Reality TV - Seriously, WTF?

[jcoxen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilMx7k7mso

Luckily I had put my coffee down before I got too far into this video so I avoided doing a spit-take. :rockin: The truth hits me that way sometimes.

My solution to the whole "YOU WILL PURCHASE WHAT WE OFFER AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!!!" problem was to drop my satellite service, get what passes for high-speed internet around here and rely on my Roku and a home media server. Programs like Sickbeard and CouchPotato get me my weekly shows. I've ripped my DVD collection (700+ and counting). Plex Media Server (freeware) sends everything through my Roku to my TV.

I've not missed a single episode of any of my weekly shows (Castle, CSI, Big Bang Theory, etc). For anything else I've got Netflix and Hulu+. The only thing I don't see anymore are commercials.

 

[Melana]

Were you wearing clothes at the time? Maybe it's a meta-reality show, that films naked people who are frightened at what television has become.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, yes.

 

[Magic8Ball]

Luckily I had put my coffee down before I got too far into this video so I avoided doing a spit-take. :rockin: The truth hits me that way sometimes.

My solution to the whole "YOU WILL PURCHASE WHAT WE OFFER AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!!!" problem was to drop my satellite service, get what passes for high-speed internet around here and rely on my Roku and a home media server. Programs like Sickbeard and CouchPotato get me my weekly shows. I've ripped my DVD collection (700+ and counting). Plex Media Server (freeware) sends everything through my Roku to my TV.

I've not missed a single episode of any of my weekly shows (Castle, CSI, Big Bang Theory, etc). For anything else I've got Netflix and Hulu+. The only thing I don't see anymore are commercials.

I started down that road too. It became way too much work. My wife and child do not understand in order for you to watch show X you need to use Apple TV on input 3, this is on netflix, this is on ... it became my job to change the channel! And that brought me back to my childhood when we had a tv without a remote... well I was my Dads remote. So I have AT&T "U" verse now.

 

[McBrewskie]

Honey boo boo is an overweight teenage druggie just waiting to happen. This kinda **** is child abuse.

 

[rmullins]

“Alaska: The Last Frontier”: Another show about an “off-the-grid” Alaska family, this time the Kilchers, based near Homer. Despite taking place on the relatively populated Kenai Peninsula, “they must hunt, gather, garden and raise livestock in order to provide enough food to ensure their family’s survival,” according to press material.

What I love about this show is that they say its to "ensure their family's survival". I think they will survive just fine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_(singer)

 

[the_bird]

Honey boo boo is an overweight teenage druggie just waiting to happen. This kinda **** is child abuse.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/you-do-of-course-realize-that-this-is-going-to-end,29734/

 

[Melana]

Holy crap... she wrote that...?

 

[firerat]

Holy crap... she wrote that...?

Ummm.....yep sure did.......:smack:

 

[aygov]

Holy crap... she wrote that...?

The Onion is a satirical newspaper....

 

[evanmars]

Reality TV/Honey Boo Boo --> Idiocracy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

[the_bird]

Oh, oh... satire, our dearest Melana. Please don't end up here

 

[jcoxen]

I started down that road too. It became way too much work. My wife and child do not understand in order for you to watch show X you need to use Apple TV on input 3, this is on netflix, this is on ... it became my job to change the channel! And that brought me back to my childhood when we had a tv without a remote... well I was my Dads remote. So I have AT&T "U" verse now.

I understand. I'm the only geek in my family. That's why I put everything through the Roku. My son can switch inputs to get to his X-Box but everything else is through the Roku interface. Easy-peasy.

 

[McBrewskie]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/you-do-of-course-realize-that-this-is-going-to-end,29734/

Sadly that's pretty much what will happen. And it's viewers will honestly say "Gee whilikers I never saw that coming."

 

[Melana]

The only reason i question if she wrote it is her age... isn't she seven?

Bird I expect intelligent writing from your daughter... but Honey Boo Boo? Really? I'm surprised she's literate.

 

[the_bird]

... you do realize now that she didn't actually write that, right?

