Off Topic: Who Watches Reality TV?

68 responses to “Off Topic: Who Watches Reality TV?”

1. 

   D.C.

   August 21, 2012 at 11:03 am

   I used to work on Big Brother, so I’ve got a soft spot for it in my heart. (Haven’t watched the new one, though.) I like The Amazing Race too, about the only reality show I watch these days. The quality of a season is always dependent on the contestants, though.

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   1. 

      Corey

      August 21, 2012 at 11:13 am

      Big Brother in the early years (2001-2003?) wasn’t so embarassing to watch because we had relatively normal people not generally making a ridiculous fool of themselves on TV. Nowadays, I feel this country’s taste in tv shows has gone down the drain. The problem however lies in whether it’s the tv channels that are to blame or the viewers (excluding me) who watching this crap?

      Reply
   2. 

      ace leo ace

      August 21, 2012 at 1:18 pm

      I am also ex BB. Maybe we should start a support group?

      Seriously though, its the same old, watched the first episode to see how Nine might re-invent the format, but it is the same thing that has been done to death for 8 seasons already. Every time a season comes around they promise everything will be different, and every time it is exactly the same. I am annoyed by this because a few years ago it ran the show into the ground and put me out of a job.

      Reply
      1. 

         D.C.

         August 21, 2012 at 2:16 pm

         I think there was a Facebook support group a few years back. 😛

         Reply
2. 

   DistantDrop

   August 21, 2012 at 11:06 am

   I watch it when i’m at work since I’m a Tax Agent and need something to listen to while mindlessly doing data entry and ninemsn is probably the only place I can think of where I can stream videos without risking viruses etc, but when I’m on my own time I rarely watch TV.

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   1. 

      Jack

      August 21, 2012 at 4:26 pm

      “ninemsn is probably the only place I can think of where I can stream videos without risking viruses etc”

      lolwut. Aside from every major channel having a streaming service of equal, or in the case of SBS and ABC, superior quality. I can say with some degree of confidence that it is not the case that every person that logs onto youtube comes away with a hardrive full of malware. So you can watch what ever you want, or continue to make excuses about why you watch god awful television.

      Reply
3. 

   Michael

   August 21, 2012 at 11:07 am

   Not the slightest bit interested in it. My wife doesn’t mind shows like The Biggest Loser, and she’s a fan of Bridezillas and Ace of Cakes, if you can call those reality shows (I guess you can), but yeah I avoid it if at all possible, especially talent shows. The one thing that annoys me the most about the talent shows them is that they almost purely focus on singing and voice talent. A a musician that’s not necessarily a singer myself, I’d probably watch them if they actually focused on creating a real band, finding guitarists/drummers etc in addition to vocalists, or perhaps have bands that were formed independently and have been together a while facing off against each other.

   Then again, I don’t watch a lot of TV to begin with apart from a few select shows and some sport.

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   1. 

      Michael

      August 21, 2012 at 11:09 am

      “talent shows them” should just be “talent shows” and “A a musician” should be “As a musician”.

      Leave me alone, it’s 11am and I’m tired.

      Reply
4. 

   Neo-Kaiser

   August 21, 2012 at 11:08 am

   My life isn’t uneventful enough that I need to watch someone else live out a fake life #condescend

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5. 

   Sughly

   August 21, 2012 at 11:17 am

   Oh whoa, I hate that show but geez thatr girl has a great voice. Needs to run away from that show though and do her own thing.

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6. 

   Mozza

   August 21, 2012 at 11:20 am

   I watch competition reality tv shows, like survivor and big brother. You get more interested in how the game is being played rather than how big of an idiot the producers can find.

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7. 

   Unicronopticon

   August 21, 2012 at 11:24 am

   Very rarely. If i do though it’s usually to give me a little bit of a pick me up be seeing all the nuff nuff’s out there in the world and thinking ‘well it could be worse, i could be that!’.

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8. 

   doubleDizz

   August 21, 2012 at 11:25 am

   I went right to the bottom of the cess-pool and watched season 1 of FLAVOR OF LOVE, then ROCK OF LOVE. And I watch Jersey Shore because my gf has it all on DVD. It is suprisingly entertaining, but I totally understand why people would hate it if they didn’t know the people’s personalities.

