They all consist of a bunch of maladjusted 12 year-olds masquerading as adults.
and even if they somehow manage to act their age… WTH?
-Survivor-type programs are nothing but Lord of the Flies without real actors.
-Housewives-type programs… OMG. A contest to see how obnoxious you can be?
-Judge Judy et all… Most of the people on this program should aspire to be characters on My Name is Earl as a step up.
-Jerry Springer type programs deserve a special place in hell for deliberately dragging the lowest order of the food chain in front of a camera.
What surprises me is the improvement in daytime TV. They seem to be much more uplifting, informative and generally positive in nature. Why can’t evening viewing be this way?
Ted Allen is awesome; he’s just woefully miscast as an announcer-type in this show. Please put him in something more similar to his “Queer Eye” role and I’ll be a happy woman.
I don’t even know the name of the show, but it was a Bravo or TLC show about some bakery (no, not Cake Boss), and it was SO obvious that a particular event was staged. The bakery in question had hired a new guy, and it was a busy day, and of course there was no one to sign for some strawberries but New Dude, so ND just signed the slip and accepted the strawberries. Later on they were discovered to be all moldy underneath, and ND is nervous as people are making really blatantly scripted comments to the effect of, “gosh, did you see those strawberries? I wonder who would have signed for those.” Finally ND goes to the boss and confesses and apologizes, and he gets the “that’s ok, just find someone next time if you’re confused” talk. None of it felt natural, it was like a bad middle school play was onscreen. I switched the channel right then and decided to avoid it, but forgetting the show name is probably not helpful in that respect.
Storage Wars is my new “guilty pleasure”. I strongly suspect it, and many other “reality shows” contain at least as much kayfabe as any pro wrestling show, but it’s great fun for me to watch the episodes. The guy that’s always an asshole…think his name is Dave…would make a great heel. Looks like he’s channeling Ole Anderson or Mr. Wrestling II (in heel mode) with a lot of his antics. Also, that gal that is the wife/SO of the young bald guy is very easy on the eyes.
You’re also assuming the owners came by those things legally (for all we know, the action figures could have “fallen off a truck”). As you note, there are reasons why the renters would stop paying their storage rentals (thrown in jail, died, moved, gone into a coma, etc).
To get back on topic…
Pawn Stars
I loathe this show - it truly offends me on a personal level in a way the slut shows (Marry a Millionaire, etc) don’t. When you see a show, set in Las Vegas, based upon people selling family heirlooms to a pawn shop at 8:00am Saturday morning, a shocked, empty look in their eyes, you’re seeing a show based upon the exploitation of the misery of others, many of them in a downward spiral where they will soon no longer have Dad’s collection of Napoleonic War stuff to sell, when they’re hawking their wedding rings, plundering their kids college funds, losing their homes… I see the emotional war on many of the marks’ faces as they replay the events in their mind that lead to this point, and it’s nothing if not tragic.
The show (and store) is sleazy, it’s exploitative, and the people on the selling end of the transactions never come out well on the deal. And why would they? It’s a friggin’ pawn shop!
Murder In a Small Town X
A reality game-show in the summer of 2001 where people tried to solve a murder while themselves being hunted by the killer (one person was “killed” at the end of each episode). Not the worst concept in this brief description, but the actual show was poorly thought-out and had concepts that were just plain stupid (a religious cult of people called the “sweepers” who, yes, all had brooms and literally swept all before them).
Anyway, the thing that puts Murder in a Small Town X on this list is the fate of the winner. The show aired its last episode on September 4th, 2001, where NYC firefighter Angel Juarbe won a Jeep Grand Cherokee, $100-250k in cash, etc.
Tragically, Juarbe was killed one week later in the collapse of the first WTC tower on 9/11. I can only assume his winnings were given to his widow (if he had one).
I don’t really hate this show, but feel that it should be included in a list of bad reality shows… but this one wasn’t just bad, it was cursed.
The Morton Downey Junior Show
Are shows like Jerry Springer reality shows? If so, this one was the absolute worst, a vile rant for every episode. MDjr is also the last time I can remember someone smoking on TV ala Brinkley/Hunt in the '50s.
Dis-honorable mention…
John and Kate Plus 8
For a while, this one was enjoyable. But Kate’s barbs grew ever sharper, John started pulling back, and suddenly the show was about the disintegration of a marriage, with 8 small children caught in the middle. It went from cute to interesting to uncomfortable to tragic in a relatively short time.
I really don’t get that from the show. Usually, it’s someone saying “I dunno, we’ve had this wooden clock in the basement for forever and I think it’s old” or “I bought this bowl at a garage sale”. At this point, with the show having been on for years, I really think that the bulk of the sellers (that they bother to show) are thinking “Hey, I have a Civil War uniform; I bet I can get on Pawn Stars!” Who takes their War of 1812 era rifle with them to Vegas in case they need a quick pawn anyway?
Now the store is also filled with standard “stuff” they quickly show when doing the segment intros and I don’t doubt they have a fine collection of hastily pawned wedding bands but that stuff isn’t the crux of the show.
Personally, I’m burnt out on all things Jersey. Not that I was ever a fan but I can’t even be bothered to watch Cake Boss these days saying “I’m gonna surprise him with… A CAKE!” before entombing another pile of Rice Krispy treats with fondant.
