So I just discovered a new (new to me) show: Shark Tank. Where have I been all this time? How did I not know about this show already? It’s SO addictive.
I’ve slowly been watching more and more reality television as I grow older. Used to be I hated all forms of reality tv shows other than The Amazing Race…
…recently, though, I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser, Catfish, Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, Undercover Boss…and now, Shark Tank.
I’m starting to see these shows as sort of MY “guilty pleasure” shows.
What about you? What are your guilty pleasure reality TV shows? And do you watch or like Shark Tank and, if so, what do you think of it?
Shark Tank can be interesting, but I find Kevin O’Leary annoying, for calling himself “Mr Wonderful”, for telling people who turn down his offer, “You’re dead to me” and for his silly royalty-based offers. Plus there’s his pretentiousness about wine, talking about his membership in the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.
I have a family member that has been involved in the production of the show for a while, so I started watching from the start. I love it - it’s a very guilty pleasure of mine. I have no connection at all to that world, other than a college friend who has made a very good go of being a VC. Reading his insight into the industry (via various articles he writes) shows it’s not entirely accurate in the broader world - but in the Shark Tank world, it certainly is. I see and use the products being pitched (there are several Scrub Daddies in my sink, and my wife has a R. Riveter purse). The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.
One of the fingers on the hand of shows I’d ever deign watch, but I got out of the habit when baseball season started, and now I’ve forgotten what night it is on.
Kevin O’Leary is a shitbag, and not nearly as intelligent as he thinks he is. (I still remember wanting to throw shit at the TV while he was wasting time making some poor entrepreneur sit through some tortured metaphor about Persephone, a Greek goddess whose name he didn’t know how to pronounce. (Kept calling her purse-a-phone.))
I like the rest of them, though - especially Daymond and Barbara, who tend to be the most level-headed and respectful to the pitchers.
From what I’ve read, he hit the jackpot when Mattel bought his company and waaaaay overpaid for it. Whether they overpaid because of O’Leary’s salesmanship or his accounting practices, I don’t know.
Actually several of them just got lucky when they got rich. Mark Cuban, for instance, got rich when he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for something like $5 billion.
BTW, there have been a couple of instances on the show where the male sharks basically steamrolled over the female sharks, Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran. I think one of those two got really mad once and may have stormed off set.
And I hate it when the entrepreneur/contestant starts his/her pitch with some sort of sob story (about a dead parent or some such thing), talks up their military experience or brings out small children to assist in the pitch.
I have to wonder why Robert even does the show anymore. He makes offers on very few deals and is seldom taken up on them, oftentimes getting steamrolled by Cuban. While I am sure Cuban is a smart, hard-working guy, he’s also an arrogant bully (but not as much of one as Kevin.) Robert seems like a pretty smart guy and not as much of a showman as some of the others, and I think that is what kicks him in the nuts. Or, maybe he just doesn’t want the volume of deals that the other sharks have.
On each show, I swear 50% of the entrepreneurs are really just there to get exposure for their product. I’d love to see an analysis of what happens to the folks who land a shark vs the ones who don’t.
I agree, the exposure is the only thing many of the entrepreneurs are after, but it ain’t free; just to get on the show they have to give ABC a percentage of their company (I believe it’s 5%), whether they make a deal with the sharks or not. Seems like a pretty good deal for them (ABC). I get really annoyed with these people; you’ve been in business 10 years, your company is taking in millions already, and you want $125,000 for 3%? You’re so obviously not here for a deal.
And am I the only one who prefers to see the failures rather than the deals? I don’t care about the great ideas, I just want to see the sharks shred someone’s moronic idea (fake cell phone?!) and point out all of the obvious mistakes they’ve made. If I want to see people give and take constructive criticism in a positive, respectful manner I’ll watch The Profit.
The Sharks are aware of that phenomenon, which is one reason they sometimes pile on a guy who is hesitant on a deal as good or better than what they asked for.
I enjoy the show. Idle Thoughts or others, if you want a slightly gentler version you can try the show it was based on: Dragons Den. There’s the U.K. original and the Canadian version that both Robert and O’Leary were on.
A couple of months ago, BBC America was airing several episodes of Dragons Den (the UK version) on Saturday mornings. What immediately jumped out at me was that the investors on that show were much more serious than the ones on the US show, who far too often shown to be having fun. And the UK investors were absolutely merciless in ripping proposals to shreds. The one I remember the most was a Scottish woman whose company made food from seaweed, although I’m not able to find it on YouTube.
I love this show. Regardless how silly an idea may be, I’m always impressed when someone can take and idea an turn it into an actual product. Even if it didn’t sell well, it’s still and impressive feat.
Interesting that you bring this up, I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. My best friend loves it, and I was visiting him, so we watched a few episodes. I hated all of those people. I didn’t enjoy it, I think it reminded me too much of work (I am a finance person).
I do like reality TV though. I love everything HGTV. I used to watch a lot of true crime shows, but I seem to have gone off those. I adored American Idol, but have never warmed up to The Voice. I hear Idol is coming back, I am pleased about that.
That’s why we enjoy watching the old ones rather than the recent ones; after each presentation we go to this blog and see what happened to the product. Interesting stuff!