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The Reality of Reality TV
Turn on the television any night and it is likely that there will be at least one — if not several — reality tv shows to watch. You may love them, or you may hate them, but do you realize how many Oregonians are a part of this entertainment craze?
A couple of weeks ago Ax Men started up its third season profiling loggers in the Pacific Northwest. Little People, Big World follows a family on their farm in Hillsboro. And next month Comcast launches its new show, Wanted, which was shot in Bend. In it, eager contestants compete to become the host of a new adventure television show.
And then, of course, there are the many people from here who have enjoyed stardom in shows shot elsewhere. Oregonians have had starring roles on Design Star, American Idol, Project Runway, Girls Next Door, and this list continues.
Many years ago critics proclaimed the end of reality television, but in fact there are more shows than ever. What's it like being on one? How has it changed these people's lives? How do these stars change because of the experience?
Do you love, or hate, reality tv? What would you like to ask people who participate in it?
GUESTS:
Tagged as: entertainment · logging · television
Photo credit: Obo-Bobolina / Creative Commons
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Personally, I hate them. ...but, they provide a level of unpredictability in a cheap and simple package.
Viewers win because they get shows the are not sports or shows that are dense with complex, intertwined story arcs and dramatic examination of life and events, but still get a level of drama and unpredictability higher than typical TV shows that use the same old predictable stories and jokes.
Studios win since, instead of paying writers, actors, artists, and investing in production to produce a quality, original, unpredictable show that might only appeal to 25% of their audiences, they can just find some people willing to do something marginally interesting, pump up the drama to insanely unrealistic levels, and...
Voila: cash money. Capitalism at its finest.
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Agreed.
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Strongly dislike reality television which has little to do with reality in my opinion. The exception is Deadliest Catch which provided insight into the human condition.
I dislike commercials every three minutes for two minutes on broadcast television and cable. Since I don't have cable I watch SyFy (science fiction cable channel) on Hulu. Thus far Hulu has four 15- second commercials in 45 minutes which is tolerable. Hulu won't remain free forever so I appreciate it while it lasts.
I recently watched Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly on air broadcast 2.2, the This channel. For a relatively crappy and entertaining movie the dialog and back stories of the characters were well developed when compared with today's fare. The pace was steady and not chopped into one-second clips to appease those afflicted with pseudo ADD.
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You singled out "Deadliest Catch" there. Do you see any difference between the reality TV from the networks and reality TV from History, Discovery, etc.?
Axe Men, Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, and whatnot are still not my cup of tea (the speaker even said they try to pump up the drama), but they at least seem educational on some level. As opposed to Dancing with Stars, American Idol, etc. which are just trash on every level.
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Yes there's a difference between reality shows. The rainbow transitions from educational and useful to "toilet paper for the mind" and useless.
I have watched shows like National Geographic's Megastructures or OPB's Nova because they're educational AND entertaining. Deadliest Catch or Dirtiest Jobs also fit in the "useful educational reality shows" genre. These shows have some merit.
I also watched episodes of The Osbourne's, Family Jewels, MTV Cribs, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Flavor of Love, and those shows were vapid, shallow, inconsequential, but they also provided useful insight into the American psyche.
I watched two or three episodes Ice Road Truckers because that is a world I only care to view through somebody else's lens. I'm impressed (and depressed) by lunatics who put their lives on the lines for a fist full of dollars.
Blogdog said it most succinctly, "...who has time for TV?" Time for bike ride or losing more money in the stock market. Yee haw!
Jerry Mander wrote Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and I agreed early in the book so I stopped reading. Television can be useful or passive - it depends on the intent of those creating television's content.
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I was asking because they seem educational, but, from what I have seen, they are thought terminating. To me, the format (which is essentially the same as the trashy ones) just drains the educational value from them. But, I have not watched a lot of them, so it was interesting that you did find value in those shows.
"Dirty Jobs" is a good example. It's something I have watched a lot of. A great deal of the time, Mike Rowe seems very condescending and the show takes a tone of making fun of the jobs and the people more than providing any kind of insight into the task.
I read a summary of "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television." That seems more like a book about why we should be educating our children to be critical thinkers instead of why we should eliminate television. Television or not, if we do not educate our children to think for themselves, continue to learn and examine life around them, they will be subjugated.
Those in power can subjugate with newspapers just as easily as they can with TVs.
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Undercover Boss was televised last night after the Super Bowl. Go Saints!
Waste Management's CEO was portrayed as thoughtful, courageous and compassionate, but out of touch with how his cost-cutting policies affected his front-line employees. CEO Larry O'Donnell said what he learned from his undercover experience will change his life for better.
My cynical and distrustful bits thought I was fed too perfect a script. Too many grin-and-bear-it, up-beat employees imparted wisdom to a CEO who had gotten fat and thoughtless with success while his employees needlessly suffered "stupid management".
Did O'Donnell use the show to promote Waste Management? Nothing like an hour-long advertisement that helps differentiate (spin) his company positively.