Wow, flava of love…
What woman in het right mind would want to be with wrinkled half dead clock tower. That was a sad show and it started a trend of others. I live new york, tequila, rock of love etc
I know an old lady who is SO hooked on housewives, plastic surgery addicts, and Kardashians, it’s pathetic. I’m forced to sit and watch when I go to visit, and I get a running commentary: “now, this one here is married to the hairdresser…this one here had size DD implants and now she’s uncomfortable with them…ooh, there’s the pretty Kardashian who’s always fighting with her boyfriend…” I don’t CARE! I try to tell her much of this is scripted, made up, that someone thinks up dramatic situations because whose life is so busy and interesting every minute of every day? Poor old lady’s life is so dull, I think she wishes she was one of those overly made-up clowns throwing around money.
So I nominate Jerry Springer (really, every single show is the same, and so boring: who’s my babydaddy???) … any Housewives (show us some poor overweight Walmart shopper trying to save a buck, now that’s reality! … but not very interesting)…Kardashians (why, again? they are everywhere. EVERYWHERE! There are no more interesting answers to blind items, because it’s always a Kardashian doing something).
That was DC Cupcakes. I generally like cooking reality shows, but this one is just terrible. I watched a few episodes and just couldn’t take any more of the scripting and ridiculous scenarios. It seemed that every episode focused on the owners almost screwing up an important delivery… Either they’re really incompetent, or they don’t realize that there *is *such a thing as bad publicity.
Overall, though, I’d say Survivor is my least favorite reality show. I’m really not interested in watching a show in which somebody who isn’t skilled at something is forced to do it, poorly. I enjoy watching cooks cook or fashion designers design. I have no desire to watch an accountant fail miserably at building a raft or starting a fire with two sticks.
The one I really can’t stand (ok, I can’t stand any of them) is the one where the CEO of the company works in the trenches of his company, and realizes that his 60 million dollar bonuses wouldn’t be possible without these peons and his life/perspective has changed forever.
Yeah, right.
Is this called Undercover Boss? Anyway, how undercover could the person be with all the cameras, lights, crew, etc. following this person’s every step. I’m guessing someone will figure out pretty quickly that this new guy with the manicured nails and soft hands hasn’t worked a day of physical labor. Ever.
But c’mon. A camera crew follows the owner of the company around and NO ONE figures it out? Bullshit.
And add another in the Pawn Stars column. The IQ of every employee in that store is double digits, and Chumley may be the brightest of all of them.
Finally, the storage wars. I don’t know. I find it hard to believe that the owners of these places don’t rifle through the storage facilities first. After all, if the owner has not been paying, it is very possible he did pass away. The family may not even know about the storage facility. And they are putting the thing up for a blind auction. If I owned one of these places, why wouldn’t I open the lock some morning before the auction, rifle around the boxes and see what’s in there? Yeah, maybe it’s illegal, but who really cares? more importantly, who is really going to know? and finally, if they think they will be busted for pulling out a 50 year old comic book collection, what stops them from working with a buddy to buy all the worthwhile storage facilities and sell later?
They give the employees some bullshit story that they are filming a TV show where recently unemployed people (they usually say they were business owners of some kind) are competing for a job in the company. That way it makes sense that the person would be unskilled and explains the camera crew. They then usually get those employees to headquarters at the end by saying that they need to film a final review of the employee they worked with. I don’t know if they bother with having an actor play a second “contestant” and film that, too.
I watched a few minutes of this exploitative tripe (shopaholic who can spend up to $5,000 a month, and a 20-something woman who sucks her thumb), then turned the channel. According to the link, these people “meet with psychological experts,” but I don’t know if they’re cured, or helped in any lasting way. Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
It just seems sad on a number of levels. First is the addiction itself that takes over these people’s lives. That can be hard enough to deal with, but it seems worse to me to put yourself on TV and expose yourself to the nation. I see it as exploitative, both by the network and the addict (since presumably no one’s forced to be on a TV show – can you exploit yourself? maybe not, but you sure as hell can humiliate yourself).
Assuming this stuff (along with Intervention) is real, as real as this shit gets, I can’t imagine the majority of viewers being very compassionate, when it seems like human nature to slow down at a car wreck, not wondering if they can help, or feeling sadness at the dead person, or pity for the family, but wanting a glimpse of blood and guts (but not too much! That would be gross!). Instead, and I’m guessing, that most people watch this crap to feel better about themselves, if not outright laugh at the people on the show. Why else was a circus like Jerry Springer popular?
Yea my strange addiction is beyond stupid. Why do I care or even have sympathy for someone who eats comet. Really? It cleans bathtubes…you are an idiot. If thats the case lets just give a show to people who use inhalants
**Anything that features a Kardashian. **Two of them were on the Today show this week hawking yet ANOTHER reality show, and even Matt Lauer asked them if they believe they might becoming a little overexposed it with yet another show. Of course they answered “Oh no, of course we don’t”.
I actually used to like the **19 Kids and Counting **show, but instead of insight on how they run a household of 19 kids it’s all about their latest roadtrip to the zoo, a submarine, a hike, another church, the homeschooling conference, etc. etc. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that the older daughters are the ones raising all the kids and it makes me really, really sad.
Enough with all the food wars/food competitions reality shows. Do we really need another show about who makes the best cupcakes?
That was one of the problems, among many, with ** Jon and Kate Plus 8**. It’s stopped being about the challenges of raising a large brood, and more celebrity of the week (Hey, it’s Emeril! It’s the Harlem Globetrotters!) as well as big fancy excursion of the week (Hey Jon’s hanging out with the America Chopper guys! The kids are baking with Duff Goldman! Hey, they’re going to Alaska and meeting with Sarah Palin!).
No hating on Ted Allen! I love Chopped and think Ted does an okay job given the lack of need for a “host” on the show. And if you’ve seen Alex on anything else, she is awesome. Check her out on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I do, however, hate “It’s irresponsbile to serve fish with cheese/raw red onions/whole peppercorns/anything I don’t like” Scott Conant as he acts on Chopped.