The Conspiracy of Reality TV

Originally posted by spacedoubt
skadi,

Between your Avatar, and this post, I thought you might like to see this:
Feline Reality show

I pretty much have a problem with any "reality show" if the supposed stars know anything about the cameras being present. It then converts to Surreality.

Reality shows are also VERY cheap to produce. No script writing, no high dollar actors to pay.

Now THERE is a conspiracy. Against ME. Of course those evil people at Meow Mix would create a reality TV show that I would want to watch!

Personally, though, from what little I saw of reality TV, a house full of cats would be far more interesting than the idiots they have on Big Brother.

All those felines. Fluffy kitties. I guess I am lucky we dont have animal planet, otherwise, I know what Id be watching!

I stopped watching TV entirely after Babylon 5 ended in '98, and I often think I was instinctively avoiding the coming Reality TV craze.

very interesting. Like they are desensatizing us for whats coming

Originally posted by markdman
very interesting. Like they are desensatizing us for whats coming

Thats pretty much my own opinion summed up in a nutshell. It is not too far out of the realm of possibility. After all, look at trends in TV. Desensitize people to violence, and you get people not so against warfare. Desnsitize people to technology, and they are not bothered by when technology starts to get frightening.

Make being filmed 24/7 seem normal and ok, and people will not mind so much when you start putting cameras EVERYWHERE.

Its also worth note that several people have stated that the CIA and Hollywood rub shoulders at similar parties quite often, feeding ideas back and fourth to one another.

Not just that, but Entertainment Weekly, Access Hollywood, "The Fabulous Life of".. on VH1. It literally makes me sick everytime I come across the show because the people pry and focus so much of their attention on famous people and what they do in their normal lives. I mean GET REAL.. (not reality TV by any means.)

These shows are exploding to the point that everytime I turn on the TV one of them is on.

TV used to be somewhere you could go to forget about reality for awhile. Sure some shows were corny, and didn't always relfect the true way of life, but that was the point. 'Happy Days', 'Leave it to Beaver', ' Andy of Mayberry' were all kind of corny but also gave of a sense of belonging because most of us could relate in one way or another.

Watching those shows and others would sometimes give inspiration for some viewers that life was still good and pure and people still had manners.

Now we have 24/7 of 'Growing up Gotti', not exactly a stellar choice for promoting the American family. When did the ideology of 'My Three Sons' become a crime family

This is the crap that our youth are watching(not my kid though) she hates them too!

Just a question, have some of you noticed, in most family shows that the kids seem to have no respect for their parents ?

Any time a camera is rolling, it isn't true reality.

This brings to mind , how disgusted I was by the idiots who thought "Blair Witch Project" was reality.

In the UK Big Brother is a show where people who wish they were actors etc go on and try and get themselves hired once theyre out..

Its also cheaper to make than most other shows, thats why they exist.

(excluding Space Cadets - but that was just evil - and i liked it ... probably because im a bit evil )

TV,the present is beeped now,Big Brother game is a really conspiracy.I am sure.

reality tv is a joke,there was a program that interview a couple reality tv stars an they told how alot the of thuss is stage, where they know about it before hand ect

If I remember correctly, the reality TV show boom occured when the SAG actors went on strike for more money. That's when the neworks had to put more shows on the air with people who weren't in SAG. This totally blew up in SAG's face, and has been chipping away at it's profit's since.

Laguna Beach, The Hills... give me a break. Give us something more resourceful and beneficial for teens to watch.

oh my God, you guys are exactly right. I was trying to decipher this reality TV conspiracy but couldn't analyse it in as much detail but now I definitely understand and definitely agree.

Actually it was the SWG (Screen Writer's Guild) who were going to go on strike, but they reached a last minute settlement. Reality (I hate that term) shows are popular with television because they can be made on the cheap, game shows are made for the same reason. The smart ones like American Idol actually charge you when you cast your vote. Other than a host and maybe a set, the only recurring expense is the camera crews and post production people. The only conspiracy with them is how they get their audience to believe that there is any basis for "reality" in them.

Gemwolf, I completely agree. This is not about being 'stupid'. Television shows such as Big Brother are popular because it allows us 'normal' people to watch others in difficult situations. Say for example, someone talks behind your back ( a theme fairly popular in BB) we are interested, as humans, in the way the subject recieves and handles the situation and thus we are possibly learning from others subconsciously.

I'm sure many people who insult the genre have often sat in a window watching people pass, watching how they behave in their normal daily routines. It is the SAME thing.

Originally posted by Knights
Gemwolf, I completely agree. This is not about being 'stupid'. Television shows such as Big Brother are popular because it allows us 'normal' people to watch others in difficult situations. Say for example, someone talks behind your back ( a theme fairly popular in BB) we are interested, as humans, in the way the subject recieves and handles the situation and thus we are possibly learning from others subconsciously.

I'm sure many people who insult the genre have often sat in a window watching people pass, watching how they behave in their normal daily routines. It is the SAME thing.

You are discussing something VERY different. Apples and oranges.

Its one thing to sit and watch people, in a public space where they expect others to be and observe them.

Its another thing to go around looking into peoples windows when they are at home and watching them in their more private setting.

reality TV is more like the latter than the former.