Posted on 07/28/2012 6:26:47 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
All TV Reality shows are staged to one extent or another. However, what TV Reality show do you think is the most STAGED.
My nominee would be "Barter Kings." To watch that show you have to put your brains in deep freeze to accept the premise that someone will trade something valuable for a near worthless piece of junk. Plus Steve was supposed to have been a car salesman so he can use his sales skills but his sales pitches sound really unconvincing. His voice doesn't really express much confidence when he asserts that his junky item will earn the other guy money.
Another time a woman told Antonio she would trade her horse for a horse trailer but it better NOT have rust. So what does Antonio do? He shows up with an incredibly rusty horse trailer and she still does the deal.
Here is the basic premise of the show: "I want to trade this dried buzzard turd that I found in the Mojave desert for your brand new car stereo system." And guess what? The lopsided barter deal goes down almost every time.
So why do folks accept such lousy deals. Because they are on TV. Yeah, if they don't accept the deal they don't appear on the tube and probably don't get paid for their appearance on "Barter Kings."
I've done bartering and in real life you just don't get such lopsided deals. You can trade up but you can't start out in the morning with an Elvis plaque and end up in the afternoon with a motorboat just in time for your family's boating excursion.
So does that mean I won't watch TV Reality shows because they are staged? No. I love watching "Storage Wars" even though I know it is staged (note how the featured characters almost always win the storage bins even though hundreds of people might show up at an auction). One reason is that I do like to look at the antique and collectible stuff they find (I really hope they haven't been planted in the bins). Another reason is that I used to go to storage bin auctions years ago in Los Angeles. Not in a big way but one time I bought a small storage bin for just $10. One item was a Director's chair which I took down the street to where a crew was filming a TV show and sold it for the $10 I paid for the bin. Also in the bin was a few hundred bucks of Black Hills gold jewelry. So that worked out great.
I also like "Hardcore Pawn" in order to take a look at the grim urban realities without having to be there.
Other TV Reality Shows I am currently watching or have watched in the past:
"Deadliest Catch" ---I once thought I could do that but after watching I know I couldn't last a day due to extreme cold and seasickness.
"Swamp People" ---A shoutout to Troy!
"Ice Road Truckers" ---A great first season but I can't get into it any longer.
"American Pickers" ---I enjoy seeing the antiques and collectibles they pick up.
Trailer Park Boys is more convincing than some of those stupid reality shows and it’s a parody of them.
I love storage wars.... But the reason why it is so popular is the characters in it
You have the making of a great storyline: a protagonist antagonist characters, Conflict, Setting, Theme.
A hot babe, goofy oddball lovable guy, A guy you love to hate, an average dude who wears wife beaters as formal wear...
The Texas version sucks because the characters suck... Two fat guys with zero personality, a stupid middle aged white trash women, a guy who looks and acts like he dropped in from NYC instead of the southwest...
Obama’s campaign stops!
But now it has degenerated into a family shouting match. The pawn transactions seem almost secondary.
And I'll tell you something else. The Golds are Jewish. I know of no Jewish family where the son publicly belittles his father or uses profanity when talking to his father.
So either the show has become completely scripted, or the Golds are one messed-up family. Either way, it has become unwatchable for me.
huh ? Wrestling is rigged ????
The worst are the repo shows. Good comedy at times, but that’s it.
The one I like is the new one out there. Great Lake Warriors. Anyone who’s been on those lakes in a storm knows that it’s no joke, nor has anyone who has been to Whitefish Point. Lake Superior doesn’t give up her dead.
COPS - who ever read about a nice cop? If the camera wasn’t on them ... Fulerton, CA comes to mind real quick.
I have to agree with you about Storage Wars. They found some great people to feature on this show. When we stumble upon it, we usually end up watching it, unless there is a really great movie on TCM. My husband also likes the fact that he is the same age as the old guy but looks much better!;-)
While some of the interpersonal stuff on Gator Boys is scripted it’s kinda hard to get those gators to follow along with the script.
They’re cheaper to make?
Dave (YUUUP!) Hester was missing for a few shows and in his place was another character but the “Storage Wars” fans couldn’t stand him and now he is gone. I hated the guy too but not sure why.
I watch the house hunter shows regularly. Of course they’re staged... Otherwise how would they get it down to just 3 houses to begin with? I don’t understand what the big revelation is about that. I accepted it from day one.
I really enjoy the international shows.
liberal MSM news programs
(note how the featured characters almost always win the storage bins
Very true but I also noted a show where they said there were 25 units and after three they were at the “last unit of the day” I suspect they edit out the other bid winners.
I do not know about seeding the units,,,they may to make for better tv...but I always am suspicious of the cavalier way they assign “values” and I wonder about the “experts” pricing of items.
Still I watch ‘em because Brandi is hot, Dave is a dick and Barry drives the absolutely coolest vehicles.
All of it.
“Sons of Guns” got REAL staged, REAL quick. It practically became a parody of a reality show in record time.
The first year of "Orange County Chopper" was very interesting. A slice of urban life, as you said. But now it has degenerated into a family shouting match. The motorcycle creation seems almost secondary.
(gee, I wonder if they have the same director/producer ?)
Any show with obvious repeat incompetence by the staff of whatever business being depicted, way too much arguing, or people that speak to each other in that monotone “I’m reciting rehearsed dialog that the producer thought would sound better” dialog is most certainly a staged program.
anything to do with towing and storage units.....
Yeah, just because Darrell says, "There's a hundred dollar bill right there," doesn't make it so. You have to actually SELL the stuff and what you say they are worth and what they sell for are two different things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.