Anyone close to the industry that can answer this?
How much of a reality TV show is scripted and how much is actual real stuff?
How much of a reality TV show is scripted and how much is actual real stuff?
How much of reality TV is scripted and how much is real?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
I only watch the competition style shows. My understanding is parts affecting the outcome are not changed but the flow of the conversation and things like that are edited.
I have heard some of the trashier reality shows will do things like blur somebody's underwear to make it look like they are naked.
I have heard some of the trashier reality shows will do things like blur somebody's underwear to make it look like they are naked.
I firmly believe that ALL so-called "reality TV" is scripted.
The only true, unvarnished, spontaneous television is Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
The only true, unvarnished, spontaneous television is Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
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I don't think the fact that people don't behave naturalistically and that things are edited to tell a narrative completely precludes any relation to 'reality'. You just don't want to take any of them too seriously.
And honestly, I think it'd cost way more to script these shows than to just point a camera at crazy people, incentivize them to yell at each other then edit them to tell a narrative.
And honestly, I think it'd cost way more to script these shows than to just point a camera at crazy people, incentivize them to yell at each other then edit them to tell a narrative.
OMG Thanks Kor
I caught a few episodes of this show "Seven Year Switch" and to me it just seems really off. I mean if these are actual real people off the street and it's not partly scripted why the hell would you go on a national TV show with a potential audience of millions and air all your dirty laundry for everyone to see?
Why would you do that unless you are not real people and just potential actors doing a script..
I caught a few episodes of this show "Seven Year Switch" and to me it just seems really off. I mean if these are actual real people off the street and it's not partly scripted why the hell would you go on a national TV show with a potential audience of millions and air all your dirty laundry for everyone to see?
Why would you do that unless you are not real people and just potential actors doing a script..
You're asking in our current culture why people would take any excuse at all to go on TV?
I'm not disputing that reality TV is stupid, I just think that you're giving TV networks way too much credit by suggesting they could get hundreds of people to uphold their confidentiality agreements for that long. If the FBI can't keep a secret, you think Survivor could do it? I also think the actors they could get cheaper than regular ol' attention whores would be less convincing morons, and if you ever saw Joe Schmoe you know what I mean.
I don't see why there has to be any "secret" involved here. Like @Kor said, "reality TV" is as real as professional wrestling.
I mean, everybody knows pro wrestling is fake - the fans know it, the performers know it, everybody knows it. They just keep up the facade of it being real. Kayfabe, they call it.
So the rest of "reality TV' is just another example of this. Where's the big secret, then?
Think about it. Any "reality TV" show has to be concerned with ratings, as much as any other show does. You can't keep up the ratings if the show really is spontaneous. So it's not only obvious that reality TV is fake - it's logical that it must be so. That's the only way the networks can keep enough control of the shows so as to ensure the ratings they demand.
I mean, everybody knows pro wrestling is fake - the fans know it, the performers know it, everybody knows it. They just keep up the facade of it being real. Kayfabe, they call it.
So the rest of "reality TV' is just another example of this. Where's the big secret, then?
Think about it. Any "reality TV" show has to be concerned with ratings, as much as any other show does. You can't keep up the ratings if the show really is spontaneous. So it's not only obvious that reality TV is fake - it's logical that it must be so. That's the only way the networks can keep enough control of the shows so as to ensure the ratings they demand.
I don't see why there has to be any "secret" involved here. Like @Kor said, "reality TV" is as real as professional wrestling.
I mean, everybody knows pro wrestling is fake - the fans know it, the performers know it, everybody knows it. They just keep up the facade of it being real. Kayfabe, they call it.
So the rest of "reality TV' is just another example of this. Where's the big secret, then?
Think about it. Any "reality TV" show has to be concerned with ratings, as much as any other show does. You can't keep up the ratings if the show really is spontaneous. So it's not only obvious that reality TV is fake - it's logical that it must be so. That's the only way the networks can keep enough control of the shows so as to ensure the ratings they demand.
I guess but just watching this show with these couples, if what's seen is to be believed they swapped partners and were watched and we see how the alternate relationships work or don't work, then they get them to talk about their actual partners.
Great way to ruin a relationship if you ask me, if it's real that is.
Wrestling is fun sometimes. I miss the old days haha, Rowdy Roddy Piper and all.
My girlfriend's cousin is a chef and he auditioned for Chopped. He got relatively far in the interview stage apparently, but they dismissed him, and he thinks it's because he didn't come off confrontational or aggressive enough. They asked certain questions to see if they can get a rise out of you and judge your competitiveness. So, I think with a lot of competition reality shows, they stack the deck with people they know will butt heads with each other.
But I refuse to believe the Great British Baking Show isn't 100% real and genuine, otherwise I will lose the last shred of hope I have in human decency and compassion. lol
But I refuse to believe the Great British Baking Show isn't 100% real and genuine, otherwise I will lose the last shred of hope I have in human decency and compassion. lol
I think it's most likely this. One way to look at it is that producers are looking for drama, so they'll pick some that might have talent, some that might just be passable, and those that are terrible and they put all that in a melting pot and let it simmer. The votes might just be a tiny part of it that they use as leverage for that drama.
To use the Dragon's Den/Shark Tank as an example, the ones to get deals are very few compared to the ones that don't. Some barely get by , some look like they're about to get a deal and blow their chances, some are presented as laughing stocks. And that's on top of all the auditioning they do for appearing on the show when they do auditioning tours. They pick a bit of everything in order to make it entertaining.
Even with those that do end up getting deals, some end up falling through on them as we learn in some updates. The "reality" here in this sense are the products actually making it on store shelves and the stories there are genuine. Those that don't end up making deals always end up finding a way after appearing on the show due to exposure. The success stories are fairly inspiring. We have at least two local people that have presented on the show that have made deals, one of them mining lunchboxes and the other, women's mining overalls.
So called "reality shows" are supposed to be relatively cheap to produce. If the shows actually were scripted, that would mean paying money to writers to write the material.
But when this gets ratings - and therefore, advertising dollars (which, sadly, is literally the only reason any TV show ever exists) - for the networks, the numbers work out anyway.
Either that or the people in the "shows" are manipulated to get a certain look or outcome in the final broadcast of an episode. I looked up the show I was talking about and it is hinted that manipulation of the couples in the show is what they are really after and the fact it's billed as some kind of experiment is just gloss for the drama you see on screen.
We have Shark Tank here too and I rather like that show but what you see in a few minutes is so edited down, the actual presentation in front of the sharks takes a lot longer then what you see on TV, and that's understandable. But I rather like the show, even the dud entries that don't win are sometimes fun.
Yeah, and sometimes even when they don't get a deal, sometimes after the fact after a show has aired, they sometimes get overwhelming amount of support from elsewhere if the ideas are good enough . I find those shows unique in that aspect, in that even while they do make fun of the ones with terrible ideas, that overall, there's still a sense of inspiration and innovation. There have some been some really great ideas that have come from these shows.
Interesting story: A guy who had been a success story by pitching a bbq sauce to the tank had called our business once, interested in buying what we had to offer.
I watch Chopped pretty religiously. I wouldn't call hardly any of the contestants "confrontational". They're more passionate about defending their cooking to the judges than even caring about the other contestants. Even then they stay very professional. They're not on Chopped long enough to build any kind of relationship. It's a one hour game show with new contestants every episode.
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