Reality Shows vs. Scripted Shows

[Seducer]

I like reality shows. I like almost any reality show. I dislike almost all scripted shows. Scripted shows are so predictable, fake, boring, and stupid. They're written by hack writers. Many of them are extremely boring or extremely irritating to me. I can't stand Desperate Housewives. That show is like nails on a chalk board. I like to watch real people and analyze real people. Why should I analyze something that's not even real. Lately I've been watching all the episodes of Deadliest Catch and Keeping up with the Kardashians. I've watched every season of Big Brother and Survivor. Survivor is still my favorite show.

[Seriously]

I like reality shows. I like almost any reality show. I dislike almost all scripted shows. Scripted shows are so predictable, fake, boring, and stupid. They're written by hack writers. Many of them are extremely boring or extremely irritating to me. I can't stand Desperate Housewives. That show is like nails on a chalk board. I like to watch real people and analyze real people. Why should I analyze something that's not even real. Lately I've been watching all the episodes of Deadliest Catch and Keeping up with the Kardashians. I've watched every season of Big Brother and Survivor. Survivor is still my favorite show.

The only reality show I will watch is Survivor. The rest irritate me with their exploitation and idiocy.

[Rohsiph]

I like reality shows. I like almost any reality show. I dislike almost all scripted shows. Scripted shows are so predictable, fake, boring, and stupid. They're written by hack writers. Many of them are extremely boring or extremely irritating to me. I can't stand Desperate Housewives. That show is like nails on a chalk board. I like to watch real people and analyze real people. Why should I analyze something that's not even real. Lately I've been watching all the episodes of Deadliest Catch and Keeping up with the Kardashians. I've watched every season of Big Brother and Survivor. Survivor is still my favorite show.

I don't know much about "reality shows," but the few hints I get suggest to me they are often just as scripted as shows honest about their fictions. Even worse, the variety that plays off stupid decisions to provide "emotional drama." The people I see in reality shows (which isn't often, so I could be getting it wrong) strike me as anything but "real."

How are the Kardashians more "real" than the glam-wives in Desperate?

But interesting way to put it: "Why should I analyze something that's not even real." One of the early allusions in LOST this season was the inclusion of a Rushdie novel where something just like that is the cornerstone of the book. The protagonist asks "What's the point of stories that aren't even true?"

I don't understand what others see in reality TV that keeps the genre so prevelent. I see why networks like them, but almost none of them make sense to me. I suspend my disbelief to experience fiction and get to puzzle over "what ifs?" that give me a lot to think about. I suppose reality TV could give me things to think about, but when I've tried I've seen those things are almost altogether cyncial: really, this is how people act / think / live?

The only reality show I will watch is Survivor. The rest irritate me with their exploitation and idiocy.

Agree, though I haven't seen Survivor since the second season :)

[Kisai]

The only reality shows I will watch are competitions where the skilled show off their talents, like Project Runway or Top Chef. My wife loves The Girls Next Door or Keeping up with the Kardashians, but she's ISFP...

[zibber]

I like reality shows. I like almost any reality show. I dislike almost all scripted shows. Scripted shows are so predictable, fake, boring, and stupid. They're written by hack writers. Many of them are extremely boring or extremely irritating to me. I can't stand Desperate Housewives. That show is like nails on a chalk board. I like to watch real people and analyze real people. Why should I analyze something that's not even real. Lately I've been watching all the episodes of Deadliest Catch and Keeping up with the Kardashians. I've watched every season of Big Brother and Survivor. Survivor is still my favorite show.

Of course, people in reality shows are 100% real. Especially those Kardashians.

[Mader]

Everything is scripted in one way or the other. Everything. Then, it is edited. There are no suprises.

I too, like Deadliest Catch. I am also a big fan of Dirty Jobs.

[Samoan Corleone]

I like competitive reality shows, but I can't stand shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians or Growing Up Gotti. Is it really that appealing to watch rich people wake up, throw their money around and complain about things that the less wealthy would never have to worry about? I don't get it.

[kepstein8888]

...predictable, fake, boring, and stupid.

Funny. That's exactly what I think about "reality" shows. It's all the same exact patterns of drama, catfights, and petty bickering. A bunch of losers desperate to jump through hoops and stab each other in the back for attention and a small pile of money. I suppose that does reflect reality, but who wants to watch that after dealing with it all day in real life?

As for the fake aspects, when is the last time you saw a bunch of young, attractive women with nice bodies performing some sort of "challenge" in swimwear or other skimpy outfit...unless you're Hugh Hefner? How does the selection process work?

That seems to be the formula for reality shows: pretty people doing boring stuff. I'll stick with the old fashioned "fake" shows that have plots, good characters, and don't remind me of how dull real life is.