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   1. 

      Strange

      August 21, 2012 at 11:40 am

      I watched one and a half seasons of Rock of Love. It was like one of those fabled train-wrecks you can’t look away from.

      Reply
9. 

   Dire Wolf

   August 21, 2012 at 11:27 am

   Sometimes I’ll watch Amazing Race or Master Chef but other than that I’m not really a fan of reality tv. A lot of the concepts they’re built around bore me, such as the new Don’t Tell the Bride (which I also think is an amazingly sexist show to have in 2012). I wouldn’t mind watching the singing or dancing in shows like Idol or so you think you can dance but I hate all the boring stuff inbetween the singing and dancing, the rehearsals, the contestants talking about their relationships etc, and I hate the judging.
   If they got rid of the judges and cut back on all the filler between the performances I’d be much happier to watch the shows.

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10. 

    AlexPants

    August 21, 2012 at 11:28 am

    My family gets together and watches Masterchef a lot. It’s a bit rubbish but we have fun ridiculing everything most of the time, because we are horrible people. Otherwise, I don’t watch much TV at all, much less reality TV.

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    1. 

       Shoggoth

       August 21, 2012 at 11:31 am

       I dont mind masterchef. I’m not overly interested in the reality tv aspect, but damn. that food…

       Reply
11. 

    scorpspammer.exe

    August 21, 2012 at 11:31 am

    That was pretty hilarious, she sang better then all 4 of them put together.

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12. 

    Stevorooni

    August 21, 2012 at 11:33 am

    I don’t watch a lot of TV altogether let alone reality tv.

    Shows like Big Brother or The Shire (if that is reality) are disgraceful because they seem to celebrate idiots. I might sit through something like Master Chef on occasion because I like cooking. I also don’t mind watching the final episode of Biggest Loser because I like seeing how much they have changed, but generally don’t watch the series because it’s mostly fat people crying.

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13. 

    That Teemo

    August 21, 2012 at 11:34 am

    Masterchef is the only I would watch.

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14. 

    Ahtaps

    August 21, 2012 at 11:35 am

    I usually end up having MasterChef on in the background when it’s on but that’s all the “Reality” TV I can stand. Most of the time I’m trying to work out all the tricks and techniques they’re using to try and subvert your expectations, manipulate your emotions and try and make you care about the contestants. It’s sad that at one point it was about the food, then it just became about who cried the most.

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15. 

    Shoggoth

    August 21, 2012 at 11:36 am

    Worst trend on tv at the moment is an over-saturation of talent shows.
    Australian Idol, Australias got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, The Voice, Young Talent Time… too many shows showcasing not enough talent.

    Other reality tv, like Border Security, Bondi Rescue… I dont see the appeal.
    Then theres the real tripe ilke Big Brother & The Shire (reality is relative in this case). Just rubbish.

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16. 

    Trjn

    August 21, 2012 at 11:36 am

    Unless sports count, no.

    My co-workers on the other hand seem to think that the actions of the contestants on these shows are some of the most important events they’ve ever witnessed. I remember hearing in my infancy about watercooler gossip. People gathering away from their desks to discuss the events of the latest Seinfeld episode and whatnot.

    I didn’t realise how annoying it was when people came to your desk (or the desk of someone nearby) to talk about these things.

    I used to dislike celebrity gossip when I was unemployed. Now I loathe it because I actually hear it.

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17. 

    Azza

    August 21, 2012 at 11:36 am

    The inability of Australian tv to produce anything BUT reality television is pretty much why I gave up on it all together and now just download my tv shows (mainly HBO/AMC). I haven’t even bothered to buy an antenna cord for my tv. The only “exception” is that I stream ABC iView and SBS on demand for news/documentaries.

    Reply
18. 

    Strange

    August 21, 2012 at 11:37 am

    We watch Masterchef with the kids.
    And then when the kids are in bed if we need to watch something light we’ll watch Top Chef or Top Shot.
    Top Shot is probably my favourite reality show, mostly for the slo-mo shots of bullets exploding things. It’s one of those elimination reality shows, but for marksmen so they get to play with a whole bunch of different weapons.

