# TV series whose very existence drives you batshit insane **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041 "2012-04-26T17:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/41 "2012-04-26T23:14:27Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Always and forever, the Kartrashians. Similarly, Jersey Shore. Amazingly enough, the cast of that show get at least $100,000 per episode. And MTV airs this show instead of music videos. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/42 "2012-04-26T23:15:59Z")
The Discovery Channel ran a brief reality series called _Impaled_ a few years ago. Yes, it’s as bad as you think, though IIRC it only featured people who survived. Searching for it reveals only a couple of message board comments on it – I think Discovery buried the program in shame. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/43 "2012-04-26T23:18:20Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > You may think that not watching reality shows puts you on some kind of pedestal. It does not. Correct. _WATCHING_ them, OTOH puts one in some kind of a pit, which does establish non-watchers as being on a higher level. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/44 "2012-04-26T23:47:56Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged? In case you haven’t figured out yet what cold reading is (as others have pointed out). > **[Cold reading](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_reading)** > > Cold reading is a set of techniques used by mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers, and mediums. Without prior knowledge, a practiced cold-reader can quickly obtain a great deal of information by analyzing the person's body language, age, clothing or fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, level of education, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. during a line of questioning. Cold readings commonly employ high-probability guesses, quickly picking up on signals as Be... ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/45 "2012-04-26T23:50:33Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Always and forever, the Kartrashians. Just the sight of them, and they are everywhere, makes my blood pressure go up. There is no end to them. There is no end to the fakeness, the contrived situations, the weddings and parties, the massive houses, not to mention the whiny voice and gigantic ass stuck out at the camera. They spend spend spend millions and make make make millions and use it for absolutely nothing worthwhile but to show jellus peons how so much money can be spent on nothing worthwhile . It’s like watching pigs in diamond tiaras rooting around in a sty scattered with solid gold coins, squealing and squabbling and jumping on planes to fun vacations. Everyone seems to loathe them, but that only makes watching them more irresistable? I just don’t get it. This is what I came in to say, but you said it so much better. ---
**Author:** ![secretsmile36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@secretsmile36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretsmile36)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/46 "2012-04-26T23:54:38Z")
s > [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > In case you haven’t figured out yet what cold reading is (as others have pointed out). > [Cold reading - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_reading) I am familiar with the term. She doesn’t just do cold readings though. She often knows things that no one else would know about the person. I’m not saying I believe she talks to the dead. I said before that I’m wondering if it is staged and if the people she does the readings on are in on it. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/47 "2012-04-26T23:57:02Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged? She’s good at reading non-verbal cues and has probably done some basic research about common history of the recent past and basic psychology/counseling. A lot of things many people think are very specific to them are actually common life experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/48 "2012-04-27T00:07:19Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > You’re right. If you haven’t watched the show you really can’t give an educated opinion on it. That is incorrect. Or, ok, partially incorrect. It is true that without having watched the show, I cannot really have an opinion on its entertainment value. However, the question you asked was whether that medium can really talk to the dead. And on that I can most certainly have a highly educated opinion that she most certainly cannot. I am educated enough about physics and chemistry and biology etc. to have the firm opinion that talking to the dead is as close to impossible as anything can be. Without having seen the show, I would ask you this: Has this medium _ever_ related something from “the dead” that some other currently living person did not already know? I will bet you that she has not, and that therefore the most likely explanation is that what she relates does not come from the dead but rather from the currently living. If you watch such a show and react with, “How could the _medium_ possibly know that?” then you’re just falling into the trap. Instead, ask yourself, “Does the dead person’s living relative already know everything that the medium is telling them?” Looking at it that way, it’s far less impressive. For example, Medium says, “Your father used to read you ‘Cinderella’, it was your favorite bedtime story when you were six.” Wow, how could the medium possibly know that? Lots of ways. The point, though, is that the son/daughter\* already knew it\*. Which is more likely, that the medium really talks to the dead, and the dead want to talk about what they read to their child as a bedtime story? Or that the medium just found out some tidbits that the person already knows, and used that? The day that one of these mediums relates specific directions to the box buried in the backyard that contains the dead person’s stash of vintage porn that he had told _no one_ about, then I’ll be impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/49 "2012-04-27T00:08:53Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > s > I am familiar with the term. She doesn’t just do cold readings though. She often knows things that no one else would know about the person. I’m not saying I believe she talks to the dead. I said before that I’m wondering if it is staged and if the people she does the readings on are in on it. See also [Hot Reading](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_reading). And, yes, phony psychics do use stooges. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/50 "2012-04-27T00:11:22Z")
