# Are Reality Shows A Cop-Out.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810 "2012-03-15T00:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/21 "2012-03-16T23:46:09Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > Or sets to be designed and built, costumes designed and made, hair, make-up … > > Not so much, there is a ‘reality’ show on TV in the UK (can’t remember which but I think it might be TOWIE) that is known to be scripted, or at least partially scripted - as in the scenes are set up by writers/directors before the people are filmed. > > Pretty sure _Unstable_ is scripted, it credits a writer anyways, and the dialogue in the scenes is always stilted and childish (for a group of grown women) if they actually do speak to/about each other like that, then they won’t be in business very long! There’s a show in the US called [Operation Repo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Repo). The first time I saw it (my TiVo recorded it as a suggestion) I thought, “Something is not right about this”. I freeze-framed the end credits and discovered that the show is in fact fake. Although it’s shot like a reality show it’s actually completely scripted and acted (if you can call what these fat, ugly, obnoxious, white trash people do ‘acting’). They claim that they’re ‘based on actual cases’ but I doubt anyone is seriously vetting that claim. Whenever a discussion about reality TV comes up I always like to mention the 70s film _ **Network** _. Besides being a great film in its own right it is amazingly prophetic in terms of it positing TV becoming reality-blurring, trashy, totally-ratings-driven infotainment. In Roger Ebert’s review of it at the time he criticizes it for going too far and becoming too unrealistic. Who knew TV would not only equal its stuff but actually exceed it? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/22 "2012-03-16T23:58:32Z")
The loggers, the repo guys, those fuckers that catch fish with their feet - forget it. I don’t even watch “Survivor”. “And yeah, ‘Bubba’ that shore is a big ol’ 'gator!”:)🙂 “American Pickers” is good, but “Pawn Stars” has gotten stupid. Q ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/23 "2012-03-17T00:22:51Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Well that certainly sounds like the exception to the rule. And if there are credited writers, then it also sounds like they’re not trying to hide it. I’m only watching it these days for the lulz, it’s just so fake! Like the eejit telling someone else -on camera- not to let on to anyone else what they’re doing (borrowing someone else’s horse) and who walks in behind her…? Fake sounding argument ensues ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/24 "2012-03-17T20:52:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Reality shows are cheap. Far cheaper than writing a scripted show. And they cater for the lowest common denominator which guarantees a big audience. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/25 "2012-03-17T21:02:44Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > There’s a big difference between “Scripted” and “Jennifer said you were a bitch. Aren’t you mad about this? What do you want to say to Jennifer?” > > Of course everyone cast on a reality show knows that the bigger show you put on, the more the producers like it. Of course it’s manufactured. The biggest trick is Bob says something, then we cut to Steve reacting to what Bob said. Half the time the reaction shot is completely unrelated. But that’s not “scripting”, not even the way professional wrestling is scripted. In pro wrestling storylines are worked out in advance even if the exact dialog is improvised. In most reality shows storylines are built afterwards out of the masses of footage. Well, I think you’re right in that “scripted” is too precise a word. The shows like Jersey Shore or the ones where it’s supposedly a cadre of co-workers, the conflict scenes are not scripted but they’re obviously outlined, and then the producers rely on the cast to be improv actors. It’s the really really bad improv acting that gives everything away, and it’s getting worse and more obvious with each successive entry. Look at Jersey Shore this season. The big storyline arc was supposed to be about the big reveal, but it fizzled out like a wet fuse. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/26 "2012-03-18T22:15:47Z")
Is it really true that unscripted reality shows are cheaper because you don’t need to pay writers? Isn’t the money you save on writers going to be spent instead on all the extra footage you’re going to have to shoot and edit down in order to get something interesting and watchable? Camera, sound, and lighting crews and video editors may be cheaper than writers (I don’t actually know) but presumably you’re going to have to make them work (say) five times as many hours as on a scripted show, where you generally shoot only what’s written and leave very little on the cutting room floor. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810/27 "2012-03-19T23:41:30Z")
Do we not remember when the “Reality” TV fad started? I can’t remember the precise year, but it was basically during the Writers strike-before-last – late 1990’s maybe? It was a bad one, with the Screen-Actors Guild stepping out in support of the writers and a lot of acrimony between the creative talents and the management/business people. Before that strike, the UK had Big Brother and MTV created a slightly-less-racy American version. One of the ways the networks and studios filled the time slots of shows that weren’t getting written was to put up more “Reality” shows like Big Brother and Real World. No script, no union actors? No need! The schlock proved popular and inexpensive, and they’ve never gone away like they should have once the Writers ironed out new contracts. * * * Game shows have been around for eons, and Quiz Show (mentioned earlier) showed how even they could be corrupted. Barry/Enwright continued to produce game shows (e.g. The Jokers Wild; Name That Tune) even after their scandal. Mixing ‘reality’ camera work with grandoise game-show contests was just another easy way to tap the ‘reality’ market and still not pay writers or actors for quality work. But it still generates viewers and, therefore, commercial revenue. I’d say we get what we (don’t) pay for: Roman contests diverting the attention of the masses from the Empire’s problems. –G! Curtain up let the camera roll It’s automatic it’s in control Got no script baby, ain’t no lines Just me and you and a real good time . --Def Leppard . _Action! Not Words_ . High N Dry [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-reality-shows-a-cop-out/615810.md?page=1)