Current Events > So all reality shows are fake/doctored to a certain extent, right?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I know in Hell's Kitchen the producers sabotage the cooks and stuff like that

They at least edit the footage to make a "story line".

Yes.

Reality TV is heavily staged by production staff and carefully edited to achieve the desired effect.

When you see a real 'fly on the wall' recording, you'll know.

Fairly sure, yeah. I'm sure many people on reality TV want to make their way into actual TV or just become known figures, so they're willing to act up and act out. I'd imagine things change from show to show.

Yes probably even Mr.Beast contests.

Tony Danza hosted a short-lived reality show where he was a high school teacher. The producers tried to manufacture drama between the kids by starting rumors to try to get them to fight. Tony Danza shot it down, so they canceled it.

As someone who's worked in the business, yes, they're all fake. You have to remember that, even with "reality" shows, there are several takes, so any fight or drama you see has been shot several times.

WingsOfGood posted...

Yes probably even Mr.Beast contests.

DEFINITELY even YT content.

It's all pro wrestling. If you want to find something that is not, watch CSPAN.

Well yeah. They're not going to let people try to be entertaining unscripted. Too much money involved. You want real reality TV then watch some crime documentaries. They're more interesting anyway.

They've gotta be. My mom used to watch Real Housewives of Orange County, and if I argued with my friends even 1/50th as much as they do, I'd just stop being friends with them.

I also believe most, if not all, competition shows are rigged. America's Got Talent sure as fuck is, you can tell who's going to win based on how big of a sob story they have. Your talent doesn't matter, only if you have an exploitable backstory.

Having judges makes it too easy to let the producers choose who wins.

Everyone I've seen talk about their time on reality shows say that fake drama is injected, scenes are shown out of order to change the context to fit their narrative etc.

There are a rare few that are mildly scripted. I know the survival series Alone is the closest to legitimate reality that exists, they drop one person in the middle of nowhere and that person controls the camera equipment and recording, there is zero crew on site.

Deadliest Catch adds some lines for drama, but is very close to reality also, as it's one cameraman on a crab boat for months at a time. It's such a dangerous job to begin with, staging events for television doesn't really happen because the risk is so high to begin with. The boats that sink and the crew that die each season are very real.

Most of the rest is garbage though, these were just two examples that I can think of that don't make a mockery out of "reality" television.

WingsOfGood posted...

Yes probably even Mr.Beast contests.

Pretty sure there was controversy about this actually. Two people who took 2nd and 3rd place in the real event found out on the uploaded video that they were declared losers so two bigger channels could have the winning spots to promote the event better.

Anyways reality shows are usually real to an extent, but they're heavily edited to craft a storyline. If two characters have a flirty conversation with the same person they will 100% edit those scenes to create a world where one of those people is a manipulative asshole trying to cut in on true love. Complete with sinister musical cues so the audience at home knows who the villain is. The producers will often lay landmines to try and encourage certain things to happen. If two characters are having a bitter break up you can get good footage by scheduling them for an even together.

I think theres always an element of fakery but its more obvious in US shows. Compare US Kitchen Nightmares to the UK ones and its a crazy difference.

I think American audiences are just more happy to embrace the clearly bogus versions.

Even though pawn stars is fake I still like to watch it, and old storage wars

"I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win!"

Hayame_Zero posted...

Tony Danza hosted a short-lived reality show where he was a high school teacher. The producers tried to manufacture drama between the kids by starting rumors to try to get them to fight. Tony Danza shot it down, so they canceled it.

Wow, looking into this Tony Danza actually continued to teach the class despite the cancellation, and came back for years for graduation speeches, and he was seriously trying to do real teacher stuff like grade papers and make tests even when the camera was off. This article makes him sounds like a seriously standup guy who wanted to use his show to educate people about the value of education and help the students and they wanted it to be dramatic idiocy. Man, we were so close to a smart reality show. I get a real positive impression of the guy from this.

Hes a great dude overall. People in the 80s used to love sitcoms because of the actors more so than the shows. Its kinda like pre-Endgame Marvel most of those movies were mediocre at best but the audience really connected with the actors. He was on Whos the Boss and generally speaking, fans felt like the cast on the show actually liked each other. Watching that substitute show, it was easy to see he really cared.

Apparently the network felt that a show about a guy teaching a class who actually cared about his students wasn't profitable. Maybe we're in the evil alternate universe. Check people for goatees.

Uta posted...

Pretty sure there was controversy about this actually. Two people who took 2nd and 3rd place in the real event found out on the uploaded video that they were declared losers so two bigger channels could have the winning spots to promote the event better.

This is the gist of it, but it was less interesting than that, in the long run. In the video in question, there was only ever going to be one winner, and everybody knew that, meaning whoever placed where beyond that didn't really matter for anything substantial. There was no actual "second and third place," only the winner got anything. When the video was posted, certain more popular streamers ended up getting more air time, making it look like they lasted one or two spots longer than they did, which, yes, was a cheap ploy to get people to watch longer, but it also made no actual difference in the actual result of the video. But then one of the streamers who didn't benefit from the edits got mad over... Not benefitting from the edits, and tried to "expose" MrBeast over it, but it pretty much got responded to with an overall "Uh, yeah... That's what Youtube videos do," and since the person complaining was, themself, somebody who did a lot of editing in videos to chase clout, the controversy ended rather quickly.

Basically, it's not worth taking Youtube videos that seriously.

I kind of like the craziness of US tv. It almost insultingly assumes youre an idiot and is an attack on all your senses but its very America for my Euro brain too. It adds a layer of fun I can appreciate.

Hypnospace posted...

Cheaters was 100% fake

Yeah, 100%

Pretty sure there was an ep where a woman "shot" her boyfriend with a gun