Steampunk'd (reality competition show)

Cafe Society
1

So, did anybody watch this series, either initially or on Netflix?

As pleased as I was to see maker culture celebrated on TV, this show was seriously flawed. A few things I noticed:

  1. Having two teams complete every week when you’re sending one person home at a time guarantees several weeks of unfair competition. If you’re going to do teams, at least use the Face Off approach and make adjustable teams of two or three.

  2. Making the competition about creating “a room” automatically gives priority to builders and devalues other makers like costumers and gadget-makers. I don’t want to spoil the results, but the lineup of finalists is quite predictable once that reality sets in.

  3. Setting similar challenges with the same time limit each week makes no sense when you’re constantly reducing the number of participants per team. How on earth did they think the teams could keep up the same kind of output each time? The number and quality of items in each room got noticeably worse as the show went on.

From what I’ve read, this show is not getting renewed for a second season. It’s a shame, because with a little more forethought it could have been far more entertaining.

2

Yeah, I watched it. Didn’t care for it, mostly because of the slick Hollywood treatment of a DIY subculture. I also agree with your points.

However, I did get some inspiration for my own projects. Also on the upside, Kato.

3

That’s a good point. I came away from the show with some ideas for projects as well. So it’s not a total loss :slight_smile: