Reality Families are the very worst TV has to offer. What's THIS family's deal?

Do any of you know the hook on that Discovery network reality show Village of the Damned? I mean Welcome to Plathville? All of the promos are just different blond people saying they aren’t speaking to each other after some arguement or another.

All the other shows have hooks. They’re little people, they fish, they live in Alaska, they have multiple spouses, they are not-gay embezzlers and white collar criminals, they abuse children in pageants and as unpaid workers and sexual abuse victims, but the only thing I can gleam from the promos is that they are all blond and never speaking to each other again.

Full disclosure: I do watch the veterinarian and behind-the-scenes-at-the-zoo reality shows but those don’t really count, do they?

This looks informative:

My synopsis is some religious wackos try to raise their horde of kids on a farm and as the kids turn into teens, say “screw that noise”, and move out it pretty well leads to open warfare in the extended family.

Thanks, that does explain things. Their hook is weird religious homesteaders. But, unlike the Duggars, their kids hit the skids fast.

It sounds not unlike the old reality series Amish in the City, which profiled several young Amish adults who were out on “Rumspringa”: a rite-of-passage in which Amish youth spend time away from the community, experiencing what life is like for non-Amish, before (usually) returning to the Amish community and committing to it as adults.

Now I have to confess that I did watch whole episodes of the reality tv show about Amish kids not returning and how they got along in the English world. Didn’t think about that until Uncle Ben reminded me. Not sure why I stopped watching. I think they stopped making them. Not enough weird sexual drama, probably.

Yeah. “Rebellious” Amish kids tend to be very milquetoast by mainstream standards, which makes sense if you think about it. I’m sure you can find a completely whack outlier if you looked hard enough but by and large the kids on rumspringa are not running very wild.

I remember when that was new, a reviewer said they really should have inverted it by sending some rebellious secular teenagers to go live the Amish lifestyle for a season.

I agree. “Reality TV” is an oxymoron of immense proportions. I though it was garbage the first time I experienced it, and my opinion of it has only worsened over time.

Who else would allow cameras into their home to film their intimate moments for broadcast to a national audience? I’m thinking the people who would agree to such a thing are likely to be trainwrecks to begin with. I hate reality shows.

Totally agree with @Jasmine and @Odesio - I have seen maybe 5 minutes of reality TV footage in my entire life.

On the other hand, I haven’t encountered the veterinary/behind-the-scenes-at-the-zoo type shows that @Biggirl mentions - those seem like perfectly watchable premises, because the shows would be based on actual reality about people’s jobs, rather than some contorted interpersonal dramas exaggerated for effect, featuring people with a narcissistic desire to be watched and/or a craven willingness to do anything for cash.

Ahhh! I totally love this! :smiling_imp:

I watch Plathville, and have since the beginning.

The family originally did have a hook - they were a “quiverfull” type religious family like the Duggars. Bunch of kids, all homeschooles, strict rules. Their oldest boy, Ethan, had gotten married to a woman (Olivia) who had grown up in a similar family but she had “seen the light” and busted out and realized how toxic that type of family environment was.

Once they were married, Olivia also had some issues with the way the mother, Kim, had manipulated Ethan into opening a credit card then using it to “join” Kim’s MLM (pyramid scheme - Plexus maybe?) downline. Ethan wasn’t educated and had no idea what Kim was doing, but it was costing Ethan money and messing up his credit and the family (Ethan & Olivia’s) money.

So Olivia didn’t like the Plaths and the Plaths didn’t like Olivia and the first season was a push/pull for Ethan’s soul or something.

The third season, the second oldest daughter, Moriah (tidbit - the oldest daughter Hosannah has never been on the show and as far as we know does not communicate with the family) broke out from the family grip and was living with Ethan & Olivia, and getting her first taste of dating. Also the next son, Micah, was out of the house, first living with the siblings but then moving to Los Angeles to be a Hot Young Guy In Los Angeles. At the same time, Ethan was basically a hot mess of a man, not really knowing how to be in a healthy adult relationship with Olivia, so there was a lot of “will they stay together?” during those seasons.

Also during last season the parents, Kim & Barry, started breaking up. This season they’re full on separated and Kim is dating someone else. Also Moriah is sick of Ethan & Olivia, and they are sick of her, so she’s out on her own. Micah is in LA still. Ethan and Olivia just moved out of Tampa to Minnesota. The next oldest boy, Isaac, is now getting more air time.

