Fake Reality TV

[Tev]

So is anyone else riding this new wave of not-really-real Reality TV? It all started for me back when SciFi (before SyFy) rolled out Stan Lee’s “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” which was way to scripted to be considered Reality TV….more a mockery of it actually. Now my roommate has started getting me hooked on Discovery’s “The Colony,” a show setup with “volunteers” as part of a social experiment replicating survival in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

The Colony really confuses me at times. On one hand these people really seem to be buying into the fact that they are alone in this cordoned off world fending off random “outsiders,” devolving into screaming matches over supplies, and even having emotional breakdowns when one of their own is “removed” from the experiment on a foraging run. On the other hand these people seem to spend most of their waking life with a camera man at their hip and were told going into this mess that this was just a show. Hell, they get done with their fights and then turn to the camera and talk about how they feel for minutes at a time.

So yeah, anyone else a fan of this sorta new genre?

[Mesden]

Most reality TV technically can't be fake or script -- atleast not anything with some kind of prize. Some stupid gameshow did that in the 50s and there was some amazingly heavy handed legislation to stop game shows, reality tv shows, and any prize based show from planting actors/seeds or else they get shutdown and have their studio's assets seized.

"The Colony" sounds like it's just using the reality moniker to garner views to what is otherwise a mostly scripted post-apocalypse show.

[Tev]

I'm pretty sure "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" was fake as a three dollar bill. It was obvious early on that the guy who was going to win was the Stan Lee fanboy and when the grumpy bald cyborg guy got kicked off and then brought back the next show as a villain any further doubt was erased. Of course the "prize" there was a short comic run (which sucked because Feedback sucked) and a role in a SciFi original movie (in which Feedback sucked even more and was only on set for like 3 minutes). So I guess it was really more of a long Marvel advertisement than a reality show.

[Archbio]

"Fake Reality TV" is just plain redundant, if by Reality TV one means the sleazy shows based on interaction between participants peddled at one time in the United States by Fox by the dozen. Staged situations, participants (unpaid actors, for the most part, really) pushed into playing characters by the producers. Editing plays an enormous role into making it into a "Reality."

A lawyer, Jérémie Assous, has been successfully going to court to have the work participants did on "L'île de la tentation" (French version of Temptation Island) recognized as work, altough that particular show might have been outside the norm a bit (and there was no cash prize, if I remember correctly?)

[Tev]

Well I personally classify the Reality TV shows as follows:

"Competitive Reality TV"
-A show not unlike gameshows where contestants compete for a prize. Unlike traditional gameshows however, you are dealing with a cast that mostly remains constant through the series. Survivor, American Idol, So you Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, and the like are good examples of this. In the end it could be argued that it's not really "reality" TV at all but that's what the genre is known for.

"Reality Drama TV"
-Mostly because I don't actually watch these shows or really hear about them in my friend group I will stick them in this group. Shows like Big Brother, Real Word, whatever. Do these shows even have prizes? Why are these kids together?

"Fake Reality TV"
-Here's the stuff that mocks reality TV. Shows that clearly run a script or are animated lampoons of reality TV like Who Wants to be a Super Hero, Drawn Together, and Total Drama Island. This stuff can actually be entertaining, at least to me.

And I'm not sure where to stick The Colony yet. Maybe in Reality Drama? Discovery/TLC/Nation Geographic has been churning out all kinds of "Informational Reality TV" like Deadliest Catch, Iceroad Truckers and such.

[Aerozord]

I would never insult Deadliest Catch or Iceroad Truckers by calling them reality TV. They are documentaries, plain and simple. These have existed for decades, follow people around to show what their life is like. Its focus is on the type of life they lead then they themselves.

But yea reality shows are relatively scripted. They edit the shows to potray people as certain characters. For example they want someone to be 'the dick' so they edit out times when he is nice and considerate.

Really I hate all reality TV, but there are degrees of hate
Shows like survivor for example I tolerate. Not my thing but still fairly legit.

Ones where its just watching people like Real World I feel kind of embaressed that they exist. I get reality at home I dont need it potrayed on TV. Still there has always been crap so although I roll my eyes at it, whatever

Only ones I really hate are those lame celebrity dating show garbage. Where they treat people as prizes to be won, or as cattle to be selected. Whoever thinks this is a legit way to find love is an idiot. These shows are not only horrible, but probably set society back a few decades. Its like something I expect to appear on TV in a dystopian future alongside gladitorial matches while I eat my solent green

[MFD]

Hm. I thought this topic was about sitcoms using documentary and reality show concepts, like the confessionals on The Office or Modern Family (both excellent shows, by the way).

Then I thought it was about Virtuality, but I think I'm the only person on Earth who actually watched its one episode.

[Bells]

All reality shows are fake. They are fake because they don't portrait reality in any real shape or form. The TRY to portait real people with unscripted content, but they choose and pick the "best" combination of people for each show, so that falls flat.

Now, if they placed some TV's and PC's with Internet access, gave the group enough and proper food, and picked the participants in a 100% Random selection i would CONSIDER calling that a Reality show.

Also, make all the "contests" revolving around raising funds and donations to charity. The team who raises more cash, wins the round... give at least some Goddamn purpose to this shit. The apprentice did that, and it was half good.

[Toastburner B]

I'm not sure if you can really classify "The Colony" as a reality show. I mean, it kinda started out that way...but by the middle of the series, it was more of drama mockumentary that anything. I mean, come on, they introduce a named villain (outside of the ambiguous raiders...or rather he comes to lead a group of raiders, add drama by having one of the "volunteers" vanish...and, of course, they have just the right things in their warehouse of theirs to build everything from a generator, to a clothes washer, to a freakin' flamethrower. I mean, about the only thing they didn't do was have them build a transistor radio out of coconuts, 'cause that might of been a bit too 'the Professor from Gillian's Island'.