The Pickup Artist (New TV show)

Cafe Society
1

Anyone catch this last night on VH1? I sort of stumbled onto it, and was intrigued and yet annoyed. It’s possibly the oddest, yet most sort-of useful, reality show ever.

Here’s the deal: Eight men, ranging in age from 22 to 45, are contestants. They have absolutely no skills with women. Most are virgins. The host of the show, whose name is Mystery, will put them through stud boot camp. Every week one of the men is booted off of the show. In the end, one will remain, and will get a chance to travel the world teaching studliness, $50,000, the title of Master Pickup Artist, and of course, all the girls he can eat.

Last night’s show was the premier. The guys gathered, got to know each other, and settled into their dorms. Then they were thrown to the sharks as Mystery and his assistants watched them crash and burn via hidden cameras. It was painful. Then they switched places, and Mystery and friends worked their magic.

I found it sort-of useful, as I’ll certainly learn as much as I can from the show. But there was so little actual advice given. It was annoying, because the show focused on what complete dorks the guys are. It really made fun of them. The pacing was as slow as 5th Grader, footage was reused as much as in Nanny 911, and commercial breaks were frequent and long.

But it was interesting watching these three guys, whose jobs are apparently picking up babes, work. Seeing them analyse the moves of the dorks was like watching a world-class chess player analyse a game. They were seeing 12 moves ahead. If a dork so much as looked at a woman, they’d make comments like “Oooh, game over” or “She’s into horses! Talk about horses!”

Fascinating. And annoying.

2

I saw it over the weekend. It was definitely interesting. I didn’t like Mystery’s partners. They came off too pushy and jerkish. Mystery however was smooth, relaxed and playful.

There was no advice given because it was just the first episode. Next week they are going to give out advice and then eliminate someone at the end.

The dorks were ok mostly just nervous. Though a couple of the guys just stood there all by themselves and didn’t even try. That was weak.

3

I just caught the last 30min of this show on rerun. The man dude, Mystery, is a cornball. I don’t know a single woman who would be interested in a dude with his style, and I’m not a shy guy so I know a fair amount of attractive ladies in their late 20’s early 30’s (including my wife). These hats that he wears are so over the top that I can’t imagine a girl taking him seriously. Especially the part where he takes off his hat or whatever and starts throwing his (very early 90s) back length hair around like a covergirl model.

Honestly all 3 of the “studs” seem very femanin (sp?) and I would guess both Mystery and the blonde guy to be gay based on their mannerisms.

As far as the first club scenes clearly the people in the club knew they were on TV so that’s why they were there and it seemed so staged when Mystery and his crew rolled in picking up chicks. The ultimate was at the end when Mystery looked at the camera and said “gentlemen, I will teach you all of this, and so much more”. I wanted to fist fight him right there.

This show is clown shoes.

4

Eventually they did.

That part of the show made me really uncomfortable, because that’s exactly what I do. I think Mystery should have commended them all for at least getting up to bat. Instead he did his Mr. Smooth thing again.

And yeah, the hats. Do women really respond to that kind of thing?

And they say none of it is staged, but I have to wonder. If it wasn’t, don’t they have to get releases from everyone in the club?

5

I had the same impression as you, tdn – the weird outfits seemed over the top. My wife disagreed … she sees a lot of value in ostentatiousness for a would-be pick-up artist.

Re: releases. IIRC, they can be gotten after the fact. If someone won’t release their name and image, those scenes can be either edited out or shown with faces blurred.

6

Mystery is a big part of the the book, “The Game” by Neil Strauss. It’s all about the underground society of pick-up artists and the techniques they use to get the girl. Mystery is the guy that teaches him the ropes and he tags along with him on a lot of “adventures.” It’s actually a fascinating read, though I don’t think it’s as much of a “how to” guide as it purports to be.

A quick Amazon search shows that Mystery has penned his own guide to the art of the pick-up.

7

Being single I’m sure someone will get it for me for XMas. I have some friends who seem to think that is clever each year…

8

Here’s a great story by a music writer who pals around with Mystery: What It Feels Like To Pick Up Britney Spears.

9

I’ve read The Game too, and I thought it was pretty interesting, even with the appropriate skepticism (Mystery’s wilder stats were doubtful, Neil Strauss wasn’t exactly a dork before he learned The Game–He was a writer for Rolling Stone, and he surfed, too. He definitely had a head start.). Still, there does appear to be something to it. Most of us have met the smooth talker in college; he’s not Ashton Kutcher, but he gets more action than Rambo. It certainly seems like a skill that can be learned, provided you have a certain minimum good appearance and attitude. Whether eight back-asswards dweebs can learn the skills in the requisite time frame under the tutelage of a flake like Mystery–who was waayyyy out there in the book–is another story.