A pang of distrust arose when I considered that for all O'Donnell's "cost-cutting measures", my Waste Management bill rises in large chunks for increasingly less "service".
I was taught early that it's impossible to be someone's supervisor or CEO if you have no idea what, how, and how long it takes your employees to perform their tasks. I thought this was common sense knowledge.
I hope O'Donnell and his management team act positively for the benefit of Waste Management's employees and customers.
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good grief, who has time for TV?
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Me. A hobby skiier, pilot, photographer, professional software engineer, reader, tinkerer, and OPB listener. I still have time to consume copious amounts of Daily Show, Colbert Report, science fiction shows, all kinds of movies, etc.
Power of TiVo. Record only the shows you want and watch them when you get a chance.
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Besides the problem that reality television never seems real---one has to wonder what its value is? But, of course what is the value of any television show? At a minimum we ask that they are at least entertaining. But, reality television is not entertaining, unless you are a chipmunk. Watching sub-par folks swanning about in their mediocre lives, or engaging in pathetic competitions, doesn't do it for me. It is not as if reality television was real in the sense of a Raymond Carver story or a Mike Leigh film---that conveys important, if sometimes subtle moments in life, that are completely pertinent and thoroughly mirror our own emotional states.
For the shows based on competition, it is hard to feel much for a bunch of inadequate attention hungry grunts, trying to breakthrough and achieve their dreams on national television. Especially when they maraud their disheveled family members, sometimes with disabilities, about for our sympathies and trite alleged emotional connections. Reality televisions main problem is its vacancy. The only thing it could be said to make us feel is a teensy bit of empathy, that people are willing to be humiliated for the cheap laughs of viewers around the country.
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Well said.
I would add that, from what little I have seen of the more educational reality shows (Axe Men, Deadliest Catch, etc.), they are very thought terminating.
For instance, I watched the documentary "Helvetica" and found myself buying books on fonts and font history. The same director followed it up with a documentary on industrial design, and I found myself buying a book about alternative software and hardware interface design.
Same with the BBC Planet Earth series. The whole time I was watching that, I had my laptop out and was reading tons and tons about nearly everything in that show.
The reality shows just do not inspire that in me. Logging is probably incredibly interesting, but like you said: the shows are so vacuous. The shows really do not touch the subjects in a way that inspires any sort of real interest beyond: "Who is this guy going to yell at next?"
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I was Melvins producer first season on Ax Men. I was the only local producer put in charge of a team and it was probably the most dangerous TV experience I ever had. Its true that we highlight the dramatic moments, the first season I thought it was easy until the last week I was there and was almost killed. I'll never forget what Mel told me to go do that night. And since I have been hired to do many tough guy dangerous jobs shows and his advice has always echoed in my head in those dangerous moments. Thanks Mel for the advice, we still doin lunch today?
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I would like to know how much control there was by the participants over editing. In all of these shows the reality is what the editor makes of it.
Thanks
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This Melvin guy sounds like what we in construction call an "Old Yeller". I haven't seen him but I bet he's a young guy and when he gets really experienced he will stop that yelling because it it hurting his business.
Think of Clint Eastwood directing movies and old Clint just quietly saying "Commence", because he has learned that yelling jars the actors and workers out of the mood he wants.
Safety calls for concentration on the job and yelling just jars workers out of that concentration.
A friend of mine was an "Old Yeller" until he was in a car accident that slammed his throat on the steering wheel so that he had to whisper to his crew. He found out that they paid very close attention to whispering when before they had just ignored his yelling.
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Actually, he seemed well past that point of maturity to me.
He told a story about responding calmly to a mishap and having the producer tell him that "Melvin" would not have responded so calmly.
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Having lost my brother-in-law to a logging accident in oregon 3 years ago I find axeman to be in extreme poor taste. The loggers joke about the dangers and engage in dangerous behavior all the time, not to mention the distraction that the camera crews add. I think shows like this, and the crabbing show on the discover channel hurt the families who have lost people to dangerous professions, as well as make light of the danger that the workers are facing.
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I understand the sentiment from the perspective of an outsider, I lost a friend in the woods too and am sorry for your loss, but having been there I can tell you that, as in many dangerous professions, it's a way to deal with stress and risk... it's how it is in that profession, like it or not.
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If you want to see a reality show about people doing really crazy and dangerous things, go watch non-union Ironworkers build a building with steel columns (pronounced "colyooms") and beams. They make crabbers and loggers look like, well, wussies.
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Thinking of reality tv the only show that comes into my mind is to watch america's next top model online. I like to watch the fashion shows and america's next top model lies best in the catagory of rality world!! thanks to Tyra for being sponsering such a nice show for reality fans!
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Comments are now closed.
I helped put myself through college setting chokers on the south coast during my summers. My recollection of the cast of characters I worked with is a bit different than the casts of "Axemen"... the language, the hazing, the incredibly strange/colorful conversations I used to have with the old timers I worked with makes the show/cast seem subdued in comparison.
Is it the fact that there's a camera there or are the people working the woods fundamentally different today?