 

[Subsailor]

Now all that being said, I also have to say this: I don't watch the TV show, but Ariel Tweto (Flying Wild) is one hot little number; skinny thing that she is. Now if she could just gain about 30 lbs (in the right places) & keep her mouth shut...
http://nwidodgy.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/ariel-tweto.jpg?w=880
Regards, GF.

My son, Joe, likes her also but he really likes her sister, Ayla. Ayla has a little more meat on her bones and the episode he enjoyed most, was when the girls went swimming at the end of the show.

 

[kombat]

Reality TV/Honey Boo Boo --> Idiocracy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

That's such a great movie, Mike Judge is a genius. It's too bad it flew under the radar, for the most part. It's a frighteningly plausible premise.

 

[drainbamage]

I made the mistake of searching Youtube clips a while back to figure out what exactly a "Honey Boo Boo" was. I think my thought process went something like this:

1st: That poor kid...
2nd: How did her mom ever reproduce??? There's not enough alcohol on the planet to make that look appealing.
3rd: I can definitely see HBB using the phrase "a dolla' makes me holla'!" again in life...like in 15 years when she's an overweight day-shift stripper with C-section scars and a meth habit.

There have been people that tell me, "oh, but they're such a good family! If you watched it, you could see that they really do love each other." How, by getting the kid jacked up on caffeine and whoring her out for pageants and TV shows? Yeah, I'm sure they're just saving up for her med school tuition. I've also had so many people recommend Duck Dynasty to me that at this point I'm just not watching it out of spite. As far as reality TV goes, I do like watching The Amazing Race, but that's more because I like to see the locales they visit than because I'm all that interested in the competition or the interpersonal drama.

 

[Subsailor]

Ok, my wife had knee surgery last week and I sat with her for the first couple of days of recovery.
I thought night time TV was bad. Holy Frijole! Day time TV sucks buttloads!
Dog the Bounty Hunter. I watched 1 episode - never again.
Judge Shows
Doctor Shows
False sincerity of the Talk shows

I asked my wife if we really still wanted to continue to pay for cable

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I dumped my cable years ago. Now if I watch something on TV, it's either news, or the PBS sub-channel Create. I like the cooking shows & the DIY shows. I do miss the National Geographic channel, but I can watch most, if not all of them on Netflix, youtube or rent them at Hastings.

I also miss Discovery channel & History channel, but again, I'm sure I can watch whatever it is they have somewhere else in due time. We have news on at work, so I see enough of that from day to day. I just don't watch TV much anymore. My time is better spent on things like brewing, gardening & raising livestock.
Regards, GF.

 

[Subsailor]

Hi GF, normally this time of year the TV is rarely turned on. We do watch in the winter and we do like alot of the Nat Geo, Discovery and even the Food Network. We used to like The Learning and Travel Channels but don't anymore. Actually we have an extensive collection of DVD movies, especially older westerns, comedies and some dramas that we prefer to watch.

I broke down and tried to watch the Honey Boo Boo to see what the fuss is about and we turned it off and put in Sons of Katie Elder after about 10 minutes.

As far as watching regular channels, I will sometime put on the local news Thursday nights for weather and fishing reports but even that is easier to get from the Internet, same for hunting reports.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Honey ****oo or John Wayne, hhhhmmmmm...
I have The Sons of Katie Elder in my collection too. I think my fav John Wayne movie is The Quiet Man. I think I watch about an hour of actual TV per week. I do like to watch TV shows like How Stuff Works on Netflix, but I haven't watched anything on TV or Netflix at all this week; just hasn't been enough time. I keep up on fires via the internet & the lcl news I see/hear at work, but that's just a few minutes at a time & is really required around here. Wildfires can blowup real quick & we need to know what's going on with them. Does AK even get dry enough to have wildfires? Don't think I've ever heard of one up there. Regards, GF.

 

[kombat]

I thought night time TV was bad. Holy Frijole! Day time TV sucks buttloads!
Dog the Bounty Hunter. I watched 1 episode - never again.
Judge Shows
Doctor Shows
False sincerity of the Talk shows

It's interesting to pay attention to the commercials during daytime TV and notice who their target demographic is. Primarily, low income women. The commercials tend to be for cleaning products and financial problems (debt consolidation, mortgage refinancing, payday loans, that sort of thing). If you really want to delve into the sociology of it, consider the correlation between people who utilize those types of products, the type of person who is home watching TV in the middle of the day, and the type of person who is entertained by that sort of low-quality programming. Are they at home in the middle of the day because they're stupid? Are they low income because they're stupid? Do they like Judge Judy because they're stupid? Is it all connected?