Basically with this show they started off with one premise (a quiverfull family) but everyone had such quirky personalities and they served up so much drama that TLC just said “Keep filming! We can’t make this stuff up!” and it’s as compelling as any boring afternoon scripted drama so they just keep giving them new seasons. The premise isn’t remotely the same as it was in the beginning, other than “this family is weird.”

So the promos are spot on. “We are all blond and never speaking to each other again!”

I’ve only seen the promos and, all this time, I thought it is a scripted drama!

I don’t watch that junk. Wait…I watched Gene Simmons show. Then that got stupid.

I love the Zoo shows.
Right now I’m on to reality cop shows. OnPatrol, Cops, Jail. Just a phase I’m going through.

I’ve seen 1000s of cooking shows.
Old Movies. Old sitcoms. PBS. You name it I’ve probably seen it. I caught myself watching Dancing with the Stars, the other night.

I fear I’ve outlived my ability to find crap to watch. Just can’t do shopping channels. News is too depressing. And those reality families just won’t do. My standards have lowered, but not that much.

Ah, well.

Yeah pretty much. I honestly couldn’t see myself being into this show w/o having been with it the whole time. It would be hella boring to just drop in. Also, I listen to a podcast that covers this show (not exclusively - they do other reality TV) and so it’s more fun to watch when you can listen to snark later.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Moriah, who had been trying on this “bad girl” persona thing, has decided that she wants to go back to God and got herself baptized a couple episodes ago. The next oldest sister, Lydia, who was brainwashed and parentified to the hilt, is over the moon. She’s very in to God.

Moriah also got a full forearm tattoo that says “REBEL”. She says she used to rebel against God but now she’s rebelling against The Devil.

The crux of the “we’re not talking to each other” drama is that Olivia dropped nuggets about Kim’s financial abuse on one of the episodes (last season? 2 seasons ago?) and Kim & Barry told the kids “that’s not true!” and then Micah, Moriah, Lydia and Isaac made a “group statement” on Instagram that what Olivia was saying about the credit cards wasn’t true, they stand with their mom.

But Olivia explained clear as day what was happening with the credit cards, so the fans all believe her. Kim & Barry are just manipulators who manipulated their kids into believing them. To the point where Barry says Ethan is brainwashed. Classic “he who smelt it dealt it” defense.

There’s also some issues with Olivia having set up Moriah’s digital music online, since Moriah has zero technical skill (remember, up until the show started, they were living in a bubble). That was when Olivia and Moriah were besties. But now Moriah is out of E&O’s house, Moriah thinks that Olivia stole all her music and money and won’t give it back. But Olivia was like “here’s your logins and your statements” but Moriah still can’t figure it out so she’s going around telling everyone that Olivia stole her music and her money.

It’s just so messy. But I can’t look away.

Yes almost every reality show feels like that. And there definitely are some elements of setting up/scripting. The family provides the drama and the producers find weird places for them to go fight it out.

The promos are a real good indicator of the trainwrecks within. The Little People drama looks to have imploded into dust and also like a great many of the sisters, wives and children hate the polygamist. I want to feel sorry for them but, except for the children who had no choice in the matter, this is what they all want.

I watch the polygamist show too (“Sister Wives”) and that show has been a slog for years but finally it is exploding into a glorious mess. But WHEW it takes a patient viewer to get to this point. It’s another show I can’t see just dropping in to, you need the back story.

The subgenre of reality shows that focus on a craft – cooking, blacksmithing, clothing design, tattooing – can make for fascinating television. Syfy had a show called Face Off that was appointment TV for Mrs. SMV and I. Each season, a group of aspiring young makeup artists were brought to LA, to test their skills and creativity. They were given a theme – vampires, or subterranean creatures, or even “create a makeup based on a famous school of art” - then given three days in a workshop to design, fabricate, paint, and apply their makeups to a model. They were then judged by a panel of three experienced makeup and creature design artists, and one by one eliminated.

The artists did all live together in the same LA house, but it was only briefly seen in the opening moments of the first episode; the show was predominantly set in the workshop. Which reflected the ethos of the series – the drama all came from the work: would he get all his prosthetics molded on time? Would the judges appreciate her interpretation of the character? Can they get their makeup applied to the model in the half-hour they had for “last looks”? The show didn’t need any interpersonal conflict – the artists generally came to like and cheer for each other, and it was not uncommon to see them helping a competitor break or clean out a stubborn mold, or glue a recalcitrant appliance. They developed a tradition at the very end of the show when the whole cast would gather around the eliminated contestant for a group hug.

Face Off ran for 15 seasons, so it’s not like this type of reality TV won’t sell, either.