# If TV could show ANYthing... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632 "2011-02-25T21:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/41 "2011-02-27T19:19:55Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Has anyone here seen the movie **Series 7**? Heh. I’ve always liked that movie. If people haven’t seen it yet, it’s on Netflix streaming. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/42 "2011-02-27T19:28:26Z")
Already proposed this in the thread about the show. _Cut Off_ (the rich little princesses getting a small dose of reality) meets _The Killing Fields_. Where they get an even stronger dose of potentially fatal reality. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/43 "2011-02-27T23:36:13Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I remember a sci-fi short story that involved a TV with a special feature. It could tune in to “bugged” homes and you could watch what happens. Totally random and the big secret is how the homes are bugged. I remember reading that story! I never forgot it. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/44 "2011-02-27T23:49:29Z")
A real [Rollerball](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073631/). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/45 "2011-02-28T00:20:25Z")
Crikey, you’re a bloodthirsty lot. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/46 "2011-02-28T00:37:40Z")
If there was a televised reality show showing people hunting each other down with guns, I think the point would get hammered in that it’s really really easy to get shot to death, and fewer people would fantasize that somehow they’d be the triumphant hero. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/47 "2011-02-28T01:20:29Z")
I have no interest in increased realistic violence on TV. Or anywhere, really. I would like to see more uncensored natural behaviour, such as proper swearing in scenes that would warrant it, proper nudity where it would appear in real life. Either show it or don’t show it. Don’t almost show it but really hide it. If it needs to be there, show it. If it doesn’t need to be there then don’t include it in the story in the first place. i.e. stop being gratuitous, but stop being prudish. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/48 "2011-02-28T01:36:22Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Heh. I’ve always liked that movie. If people haven’t seen it yet, it’s on Netflix streaming. I just watched Series 7 on Netflix On Demand based on this thread. It is a hysterical parody of reality shows that depicts exactly what I was looking for. It pushes the concept way beyond normal boundaries in a realistic format of today’s reality shows. The only parody I have ever seen that is more graphic and disturbing is the short film [Sunday’s Game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RW1Yil7ZRk) but I don’t think that would ever happen in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/49 "2011-02-28T15:10:50Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > [Stephen King thought of it first.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Running_Man) Robert Silverburg had a variation of the concept with “The Pain Peddlers” (with full-sensory input) back in 1963, and I wouldn’t bet on that being the earliest iteration of the concept. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/50 "2011-02-28T16:53:55Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > As it is they show way too much vomiting. I can only imagine what they’d show if there were no boundaries. So I’m going to have to go with bodily functions: uncut and unfiltered. Yeah, what’s up with that? All of a sudden everybody’s vomiting on TV. Please stop this. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/51 "2011-02-28T18:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Robert Silverburg had a variation of the concept with “The Pain Peddlers” (with full-sensory input) back in 1963, and I wouldn’t bet on that being the earliest iteration of the concept. It’s not. Robert Sheckley’s _The Prize of Peril_ is apparently the earliest incarnation, from 1958. It was made into a German TV movie 9\*\* Das Millionenspiel\*\*) in 1970, well before Stephen King’s story. (It was later turned into a French film, _Le Prix du Danger_, too, in 1983) > **[Das Millionenspiel (TV Movie 1970) ⭐ 7.6 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066079/)** > > 1h 36m When “The Running Man” first came out, Sheckley was troubled, and supposedly called Harlan Ellison and had a long telephone conversation with him. He was sure King wouldn’t have intentionally ripped him off. They supposedly decided that King probably read Sheckley’s earlier story and was subconsciously influenced by it. King has never said anything about it that I’m aware of. I can often see where King’s influences probably lie. And Sheckley has got to be one of the most ripped-off SF writers around. Not by King, but by a variety of writers and filmmmakers. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/52 "2011-02-28T19:14:15Z")
I’m taking the OP to mean, “What would you like to see if censorship rules were lifted?” Not, “What would you like to see if laws against murder and torture were lifted?” In that spirit, the main thing I would like to see is the ridiculous over-dubbing of naughty words to stop. I mean, really. “Mickey-Fickey”? ---
**Author:** ![ripopgome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@ripopgome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ripopgome)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/53 "2011-02-28T19:44:09Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m watching a couple of Canadian-made series right now that have realistic swearing (_Lost Girl_ and _Todd and the Book of Pure Evil_) and I can’t believe what a difference it makes - when someone comes home to a chopped up body, they say, “Holy shit!” or some variation on that, not, “Oh my!” > > I want to see that. > > I would totally watch both of those. > > The show “How It’s Made” which documents how ordinary, household things are made is surprisingly interesting - these shows might also be. > > From your lips to God’s ears. 😃 Project Runway Australia was awesome not just because they had better challenges and nicer people, but because they were allowed to swear. I think every show had at least one f-bomb and it greatly added to empathizing with the contestants, I thought. And ‘How It’s Made’ is totally hypnotic to me. Yeah, I like to watch machinery, I’m an engineer, blah blah – but I’ve been known to watch a couple of hours of it at a stretch… good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/54 "2011-02-28T19:45:31Z")
I’d cancel my satellite service if any of these glorified snuff films became available. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/55 "2011-02-28T21:51:14Z")
Fox News does a fairly good job of it already, but we should just give up all pretense, and go forward with [Prejudice!](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/prejudice.php) After all, who can argue with Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards!? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/56 "2011-02-28T23:42:17Z")
I want to see things that almost no one in the world is privy to. With the internet, we can see plenty of fucking, swearing, and death. For my own curiosity, I’d want to see all of the back and forth debate in high levels of the world’s government. How does a president and his cabinet and the Joint Chiefs decide on how much collateral damage is too much? What was it like in BP’s board room after the spill? What kind of creepy legalese goes on when Scientologists decide who to sue and who to kill? ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/57 "2011-03-01T02:44:10Z")
How about a film crew with total access at an abortion clinic? And then interview friends and family (and the boyfriend) of the woman getting the procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/58 "2011-03-01T02:45:17Z")
Remake Lost. Only this time, they play it for real on a booby trapped island. Last one alive ‘wins’. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/59 "2011-03-01T03:01:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Crikey, you’re a bloodthirsty lot. I KNOW! It fascinates me how many seem so interested in seeing people die, often horrifically! I have no desire to ever see people die. I’m not so much judging as not understanding the desire. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632/60 "2011-03-01T03:04:52Z")
> [@Heyoka13](#): > > How about a film crew with total access at an abortion clinic? And then interview friends and family (and the boyfriend) of the woman getting the procedure. That actually does sound interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-tv-could-show-anything/572632.md?page=4)