Translation: The shows you saw (and the accompanying commercials) were not intended for people like you (gainfully employed 9-5, financially secure, able to think critically and require more mental stimulation than Jerry Springer). However, there is a frighteningly large market out there for that sort of programming.

 

[Subsailor]

Honey ****oo or John Wayne, hhhhmmmmm...
I have The Sons of Katie Elder in my collection too. I think my fav John Wayne movie is The Quiet Man. I think I watch about an hour of actual TV per week. I do like to watch TV shows like How Stuff Works on Netflix, but I haven't watched anything on TV or Netflix at all this week; just hasn't been enough time. I keep up on fires via the internet & the lcl news I see/hear at work, but that's just a few minutes at a time & is really required around here. Wildfires can blowup real quick & we need to know what's going on with them. Does AK even get dry enough to have wildfires? Don't think I've ever heard of one up there. Regards, GF.

I love the Quiet Man also. Actually, I have always thought Maureen O'Hara was a beautiful woman - she's 93 now.
Yes, we have discovered Netflix also.
We have plenty of wildfires, this year has been particularly dry and we have had 590 fires statewide, 70 of which are currently active.

 

[Subsailor]

It's interesting to pay attention to the commercials during daytime TV and notice who their target demographic is. Primarily, low income women. The commercials tend to be for cleaning products and financial problems (debt consolidation, mortgage refinancing, payday loans, that sort of thing). If you really want to delve into the sociology of it, consider the correlation between people who utilize those types of products, the type of person who is home watching TV in the middle of the day, and the type of person who is entertained by that sort of low-quality programming. Are they at home in the middle of the day because they're stupid? Are they low income because they're stupid? Do they like Judge Judy because they're stupid? Is it all connected?

Translation: The shows you saw (and the accompanying commercials) were not intended for people like you (gainfully employed 9-5, financially secure, able to think critically and require more mental stimulation than Jerry Springer). However, there is a frighteningly large market out there for that sort of programming.

You know those are very similar to comments I made to my wife about those shows. It is sad to realize this is probably all too true.

Fortunately, My Wife is feeling better and we spent the best part of the weekend out fishing and foraging, bunch of fresh trout, about 2 gallons of raspberries and a few Boletes and we had a great time!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I love the Quiet Man also. Actually, I have always thought Maureen O'Hara was a beautiful woman - she's 93 now.
Yes, we have discovered Netflix also.
We have plenty of wildfires, this year has been particularly dry and we have had 590 fires statewide, 70 of which are currently active.

You have good taste in women! I've always thought Maureen O'Hara was gorgeous in The Quiet Man, in other movies too, but when I think of her, I always think of her as Mary-Kate Danaher.
Regards, GF.

 

[Subsailor]

You have good taste in women! I've always thought Maureen O'Hara was gorgeous in The Quiet Man, in other movies too, but when I think of her, I always think of her as Mary-Kate Danaher.
Regards, GF.

I agree, you have great in women also, it seems.

My wife and I have this little game we play it like this:

Her: You know, if Darth Vader comes to the door, I'm going to have to leave you!
Me: You know, if Mary Kate Danaher comes to the door, I'm going to have to leave you!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I agree, you have great in women also, it seems.

My wife and I have this little game we play it like this:

Her: You know, if Darth Vader comes to the door, I'm going to have to leave you!
Me: You know, if Mary Kate Danaher comes to the door, I'm going to have to leave you!

Amen, SWMBO is great, but Mary Kate Danaher was just...wow.

 

[the_bird]

Wait a second... Darth Vader?

Han Solo, I could understand. But Darth Vader?

Your SWMBO's into some weird ****, man.

 

[Subsailor]

Wait a second... Darth Vader?

Han Solo, I could understand. But Darth Vader?

Your SWMBO's into some weird ****, man.

She definitely prefers that he keeps his helmet on.
Yeah, Wierd, but I love her!