I don’t watch those shows. survivor seems interesting but i never bothered to watch it. there are only a few shows that i even watch anymore like the Simpsons.
ive seen real world but its seemed very artificial and contrived to me, so i think it’s pretty lame.
Eventually they will probably get the point and stop making more of these shows…
come to the dark side
love always…
Ponch
from what I’ve seen, the whiners have inherited the tube.
However, shouldn’t we help the downtrodden, the less fortunate, the impoverished? Shouldn’t we have acollection for the 50% of the criminals on Cops who can’t even afford a shirt…
Can’t stand reality shows either, though the last one I saw was a Real World episode years ago. Give me the GameShow network, or cartoon network, but alas, I have had my satelite disconnected since February.
I am currently riding a Lawrence Welk revival, as that is on one of our PBS stations here.
Michi, there you go again … 
When the day comes that I can’t have a laugh over the misfortunes of my fellow man, then that’s the day I put on my cranky old maid outfit and spit at the neighbors children when they step on my lawn.
That being said, I don’t watch Survivor, Big Brother or Real World. I thoroughly enjoyed 1900 House. As for Fox’s reality shows. I still laugh when I think about the lady whose husband was attacked by the bear.
“He just wanted to pet the baby bear. He wasn’t hurting anybody.” And who could forget the deer who kicked the hunter’s ass.
Does that make me a bad person?
Thank God there are other out there who feel my pain.
I can’t stand these shows, and what makes it worse is that my wife loves 'em. I have to leave the room when they are on because I feel sullied otherwise. I secretly think that she doesn’t like them either…she knows I hate them and only watches them to punish me for subjecting her to football six months out of the year.
Whoops. That should be "Thank God there are others
Me do know how write good. Honest.
I echo Denbo (both times) and most of the rest. Sometimes I feel like the only one in the world who hates, loathes, despises, and is irritated beyond all possible verbal description by this plague of bs “reality” shows. It started with the “Cops” thing, which, unfortunately, SO Cygnus would watch cheerfully when he happened to come across it (though, to give him credit, he didn’t search for it or know what its regular broadcast time was). It pained me to watch the endless parade of violence and degradation of real people being trotted out before the camera for the “entertainment” of others, to such a point that I simply left the room if it was on. These people alternated between contemptible and pathetic, and I just don’t see the entertainment value of watching a woman beaten by a boyfriend crying and bleeding on camera, or drunken morons beating each other bloody in the street while cops try to get handcuffs on them. Isn’t it bad enough that this is so prevalent in real life, without turning it into a cheap voyeuristic “thrill” for strangers? Human misery isn’t fun, it’s painful. Then came the car chases, animal attacks, etc, and, while marginally less depraved, still mostly incomprehensible to me, since I can’t recall ever seeing anything pleasant among them, and again, I just don’t see the fun in manglings and other frightening events. (And I find outright stupidity depressing, not entertaining.) And finally, now, these contrived, manufactured, fake “reality” shows that take it all to a new depth. “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire” (groan) - gee, that doesn’t cheapen human relationships much, does it? “Survivor” - how dare they pretend that it’s anything more than another money-grubbing game show created and fed by its own hype? All the rest - more of the same. Am I the only one who keeps feeling shades of novels written decades ago that imagined this kind of “reality entertainment” as part of a dark, brave new world? Scary to think where we’re headed, as the concept of reality grows ever blurrier, and the lowest common denominator sinks ever lower.
If I’m watching tv, it’s “Whose Line” (now that’s funny, with a merely entertaining sprinkling of stupid), “Jeopardy”, “Bugs Bunny”, or some of the more interesting documentaries on PBS. (We don’t have cable, so my menu is limited, which is not such a bad thing. TV certainly has its place, but I suspect its place is generally way too high in mind of the average viewer.)
Final answer? I really hate these shows.
Everyone is going on and on about how loathesome reality TV is, and in my heart of hearts I agree with some (but not all) of what’s being said.
But look at this message board. It’s chock-full of confessions, apologies, boasts, pleas for help, expressions of sympathy, boozey regrettable accusations, hugs and rants. And not exactly privately stated, I might add… anyone with a computer and modem IN THE ENTIRE WORLD is free to observe. I think many posters enjoy the public display of their feelings, opinions and experiences as much as the participants on Real World.
Furthermore, do you really think this MB isn’t filled with its “auditioned” characters, too? Let’s list 'em: The touch-feely types. The cynics. The academics. The just-the-facts intellectuals. The wise-crackers. The fight-pickers. The gotta-be-the-first-to-replyers. Etc. Etc. Sometimes I suspect some the SDMB posters came straight out of Central Casting, they are that predictable.
So, what makes TV so reprehensible, and the SDMB so commendable?
Hellllllloooo…
Okay, so about two dozen people sounded off against reality TV, but no one answered the question I raised in my previous post, namely:
So, what makes TV so reprehensible, and the SDMB so commendable?
I’m gonna give this post a little booooooooost and see if anyone salutes now that the board isn’t as sluggish as it was this afternoon.
I have no interest in looking at the problems of other people. I have enough of my own, thank you VERY much 
I used to watch Real World for the fights and sex, but it got boring because they got more mature people.
No cable, no dish, no tv for… let’s see, 4 years? I don’t even know what “reality tv” is. Oh well. I have the internet.
stuyguy: No one on the SDMB has tried to sell me McDonald’s, or a new car, or beer, or feminine hygiene products in between posts, at a volume that would deafen a Harley. It’s niiiiice and quiet here. Plus, I don’t think many of us are typing from a script. We really are cynics, academics, and just-the-facts intellectuals. That’s what makes it real. ish.
Alpine: No commercials on the SDMB… okay, good point.
But I don’t know where you (and many of the other posters) get the idea these reality shows are scripted. Maybe the situations are contrived, but the reactions appear genuine. As do the personalities.
The SDMB has “cynics, academics, and just-the-facts intellectuals” (to name JUST three types… we all know there are more); Real World has home-boys, naive heartlanders and over-the-top gay guys (also just to name three).
Why are we Dopers – and our reactions – any more real than theirs? I smell hypocrisy in the air.
If I participated in the Real World, would I watch it?
Of course.
The thing that makes the SDMB different is that I’m not just watching you guys post; I can interact with you too. As it is, the Real World is just a bunch of overemotional strangers who I don’t care about, living in a really nice house. I’d rather hang out here where I’m a part of the community instead of just an observer.
Haven’t ever seen any of them either, because they look like a phenomenal bore. I’d never gotten the impression they were scripted; from what I hear they might be better if they were.
I do wonder if the crews and producers give the little affairs and disagreements a nudge from time to time, though.
Catrandom
Reality shows? I have seen one episode of “The Real World,” but I haven’t watched any of the others. “1900 House” is one I’ve never even heard of, although I’d have to be living under a rock to not hear of “Survivor,” and “Big Brother.” I just can’t muster any interest in the things. Other than “COPS,” which I have watched occasionally over the years.