    And since I started learning how to sew, I’ve been watching Project Runway as well. I am unashamed in my love for that show.

    I think as I get older and more weighed down with my responsibilities, I tend to enjoy just switching off my brain and watching reality shows a bit more often. I find people who demonise reality shows as the death of great TV to be a bit silly, really. There’s no shortage of great TV, in fact these days there seems to be more amazing TV shows than ever. So I definitely do not feel guilty for watching reality shows, like many people seem to think I should.

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    1. 

       Annie Oakley

       August 21, 2012 at 12:11 pm

       Yes! Top Shot is the best!

       And generally (because they do play with weapons) you don’t really have insane people on the show so it’s really more about the awesome challenges and weapons. Most of the time everyone is a good sport as well and while you might get nominated for personality conflicts if you’re the best shot (or the luckiest shot) you can still get out of danger and potentially win.

       And I agree about your comments about Reality TV, obviously some of it is atrocious and need to be killed with fire, but most of it is just fun. While I love serious shows, sometimes I just need to turn off my brain for a bit and that’s where reality TV comes in. And I refuse to feel bad about that.

       Reply
19. 

    Dean

    August 21, 2012 at 11:37 am

    The only reality tv I watch is sport. Unscripted and unedited. If it’s not live I don’t watch it.

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    1. 

       Batguy

       August 21, 2012 at 11:51 am

       Live sport is fantastic.

       Reply
20. 

    Wonko

    August 21, 2012 at 11:43 am

    I love “Turtle Man” and “Swamp People”. Am not sure though how much reality TV they are <._.>ppp

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21. 

    mccawsome

    August 21, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Reality shows ROCK!!
    Its about the only time where my wife wants me to piss off and play video games. (generally so I stop bitching about her shows)

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22. 

    Benny

    August 21, 2012 at 11:53 am

    Not me.

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23. 

    CJ

    August 21, 2012 at 11:54 am

    I loved Battle Royal. That’s my fave reality show.

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24. 

    0.5×70

    August 21, 2012 at 11:57 am

    Class Of…
    …was not as bad as I thought it’d be. I’m not going to watch it again, becasue I work there. But based on the first episode, it’s more of a documentry than a ‘reality’ show. & thats not a bad thing.

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25. 

    alphamone

    August 21, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    The Amazing race has been the only reality tv show that has managed to keep my interest beyond two seasons.

    I watched the first few seasons of the apprentice, but it became clear soon into the second that there would not be much variation from season to season, and that it wasn’t a show where the contestants themselves could make a big difference in the quality of the show.

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26. 

    Batguy

    August 21, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    I watched the very first series of Big Brother out of some kind of weird fascination, but got bored with that fairly quickly. Caught snippets of the first couple of Masterchefs while my wife was watching it, till she got bored with the way they were trying to make it too artificially competitive.

    At the moment I’m not watching any. Don’t judge people who do, but personally would rather watch something interesting like QI on the ABC, or a DVD of Breaking Bad, or play a game, or just watch nothing at all, than subject myself to what feels like inane space filler TV.

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27. 

    Trex

    August 21, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Not I, unless”Go back to where you came from” and “Dumb, drunk and Racist” count.

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    1. 

       BC Talk

       August 21, 2012 at 12:16 pm

       Dumb, Drunk and Racist was excellent.

       Reply
28. 

    peaky01

    August 21, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    On and off. I like the ones that are about a business or company (are these considered ‘reality’ TV?), as apposed to glorified game shows with contestants; or even worse shows like The Shire and Jearsy Shore that follow fake people doing fake things.
    .

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29. 

    Butters

    August 21, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Yeah I haven’t owned a TV since 22 February 2011‎. I don’t really feel like I am missing anything. I did watch Cake Boss with my girlfriend, does that count?

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    1. 

       Dr_Stef

       August 21, 2012 at 2:12 pm

       Cake Boss was cool 🙂

       Reply
30. 

    Trex

    August 21, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    Listen to JJJ Unearthed radio and you’ll hear better voices every day than the one in that ad.

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    1. 

       garnet 23

       August 21, 2012 at 12:10 pm

       anyone can sing skinny love and sound good

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       1. 

