Are You Hot? and other "reality" crap...

[AllieSutherland]

Okay, okay... I cry Uncle. This "Are You HOT?" reality show has FINALLY scraped the bottom of the barrel. I'm ashamed that a genre so trashy has finally reached this low.

Yeah, to a lot of people, it's just good fun... but too many kids, teenagers... hell, even ADULTS (and probably far too many of us) have based our worth on how others perceive our physical appearance. It's the same concept as that damned "Rate a Person" crap on AOL IM, based on "how hot" you think they are by their pic.

I'm also ashamed of the idea for the "New Beverly Hillbillies" concept for a reality show by CBS (not taped or aired yet). The concept is to find a large family from Appalachia (I've heard Eastern KY) living in poverty, placing them in Beverly Hills for a specific amount of time with millions at their disposal... then bring them back to the harsh reality they live in. PLEASE!!! I live in this area, and all hillbilly jokes aside, these people often live lives of desperation and hardship of all types. Would CBS air a similar show on a Native American reservation, encouraging the stereotype of alcoholic Native Americans who have nothing better to do? No... of course not. Nor should they. Appalling!

And, on a side note, I was with a friend's little girl (age ten) today, and we were watching TV when a commercial came on for that new reality show coming up called "I'm a Celebrity! Get Me Outta Here!" featuring Melissa Rivers (Joan's daughter) and Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, for those of you who were able to forget such crap from the 80's!). She said, "They're celebrities? Who the heck are they?!?" LOL!!!!
If it were TRULY reality, maybe it should be called, "I'm Washed Up and Need a Paycheck!!!!"

*steps off the * :)

Any thoughts?

XOXOXOX
Allie

[MisRed]

I /like/ to be entertained. Hell, I'll watch anything as long as it has a good story. (My DH is a wrestling /nut/!) I can not stand reality shows. Haven't seen a one yet.

Reality can be ugly, "reality" shows are especially when you know that 1 week has been edited down to provide the /most/ dramatic impact. And at the basest of levels.

But then again I also have trouble with people who stand around discussing them. At my former place of employment, we would have groups of people meeting in the moring at the coffee machine. Every conversation started with "Hi, did you see _____ last night?"

And I'm the /freak/ because I dress up in garb on weekends.


MisRed

[Tink]

Reality shows are an escape....like any other show you watch.

I for one watch Joe Millionaire....quite apparent from my weekly posts about it. It's funny to watch and fun to discuss it with my fellow watchers.

Do some of them go too far? Sure. Do some of them just plain suck...Yep...MOST of them. Do you have to watch them? Nope.

The reality is, that reality shows are far from it. I have little sympathy for the folks on them, as no one forced them into it.

I heard a funny comment this morning on the radio that Evan aka Joe Millionaire made to a reporter after he was booed at a sporting event. He told them that the people don't dislike him, they dislike the character he played. The reporter of course reminded him that he wasn't playing a character on the show.

I mean this guy went into the show thinking of it as playing someone else....a Millionaire....however his concept of reality is so far off, he doesn't think people view him as HIM.

Well, I never said he was the sharpest tool in the shed....

[Leela]

The reality is, that reality shows are far from it. I have little sympathy for the folks on them, as no one forced them into it.

I heard a funny comment this morning on the radio that Evan aka Joe Millionaire made to a reporter after he was booed at a sporting event. He told them that the people don't dislike him, they dislike the character he played. The reporter of course reminded him that he wasn't playing a character on the show.

Yup.

How many of us automatically "perform" when we know we're on camera?
you know...stand a bit straighter, become more self-concious about our looks...show more bravado or just run away and hide!

You're right, these are not reality shows at all. It's putting ordinary people in extraordinary situations (some would say just plain weird) to see how they react. How would these people behave if the camera wasn't part of the picture? If huge amounts of money were not involved?

I don't watch these shows (and NOT just because we don't have TV). I saw the ruins of the Collosseum in Rome, and I for one think the practice of throwing people to the lions for public sport is savage and barbaric, and should at this point be a lesson on how NOT to behave as a society. It has become even more twisted in our age...now people are VOLUNTEERING to be thrown!

ANYTHING for that fifteen minutes. Pathetic.



That is all.
Leela

[daBaroness]

I have to admit most of the so-called reality shows are awful and a sad commentary on the those who do programming for the networks. Like Tink, I was morbidly fascinated with "Joe Millionaire," and I admit I watched a number of the installments of "Class Reunion." Personally, I have just a bit too much reality on a day-to-day basis, so I really like something either funny or fantasy to watch at the end of the day.

Between all the reality shows of the past two years I've watched maybe four episodes all tolled including snippets of "The Surreal Life," "The Mole," "Survivor Ad Nauseum," "Joe Millionaire," "Class Reunion," and I think that's it. I never watched "Bachelor" or even "Bachelorette," and saw maybe 15 minutes total of "Survivor." I do admit to watching "Blind Date," "Shipmates," and "Elimidate" - but usually I'm in a semiconscious state.

One thing is for sure, I simply cannot believe what some people will do while they're on national TV or what they'll do/say to get on national TV. The guys I generally expect to be pigs, but the way women will prostitute themselves and undermine other women to win a date with some loser slug is beyond my comprehension.

Call me Pollyanna, but gimme the good old days of "Lassie," "The Waltons," and "Star Trek."

da Baroness

[Molly]

i will admit i was obsessed with "joe millionare" just for the fact that i wanted to see which of the money grubbers that give women a bad name he would have to tell his "secret" to... i was so sad when he pick the only one who might possibly have accepted him. and i also ocassionally watch "survivor" out of habit.
unfortunately, i happened upon "are you hot?" while flipping through the channels last week. it honestly made me ill. to watch some half naked woman who is, at most, a size 3 stand up in front of this guy and have him tell her that she "needs to lose about 10 pounds"!!!!!! with as many issues as people have with body image at this point... the execs at abc should be shot! grrr.