show and react with, "How could the medium possibly know that?" then you're just falling into the trap. Instead, ask yourself, "Does the dead person's living relative already know everything that the medium is telling them?" Looking at it that way, it's far less impressive.

For example, Medium says, "Your father used to read you 'Cinderella', it was your favorite bedtime story when you were six." Wow, how could the medium possibly know that? Lots of ways. The point, though, is that the son/daughter already knew it. Which is more likely, that the medium really talks to the dead, and the dead want to talk about what they read to their child as a bedtime story? Or that the medium just found out some tidbits that the person already knows, and used that?

The day that one of these mediums relates specific directions to the box buried in the backyard that contains the dead person's stash of vintage porn that he had told no one about, then I'll be impressed.

[Peter Morris]

Originally Posted by secretsmile36

s


I am familiar with the term. She doesn't just do cold readings though. She often knows things that no one else would know about the person. I'm not saying I believe she talks to the dead. I said before that I'm wondering if it is staged and if the people she does the readings on are in on it.

See also Hot Reading.

And, yes, phony psychics do use stooges.

[MacTech]

Or you could watch the South Park documentary on cold readers, it's called "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", very well done documentary.