why are reality shows still popular?

mistymills said:

I would love shows like Face Off more if they showed more of the technical side of things.

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Most shows miss that mark! I have NO IDEA why shows like "Face Off" or many of the car shows don't take us through the steps. It's always about the drama, the employees and then finally the big reveal. Gets old REALLY fast...

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Cephus said:

You can go back to the first seasons of American Chopper too, where the focus was on building bikes, not at screaming at each other. As soon as that started, I stopped watching. I didn't care about the family drama, I cared about the cool motorcycles.

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BINGO! I have no desire to watch a full grown man throw a chair through a window. Build the dang bike and walk us through what you're actually doing. OH WAIT... that doesn't get advertisers! Silly me.

We cut the cord because there was nothing of quality we liked anymore. All the shows we were invested in finished their run and we decided not to start any new ones.

Now, the one channel that stays on in our house is MeTV. each night we watch classic shows that were the best of their decade. For the new shows, that are the quality ones, that other's have mentioned, we just wait for them to hit streaming an watch them then.

Eventually, programmers will realize their crappy programming is why people are cutting the cord!

hdtheater said:

We cut the cord because there was nothing of quality we liked anymore. All the shows we were invested in finished their run and we decided not to start any new ones.

Now, the one channel that stays on in our house is MeTV. each night we watch classic shows that were the best of their decade. For the new shows, that are the quality ones, that other's have mentioned, we just wait for them to hit streaming an watch them then.

Eventually, programmers will realize their crappy programming is why people are cutting the cord!

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ever since reality shows hit, this has been my philosophy as well. I still havn't seen all of how i met your mother and that show still seems 'new' to me even though it ended a while ago. i'm also waiting for big bang theory to finish.

ME Stops on my TV as well now and again. I also like BUZZR as my new favorite channel. mostly because they show game shows un edited, including original tagllines.

The problem I have with taking a chance on a new show is that the stuff I like tends to get cancelled early. or not last past a season three. it makes it tough to invest emotionally in a show when that is the case .

Aaaaaaaand once again, I'm going to be the wet blanket! :facepalm

I've noticed the majority of the posts to this thread seems to have a flavor of, "Yeah! All reality shows suck! They pander to the stupid! The creators of these shows are all spewing bile!...well except for these three reality shows I follow..." :lol

I have seen three shows now, one being fast and loud where they build cars. They strip down a rare car and go to great lengths to say the windscreen is almost impossible to find so don't brake it, then you see someone lean it on a pillar and it slides off and smashes or they back a fork lift into it. As soon as you hear them say it's unobtainable you know what's coming:lol One show I really like is Forged in Fire, seems like a real competition.

Funky Jedi said:

Aaaaaaaand once again, I'm going to be the wet blanket! :facepalm

I've noticed the majority of the posts to this thread seems to have a flavor of, "Yeah! All reality shows suck! They pander to the stupid! The creators of these shows are all spewing bile!...well except for these three reality shows I follow..." :lol

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I don't watch any. So yeah...

Funky Jedi said:

Aaaaaaaand once again, I'm going to be the wet blanket! :facepalm

I've noticed the majority of the posts to this thread seems to have a flavor of, "Yeah! All reality shows suck! They pander to the stupid! The creators of these shows are all spewing bile!...well except for these three reality shows I follow..." :lol

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even in terrible shows, there can be something likeable about them ;o)..


and others are just guilty pleasures ;o)

NeilT said:

even in terrible shows, there can be something likeable about them ;o)..


and others are just guilty pleasures ;o)

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Oh, don't get me wrong. There are several reality shows that I have enjoyed over the years. My point is that you find them saying how much they all suck then in the same breath tell you 'except for these five they really like'!
Now let's see how many posts are edited over the next few hours. :lol

Funky Jedi said:

Now let's see how many posts are edited over the next few hours. :lol

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I stand by the stupid stuff I write ;o)


There are just more reality shows that are so god awful they arn't even worth watching ;o).

Really, you have to break "reality shows" into categories. Because there's different types of shows (and shows are often a hybrid).

1) Drama Shows - Shows that exist just for the drama (Real Life, Real Housewives of [insert city])
2) Competition Shows - And, of course, this gets broken down further:
2a) Game Shows - You can't argue that these aren't "reality" shows (Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Deal or No Deal)
2b) Creation Competitions - Competing to have the best of something (Chopped, Face Off, Forge in Fire)
2c) Goal-Oriented Competitions - Trying to be the first to complete something (Amazing Race)
2d) "Other" Competitions - Mixture of types, or no set "goal" or purpose, just staying in the competition (Survivor)
3) Job-Based Shows - Shows that feature people doing their jobs (and/or hobbies), and/or behind the scenes of their jobs (Undercover Boss, Judge Judy, American Chopper)
4) "Other" - Shows that don't really fit into any molds (Mythbusters)

The problem seems to be, that anything that's not a pure game show (stuff falling solidly into 2a) has a tendency to fall toward Drama. Big Brother exists specifically straddling the line between Drama and Competition. And while some drama is acceptable, it needs to be in moderation (and not scripted/edited in).

Remove the drama, and most of the time shows are fine. I mean, heck, other than a certain person, Heroes of Cosplay (which I'd categorize as a "Job-Based Show") would have been fine, if it had just been about the creation of costumes and what it's like to compete. But they had to fill it with drama (and a certain person), which ruined it.

While running on the treadmill this weekend, I was watching Seinfeld and I thought about this thread.

See, usually it's a reality show while on the treadmill...because I'm either not paying attention and just want some noise, or I'm only paying attention for a few minutes at a time then zoning out for a bit. As it happens, Seinfeld was perfect for this purpose...vastly superior to reality shows and I really missed it. Not just Seinfeld, but the sit-com itself.

I realized that for most of my life, sitcoms were my Go-to for that. They were usually running while I did homework, or worked on my drawing, or whatever was going on, because the way sitcoms USED to be was: you could pick any episode, any season...really even any point in the episode and jump in, pick up the plot and go along for the ride for a bit. Doesn't matter what happened last episode...doesn't really even matter that much what happened THIS episode before you came along...you know the characters, there will be jokes...tune in when you're ready, tune out when the real world coughs up interest.


But they don't really do that anymore. Even the more mindless sitcoms like Mike and Molly or Big Bang theory have long running plot lines. You tune in and it's "Oh must be season three...there's that new character...wait are those two dating? Or does that come in season 4? I missed a season, I don't know whats going on!"

Not that there's anything wrong with that...but since one show made that format work, now they ALL are like that. Apparently forever.

In any case, the only place to turn to for that is reality TV. I can turn it on and it doesn't matter which episode or even which season. Doesn't matter. I know the premise and I can tune in and out as I like and still pretty much know whats going on.





So the short answer to your question is: Reality shows are still around because they don't really make sit coms anymore. Only sort of sit-com/mini-series hybrids with mini plots along the long windy plot. That's fine if I'm paying full attention and never miss an episode, but it sucks if I'm just tuning in for a bit to break up the monotony of a daily activity.

Sometimes you just want to watch for 20 minutes without having to invest in a 98 episode storyline that may or may not even ever happen if it gets cancelled.