# PBS ads featuring fake reality shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728 "2013-05-30T17:27:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/1 "2013-05-30T17:27:48Z")
PBS has been running an ad campaign in New York featuring fake reality shows. Some of these are pretty funny. [http://gawker.com/pbs-mocks-the-state-of-tv-with-fake-reality-shows-tha-510331162](http://gawker.com/pbs-mocks-the-state-of-tv-with-fake-reality-shows-tha-510331162) > [@](#): > > Hoping to use this to their advantage, New York metropolitan area PBS affiliate Thirteen recently teamed up with CHI&Partners to launch an ad campaign mocking real reality shows by promoting fake reality shows that look real. > > “The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV,” says a tagline pointing to mock promos for such upsettingly possible shows as Bad Bad Bagboys, Married to a Mime, Knitting Wars, and Bayou Eskimos. Sadly, I can also imagine some unscrupulous TV producer at this very moment drawing inspiration from these ads and trying to make them reality - or should I say “reality.” Anyway, I especially got a kick out of the “Bad Bad Bag Boys” poster. Clean up on every aisle. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/2 "2013-05-30T17:34:06Z")
I never watch reality shows (if you don’t count a couple episodes of “Project Runway”) and I have no interest in any of them, but I have to admit I’m kind of disappointed that “Knitting Wars” isn’t really a thing. “The Dillionaire”, about a self-made pickle mogul, looked like a pretty funny premise too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/3 "2013-05-30T17:35:35Z")
I’d still watch [Tiny House](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXKqdi0Wp0E). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/4 "2013-05-31T02:24:07Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I never watch reality shows (if you don’t count a couple episodes of “Project Runway”) and I have no interest in any of them, but I have to admit I’m kind of disappointed that “Knitting Wars” isn’t really a thing. Well, they could have a Jello wrestling match between the hosts of _Knit & Crochet Today._ “In this corner we have that star of _One Life to Live,_ [‘Kassie the Lassie’ DePaiva](http://www.somuchmoore.com/images/releases/kdp020508.jpg)! And in this corner we have the knitting editor whose dimples could cut glass, [‘Brett the Babe’ Bara!](http://www.createtv.com/CreateProgram.nsf/vHosts/Brett%20Bara/$FILE/Brett_Bara_host.jpg)” I’d pledge. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/5 "2013-05-31T03:13:59Z")
Speaking of PBS and reality shows; does anyone else wish they’d do another historical recreation show like **1900 House** or **Manor House** , but set on an antebellum plantation? 🙂 I know that idea would never get approved, but it’d sure be a lancinating show to watch. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/6 "2013-05-31T04:00:48Z")
Reminds me of the MeTV commercial for “I Love Lucy”: you see a screenshot of “Real Housewives of Banana County”–which then switches to Fred Mertz kicking in a TV. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/7 "2013-05-31T16:05:48Z")
I remember one day I was on my PC with the TV playing in the other room and I heard a commercial for a show called “Extreme Couponing” and I assumed it was to be a parody that was really an ad for something else (like those Energizer ads from years ago). When I realized it was real, I honestly couldn’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-ads-featuring-fake-reality-shows/659728/8 "2013-05-31T16:15:49Z")
The woman on the treadmill next to me a week ago had My Dog Ate What? on the tv and I thought we can’t get any lower.