Or you could watch the South Park documentary on cold readers, it’s called “The Biggest Douche in the Universe”, very well done documentary. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/51 "2012-04-27T00:12:27Z")
I’ve seen a few episodes of _How I Met Your Mother_ and it got on my last nerve. Beyond that, most home makeover shows are tiresome (the one where folks are shown three desirable residences and must choose one has some vague appeal). And shows chronicling the doings of people who’ve had too many kids are pretty unbearable: none of this is cute or admirable, these people need to be firmly sat in chairs and shown sad pictures of children waiting to be adopted. I like _Jersey Shore_ a lot but most shows in the same genre (pretty much anything dealing with morons’ mundane behavior) are consistently irritating. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/52 "2012-04-27T00:15:55Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > She’s good at reading non-verbal cues and has probably done some basic research about common history of the recent past and basic psychology/counseling. A lot of things many people think are very specific to them are actually common life experiences. Or the whole thing is scripted. I wouldn’t dismiss that possibility. But yeah, it probably is cold reading; combined with editing to leave out the misses. Like the old John Edward show on SciFi. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/53 "2012-04-27T00:40:12Z")
> [@jordanr2](#): > > Beyond that, most home makeover shows are tiresome (the one where folks are shown three desirable residences and must choose one has some vague appeal). I used to like _House Hunters_, until I learned it is totally fake. (The people involved have actually bought their house, and have never seen the other two before. Presumably, you can tell in the earlier episodes, since its the only house without furniture.) I can’t stand to watch it now… ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/54 "2012-04-27T00:45:10Z")
I saw a program yesterday that I would not have believed possible, even though, I have to admit, all of the elements existed on other shows I knew about. The premise: a couple’s car is repossessed, and the unlucky pair is then given a chance to _win it back in an impromptu quiz show_ held next to the tow truck with the neighbors comprising the studio audience. Just another in the long line of shows whose entertainment value lies in contempt for the poor and uneducated, but it gave me an idea. If you want to make this concept _interesting_, take it away from the repo men and give it to mortgage companies, or better yet, Child Protection Services: “Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, for 27 dollars _and your baby_, what is the capital of Ohio?” ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/55 "2012-04-27T00:45:33Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Similarly, Jersey Shore. Amazingly enough, the cast of that show get at least $100,000 per episode. And MTV airs this show instead of music videos. This is what I popped in to mention. Also, The Real Housewives of… And the “I’m young and beautiful, but have to win a husband, in a televised contest” shows, make me sad. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/56 "2012-04-27T00:45:34Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > Has everybody forgotten the worst and most rotten shows on the face of the planet? All of the parents involved in both Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms are on my list of people who need to thrown in a cage full of angry honey badgers. That is a very short list. \ Those are about the only two that I wish would go away, too. I can live with just not watching other shows that I think are stupid; I think those two shows are actively evil. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/57 "2012-04-27T00:49:35Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Jeez, you people are really driven batshit insane by the mere existence of these shows? Yes. Literally. When I even contemplate their existence, I get [this.](http://www.cinemaspartan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/arnold-total-recall-4-650x411.jpg) Three times in one day is a new personal record. Thanks **Pete.** :dubious: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/58 "2012-04-27T00:53:00Z")
There are many many shows I would never watch. Some of those mentioned here would be on the list. And, I don’t think I’m a TV snob, I try not to judge. I’m sure I have tastes that many others would question. BUT, there is one show that stands out above all others, that its very existence does drive me insane with anger. That show is _Dancing With the Stars._. I don’t like dancing. I certainly dont like watching dancing, and i don’t particulary care about b-list celebrities. I am angry that this show exists and that _anyone_ would watch it. Thanks to the OP, I can get that off my chest. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/59 "2012-04-27T00:55:22Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > \However, the question you asked was whether that medium can really talk to the dead. \ Actually, I believe she **can** talk to the dead as a matter of fact, anyone can. The real question is : “Does the dead **talk back** to her ?” ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/60 "2012-04-27T01:10:23Z")
Anything with a Vampire. Enough with the fucking vampires already. Seriously. Unless you’re Count Chocula, get the hell back in your stupid coffin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041.md?page=4)