10

Take a million guys who are hopeless with women, and give them a million hours of “pick-up” training, turn them loose with huge wads of cash and coke, and ya know what?

3% of them get laid.

Give 10 guys of average skill the coke, and they ALL get laid!

Just the way I see it from living in Vegas for waaay too long.

11

Given the wiki article that summarizes Mystery’s techniques, it wouldn’t surprise me that they’re trying to give off a slight gay vibe, so as to present women with something they can’t have, which will just make them try harder.

At least that’s the logic they use.

12

I just saw the rerun.

One thing I liked was that they picked a pretty interesting selection of guys. There was some real diversity of dweebishness. It would be a lot less interesting if all the guys were variations on the “decent enough looks and personality, but suffering from self-confidence issues” theme. A few guys were like that, but others seemed to be a little more, er, challenging. I wonder if the obvious candidates will be eliminated early, or if there will be some surprises there.

13

Nonsense. Give anyone a million hours of training and they’ll become an expert in anything.

That’s the whole problem with the retards in The Pickup Artist. These guys are 25 years old (and in one case 45) and they seem like they’ve never been in a bar or club before. Most people I knew when I was 25 would have spent just about every thursday, friday and saturday night at a club, bar or house party since they were 18 or younger. They are very much like domesticated house pets that are suddenly released into the wild.

And most of those guys give off a really creepy vibe. I wonder what it is about certain people that they can ellicit feelings of revulsion in a matter of seconds. Mystery and his crew are pretty creepy too, but at least they don’t project that desperate, emotionally crippled developmentally challenged vibe of the contestents.

Anyhow, from what I could tell, Mystery’s “technique” consisted of waiting a few hours while the nerds crash and burn and then going in to “hit on drunk bitches”.

14

You know … that ain’t a half-bad strategy. :smiley: Akin to hanging out with uglier people to seem better looking.

Of course, the pimp hat is de rigeur.

15

I watched 20 minutes of this while I was changing guitar strings. (I feel I need an excuse.) I found it hard to shake the feeling the every single one of my female friends would laugh their asses off if they were hit on by an nearly-middle-aged dude who looked like he hadn’t changed his clothes since his failed Enuff Znuff audition in 1984, and said laughter would begin just after he announced his name as “Mystery.” No matter how smooth his patter. Seriously. Perhaps in California things are different.

I am also boggled by the fact that on Earth there are a dozen guys too self-conscious to ask women out on dates but are nontheless willing to be subjected to weekly humiliation via reality television. The whole thing just smelled like a setup to me.

16

So what have we learned? Even if you obviously own 45-sided dice and are growing your hair to look like the lead singer of your fave Xian rock band, you can still pick up women if you:

-Make sure they’re good and drunk
-Act like a gay man and therefore non-threatening
-Have a huge fucking camera crew in a city full of fame-whores

I think that last bit, about being on a TV show and all, might help a bit. Creepers like this guy and books like The Game make my stomach turn, because they manage to avoid the fact that women, yes, even beautiful women, are living breathing human beings that some guys might actually want to get to know and react naturally to, rather than ‘tricking’ them (oh, sorry, ‘negging’).

The fact that some of the Mystery-worshipping contestants could actually be nice guys but are now on the road to Jerktown is sad sad sad.

17

I think it took place in Texas.

18

Well, in all fairness, most girls wouldn’t talk to those guys because they are pathetic tools. They can be the nicest guys in the world, but their social awkwardness will be a major turnoff that will prevent nearly any woman from getting to know them.

I see nothing wrong with learning some social skills so that these poor guys don’t die total virgins. Mystery’s tools can be used for good or evil.

Perhaps the ladies on this board are offended by the notion that the cute guy they fall in love with at 2:00 at Calico Jacks after a round of tequilla shots might actually be a horrendous geek who is applying Mystery’s psychological trickery?

For shame.

19

It’s Austin though. I believe Mystery would get shot anywhere else it texas.

20

Learning social skills and getting schooled in Mystery’s crap are two totally different things. One is about working on yourself to make you more appealing to others (e.g. self confidence). The other is about distracting a drunk chick long enough to stick it to her. (FTR, I don’t much approve of the same sort of crap found in women’s magazines – it must be awfully exhausting for the women who pretend to be interested in their crush’s hobbies and all that).

Also, how is it that Mystery can’t even follow two basic ules for getting action 1) Put away your magic tricks, and 2) Cut yer hair.