Thread: Reality TV

Rudolph Quin said From wiki Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations, and often features an otherwise unknown cast of individuals who are typically not professional actors, although in some shows celebrities may participate. It differs from documentary television in that the focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers . Reality TV programs also often bring participants into situations and environments that they would otherwise never be a part of. The genre has various standard tropes, including confessionals used by cast members to express their thoughts, which often double as the shows' narration and competitive elements. Reality TV shows often have a host who asks questions to the participants or comments on the participants. In competition-based reality shows, a notable subset, there are other common elements such as one participant being eliminated per episode, a panel of judges, and the concept of immunity from elimination. Click to expand... Documentary is sometimes a part of it, as a sub genre. Also, please note the parts I bolded. Reality TV, although for some reason getting a worse rep than regular scripted television for its pure entertainment driven stories, generally has no educational value. They are inexplicably counted as trashy because of the lack of substance or value, which is odd, because I don't know why the rest of TV counts, lol. Click to expand... Ahhh okay. I see what you are saying. Again I do apologize for my lack of understanding aside from being rather hung up on definitional terms of the word reality. Thank you for point this out for me, much appreciated! And I certainly agree with your view of Reality TV actually getting a worse rep verses other fictional TV shows when both can certainly hold a lack of educational value or suffer from poor plot developmentwritingbad acting. I think the reason behind this...people know when they watch a show such as....Gray's Anatomy for example...it's a work of fiction from the start. When something is known as fiction from the start the rules for such things seem to differ regarding it's value BECAUSE it's fiction. The general populace doesn't exactly appear to equate anything fiction related with being remotely substance or educational. It's just pretty eye candy and meant to make you forget about your trouble for anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending. If something is classified as Reality TV. Again, I think the general misconception is the same one I had at the beginning of this conversation. People hold it in a different tier verses what they do works of fiction. Well, a decent number of people. I know I'm one of those weirdos who will pick apart particular works of fiction..especially for the lore...and to see how it matches up to any pre-existing versions of itself such as books or comics, even games. But, I digress, after I pick it apart I don't toss it out the window instead I merely consider it an A.U. verse to the other versions and thus have my own reasons for enjoying it. Save, sometimes the writingdirecting is so bad I only watch it for a specific aspect I really need to be in the mood for....or I find it so horrible its actually funny as to how bad it is. Sharknado went overboard on this concept sadly. The first one was a classic case of so-bad it was good. Same could be said of the second one...after that it began to feel more gimmicky than so bad it's good. The latest installment I watched just to see how cringe worthy it was....perhaps if it was an anime or even a comic-bookmanga I could have tolerated it more. But in my opinion the directors and writers tried WAY too hard to make the so bad it's good spot again. Getting back to actual Reality TV shows then...pardon my wandering mind on the subject.... I remember watching Mythbusters from time to time...I did enjoy them both for the science aspect of it plus the theatrics. I liked watching things explode XD. Crocodile Hunter was one of my favorite shows as a child despite the fact my father constantly complained about how annoying Steve was and how stupid he was for wrestling with crocs. I loved seeing the animals and he did give a decent amount of facts about them too. My folks use to watch Cash Cab when it first came on...that and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Toddlers and Tiara's.....in all honesty I see enough that drama in real life around where I live....people just don't know how to be decent parents But the other shows I'll certainly take a gander at when I have some time...I think a majority of them can be found on Netflix. Thanks again Rudolph! Much appreciated!