'L Word' is now a reality
- Thread starter dfergie
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Don't know about the rest of you, but I have gotten very tired of scripted "reality" shows. These things are so obviously manipulated (hey, look over here while we tell the cab to drive off with your passport) that all I can see is the manipulation and can't enjoy the show.
The producers in turn seem to think they can keep interest up by introducing more outlandish concepts. It doesn't work for me at all. What's next? Snuff: the reality series?
The producers in turn seem to think they can keep interest up by introducing more outlandish concepts. It doesn't work for me at all. What's next? Snuff: the reality series?
Well, clearly, a reality show with boobs is going to have a bit more attraction for a reality show-jaded audience than yet-another reality show without boobs, so this is probably a well-designed tactic by Showtime. I sure hope it doesn't get to the point that you alluded to, but who knows? As it is, we vote with our eyes, and those who aren't interested in certain types of reality shows are being outvoted by those who do like those types of reality shows. Majority wins.
Having said that, calling reality shows "scripted" (and you didn't even put the word "scripted" in quotes) is way off-base. They're not scripted. They're structured, just like a baseball game is structured, and edited, just like an historical documentary is edited.
Having said that, calling reality shows "scripted" (and you didn't even put the word "scripted" in quotes) is way off-base. They're not scripted. They're structured, just like a baseball game is structured, and edited, just like an historical documentary is edited.
Never said anything contrary. I'm glad you enjoy them.
Well, I kind of stand by my scripted statement. I don't mean in the sense that the lines of dialog are scripted, but the situations clearly are being manipulated by the producers. This makes the contests that accompany all of these shows contrived. The producers make all the decisions about winning and losing, and the contestants are just along for the ride.
That's fine, if you can suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the show they are giving you. WWF/WWE/??? is obviously scripted too and everyone knows it. It's not real wrestling, but everyone accepts it and enjoys the trash talk.
Last year I was still watching a couple of these shows, but the manipulation was so heavy handed that I had to give them up. On Amazing Race, I don't believe for a second that the kid forgot his passport in the cab. I don't blame him though. I believe he was yanked out of the cab for an interview and then they sent the cab off while he was doing show business. The effect was that the favorite team was eliminated. It wasn't the only suspicious incident by a mile. Seems there were 1 or 2 every week. I'm not sure if the contestants knew this would be happening, but I believe they are told at the start that their actual job is to impress the producers, and that they are paid to act on the show. None of this winner takes all stuff they promote.
I also watched Top Chef for awhile, but that too devolved in incidents with lost shopping bags, refrigerators that were mysteriously left open, a single oven that doesn't work, etc, etc. Same theme, diffferent melody.
Again, glad you enjoy them, but it doesn't work for me anymore.
Who me? I don't enjoy "them". I watch American Idol, in the background, while having dinner, sometimes, but other than that I avoid them like the plague.
And you don't see the word "structured" as better describing that than the word "scripted?
"Scripted" really has a pretty specific meaning; it seems to me that there's got to be a better word to describe what you mean that isn't quite so inaccurate. :up
Just like a baseball game is contrived.
However, there you've really perhaps got more foundation on which to use the word "scripted". That's radically different from, say, Survivor, or The Amazing Race or American Idol. Perhaps the problem is that your condemnation was so broad, when it only really applied to a minority of the genre.
I think your lack of believe as such is a pretty weak basis for making generalized statements. I just don't buy what you're saying here. If they say they didn't tell the kid to forget is passport in the cab then I think there is far more reason to believe them than to believe your gut feel, because you really are just going on your gut feel, and they're going on their actual knowledge of what actually was the case. I don't like the idea of accusing anyone of lying without clear and convincing proof. I know I wouldn't want someone to do that to me, and I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone to do that to you, so why do it to someone else?
