Ironic bit of trivia:
One of the bajillion ideas the networks for reality shows that the networks have been bombarded with recently was, indeed, “make up your own reality show.” Needless to say (I think), the idea they passed on this idea.
Help, I’m a college student, get me out of here!
Contestants that sign up will be randomly picked to be ‘inmates’ or ‘wardens’ in an abandoned prison that will be their home for the show. Without prior warning, the inmates will be ‘arrested’, ‘rushed to trial’, and ‘convicted’ on felony charges picked by America. Wardens earn prizes for brutal and creative methods of controlling the prisoners and try to make them all leave the show. The inmate who lasts the longest wins a million dollars and their freedom.
Note: Registered students, employees, and alumni of Stanford University are ineligible to appear on this show.
Beer Goggles
Get some “studly” single guy into a bar filled with 100 sexy ladies and one butt ugly one. All the sexy ladies give him the nudge except the ugly one that looks very much like his mother.
See how much beer he needs before going home with the ugly one.
No real winners, I just see this as a real FOX TV show.
Osborne Nanny
Players are locked in a room with Jack and Kelly. Person to survive the longest wins.
Urban Camping
Players are forced to live on the streets of a major city. Watch the fun as contestants eat out of dumpsters, freeze to death in the icy cold winters and get a bad infestation of scabies from the local shelter.
Get Mental!!
Players spend a month in circa 1950’s mental ward. The first one to remember their own name ofter 50 shock treatment sessions wins.
Here’s another serious idea:
Back Stage: Essentially, Noises Off, updated. Actually, I really wouldn’t want to do this as a “Reality Show”, but it could work. It follows the backstage exploits of a theatrical production in development, following the antics at rehearsals, the wild after-rehearsal gatherings in the parking lot for three hours, after which everyone goes to Denny’s for another two hours, then everyone goes home.
There’ll be fights with the director, petty squabbles between the actors, techies mocking the actors (fuckin’ actors, man… utter wastes of space… can’t see a goddamned thing), behind-the-scenes politicking (one of the director’s Favorites arranging for a certain cast member to be kicked from the show, for instance).
At the end of the season, they actually put on the theatrical production, with a full studio audience, and that’s the season finale. Then the next season, it starts all over again.
The reason why I think it would work best as fiction is because… well… if you got “reality” actors to do the job, they would NEVER show their real selves while on camera. That’s what actors do… act. And then you wouldn’t be able to get real techies to do the job, because… well… they’d be techies, not actors, and they’d just shrug at a lot of the things there. Plus, one of the interesting dynamics would be how the actors and techies cooperate with the director, and the histories that are there…
This whole idea would work FAR better as a fictional TV show, but it would be interesting as a Reality Show.
“There. Now no one can say I don’t have Charlie Sheen’s spine.” - Bender
The iterative Reality show.
Take a group of random people and put them in an studio board room for weeks without food until they are delusional with hunger. The first person to actually create with a reality show stupid enough that Fox execs won’t greenlight it wins $50,000. The prize goes up to 0ne million dollars if the idea causes at least one exec to say the phrase “Well, that might be kind of offensive”.
This actually happens…(in a way)
Real Stories of Stressed Programmers
Randomly assemble a group of programmers, dump them into a controlled environment and give then two weeks to produce a complex program (no Internet access allowed!) All documentation, software needed to create the program and reference materials are provided, as well as food and basic necessities. Different groups of programmers compete to get the job done!
See programmers argue, pushing blame and throwing keyboards out from the windows when they just found out their source files are corrputed!
Sophie’s Real Choice
Which one of your children would you get rid of for a million dollars?
Eye On Iraq
Cameras catch the daily life of an Iraqui citizen from morning prayers til the smart bomb blows up the TV station he isworking in.
The Operation
A Russian Roulette plastic surgery show. 10 average Americans are given free plastic surgery. The catch? One of them will have a reverse surgery. The Lipo Show will have 9 people get liposuction and one person gets fat added. The Rhino Show will have one of the 10 get a Karl Malden addition to his nose.
American President
Viewers eliminate one candidate each week. The last one to be eliminated gets to be President.
You know it’s coming…
jr8 what you describe IS happening. Some sort of reality show will deterimine a candidate. (tho will not automatically become president.
(jr8 how is this different than the primary process 
)
Courtesy George Will: A person will be payed to play Russian Roulette. They (or thier estate) gets $1 million
Variation. 5 bullets are put in a 6 shot revolver. 6 people compete for when they pull the trigger. You want to go last because probably some shots have gone off.
Spam the Spammers: Known spammers are pelted with cans of spam by disgruntled citizens.
Slightly more serious:
Real survivor: People are stranded somewhere. No stupid games. no voting off. No supplied food. (tho contestants are allowed to bring whatever thet can fit in a 3x3x4 foot trunk) People can leave voluntarily(sp?) or if medical experts determine they are in grave danger. Whoever is left after one year splits the pot.
Around the world: ala Michael Palin. First around the world wins. no planes.
Brian
would watch realimpics
Sh*tstorm- All the contestants are locked in the primate cage at the zoo. Whoever comes out cleanest is crowned the king. (“How do you know he’s the king?” “He’s not covered in sh*t.”)
The Taxman Cometh- Cameras are hidden on IRS agents as they audit businesses and individuals. Watch as grown men sob, plead for leniency and claim that they didn’t know you can’t claim a basset hound as a dependant.
Green Card- Basically Joe Millionaire, but with a green card as the prize for marrying the eligible bachelor. At the end the producers tell the bride-to-be that the person isn’t really a US citizen, and they offer the couple jobs as undocumented workers (Rupert Murdoch’s gardener for example) as a consolation prize.
Who Wants to Marry Mike Tyson?- Nuff said.
I guess Robin Givens can’t be in the Celebrity “Who Wants To Marry Mike Tyson”.
I swear I was gonna start this thread.
A Candid Camera type show including a segment where an ax-wielding maniac begins slaughtering a child right in front of his/her mother’s eyes only to reveal that the kid was actually a lookalike from Mexico!
The Bad News Bears
Using hidden cameras, people (dressed as bears) go around giving unsuspecting “contestants” their bad news: You’re being fired/audited/arrested; you/your child/your parent have/has cancer; your dog/child/parent is dead, etc. All of America watches in horrid fascination as s/he dissolves in a pool of tears. Nobody wins. Just pure, dark fun!
The main differences are that you’d have more candidates to choose from, and a lot more people would vote than presently do. The quality of the candidates is not likely to be appreciably different from recent real-life presidential wannabes. It’s a win-win situation all around.
Sleeping with Michael Ellis
Women are asked whether they would sleep with me for $1000 dollars.
Gotta love a Monty Python quote.
And my show would be “I’m a Fox Reality TV Executive, vote on how hard I should be beaten!”
I suppose you’ll have better luck with that than with your Win Michael Ellis’s Virginity! idea…
**No Working Title As Of Yet **
Drop a bunch of randomly selected ( kidnapped) fundies into the gay district in San Francisco. Watch their reactions.
Then, take a bunch of gays, blacks, asians, arabic and let them open a (snicker) strip mall in Asboink, right in the middle of a bible belt. Perhaps where Fred Phelps lives.
Fun ! Fun ! Fun!
Instead of **Road Rules ** with young, whiny early 20’s who are all hat and no cattle, I propose **RV ing across America with your Inlaws **
Take a married couple and both sets of inlaws, ( even better if there have been divorces and remarriages.) put everyone ( including kids, poodles and cats) in an RV with no AC or radio, and tell them they have to make it to X by such and such a time.
Sit back and watch the fire works.