# Stupid Blood lust in Reality Shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638 "2014-01-01T16:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/21 "2014-01-02T17:50:28Z")
> [@JuliaSqueezer](#): > > Am I the only one who notices the plethora of manliness themes? > > So many of them have zero appeal to females, the other half of the population. Your premise seems flawed. Appealing to women or men isn’t a binary game. Women love Duck Dynasty. They might even be the majority viewership. Wedding shows appeal to gay men. Deadliest Catch might have a primarily male viewership, but that doesn’t mean Survivor or the Amazing Race do. Straight men love Cupcake Wars (okay, why? Why?). And we’re not even thinking about age, race, economic status. > [@JuliaSqueezer](#): > > Who cares if they’re steadily losing money and viewers? Are they? More women might watch Masterchef, and more men Kitchen Nightmares, but Gordon Ramsey is still getting rich off a broad demographic. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/22 "2014-01-02T18:02:36Z")
According to the Neilsen Ratings, in the key demographic of 18-49 year olds, (as of 12-31-13) History Channel is down 12% from 2012, TLC is down 7% and Food Network is down 12%. Also interesting though, is Bravo is up 3% from 2012 and ESPN is down 11%. MTV is down 12% from 2012. Spike and Disney are up 6%, SyFy is down 10%. What does it all mean? I haven’t a clue. Maybe people ARE reading books, as \*\*doorhinge \*\*recommends. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/23 "2014-01-02T18:24:55Z")
Reality Shows can be very good and informative. _Dirty Jobs_ is a good example. Mike was always respectful and polite. He always made a point to stress the importance of the job. I’ve been watching The Little Couple and Jen’s efforts to have a baby. They tried IVF and then finally adopted. [She’s getting treated for cancer now](http://www.etonline.com/tv/142108_Little_Couple_Star_Jen_Arnold_s_Cancer_Fight_Update/). It’s a very compelling show. It’s just been in the last few years that Reality Shows have gotten more and more ridiculous. Where even the basic premise of the show is obviously not real. ---
**Author:** ![FrigidLizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@FrigidLizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrigidLizard)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/24 "2014-01-02T22:43:18Z")
Something to keep in mind is that reality tv is by and large very cheap to produce. Even if the viewership is small, an original content reality series can be very profitable for a network. It’s low-hanging fruit; it’s not necessarily lowest common denomitator. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/25 "2014-01-02T23:06:46Z")
As I’ve posted before, I love _The First 48_. It’s a law enforcement show, but the emphasis is not on “busting down the door and arresting the wife-abusing crackhead”. It’s about homicide detectives and following them around as they try to work out whodunit. That’s not to say that you don’t see some gruesome footage. Faces and the worst of the gore are blurred out, though. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/26 "2014-01-03T02:48:48Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What, and crap like Survivor Man isn’t playing into male sterotypes? Survivor Man isn’t crap. And no, it’s not playing into male stereotypes. It sounds as if you’ve never watched it. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638/27 "2014-01-03T13:59:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Reality Shows can be very good and informative. _Dirty Jobs_ is a good example. Mike was always respectful and polite. He always made a point to stress the importance of the job. Yep :nodding: For me, that’s the biggest draw of a reality show. _Show me something – a profession, a lifestyle, anything – that is beyond the scope of my everyday life, do it well enough to both educate AND entertain me, and I’ll be your fan forever._ I find Discovery sticks to this premise very well. Besides Deadliest Catch, I adore most of their Alaska-based shows, particularly Yukon Men and The Last Frontier. I don’t care if some of either is staged – there’s enough of a narrative in both to hold my interest, plus the lifestyle depicted in both is the major draw. I also adore survival shows for the same reason. I’m also partial to character-driven reality shows. I’m looking at your, Storage Wars. It also helps that Barry is the spitting image of one of my late uncles whom I adored. > [@](#): > > It’s just been in the last few years that Reality Shows have gotten more and more ridiculous. Where even the basic premise of the show is obviously not real. I think some shows are made simply as either brainless filler or the network believes that there is an audience somewhere, but they don’t know where. The ones I can’t stand are the screeching female-driven ones. Why anyone would want to spend time with any of the Real Housewives is beyond me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-blood-lust-in-reality-shows/677638.md?page=1)