          0.5×70

          August 21, 2012 at 12:12 pm

          Justin Vernon can.

          Reply
          1. 

             garnet 23

             August 21, 2012 at 3:03 pm

             Reply
31. 

    garnet 23

    August 21, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    I was all ready to hop on board the big brother hate train but am loving it, which hurts me so much on the inside.
    Also Masterchef is pretty handy to increase the ol’ cooking vocabulary

    Reply
32. 

    BC Talk

    August 21, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    I watch quite a few of the SyFy ones, Destination Truth etc. I love Face Off (it’s a makeup/special effects competition). I loved Amazing Race and Survivor but I haven’t watched the last few seasons.

    Reply
33. 

    DogMan

    August 21, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    My step sister watches a ton of reality TV. I could never figure it out because she’s intelligent, has a solid social life, has a good head for politics and she’s basically watching garbage. Not all reality TV is terrible but the stuff she’d watch was.

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34. 

    Lone Wolf

    August 21, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    I have watched, but I don’t watch.
    I do not follow reality tv, although I will occasionally sit through an episode on occasion.
    The last reality show I was actually interested in was the first season of Treasure Island, a survival-style show where two groups each face different challenges and have to negotiate to find the treasure and elimination was based on knowledge, not votes.
    The first season of Big Brother Australia was interesting because there was still a question of how much would make it to tv and whether there were any camera blind spots. Second season on I had no interestat all.
    The Amazing Race is still watchable, but I won’t go out of my way to.

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35. 

    Reign

    August 21, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    I would actually watch Big Brother with gusto IF the producers has some imagination and/or a streak of sadism.

    Imagine if they used it as some unethical psycholical experiment, or spent the entire time trying to fuck with ‘contestant’s’ heads. What the format needs is a healthy dose of evil genius.

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    1. 

       Reign

       August 21, 2012 at 1:05 pm

       *psychological

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    2. 

       Bagmup

       August 21, 2012 at 2:24 pm

       Go with a SIms style experiment…remove all the door handles then set fire to the place.

       Reply
       1. 

          Bagmup

          August 21, 2012 at 2:25 pm

          *Sims (why no edit button)

          Reply
36. 

    warcroft

    August 21, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    “Reality TV”
    Isnt that an oxymoron?

    Reply
    1. 

       Dr_Stef

       August 21, 2012 at 2:10 pm

       For a long while I thought an Oxymoron was a real moron.

       Filled with oxygen.

       Reply
37. 

    Matthew K

    August 21, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    In the past I have watched:

    Big Brother seasons 1 & 2
    Master Chef seasons 1 & 2
    Australian Idol seasons 1 & 2

    That seems to be my tolerance. One “house” show, cooking show, one overhyped karaoke competition – maximum two seasons. I haven’t watched any other talent programs or dancing shows, and I’ve certainly not watched any scripted reality dramas like Jersey Shore, The Shire, etc.

    I actually haven’t watched any TV since the New Years Eve fireworks, and even then I nearly forgot. We disconnected Foxtel back in February and since we don’t have an antenna for our TV we basically don’t get a TV signal.

    Anything good (Breaking Bad, for instances) we tend to watch online, where possible.

    Reply
38. 

    Richard

    August 21, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    I generally don’t watch reality TV as I always have more shows to watch (the Apple TV helps), though I have watched the tail end of The Amazing Race a few times.

    That said, the linked video above was pretty heartwarming, you could tell she was getting more than a little overwhelmed by the audiences response to her performance but she still managed to sing beautifully. Good luck to her.

    Reply
39. 

    brendan

    August 21, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    Not I, Mark. Not I.

    Reply
40. 

    os42

    August 21, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    The news makes a sufficient dent in my faith in humanity to be able to watch idiots being put into contrived circumstances specifically targeted at making that dent larger… and god did that sound pretentious.
    My opinion of reality tv pretty much comes down to that of Billy Conolly’s – “people in a house watching people sit in a house”. No thanks – if I wanted to do that, I have a mirror.

    Reply
41. 

    Dr_Stef

    August 21, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    Some really bad reality shows on tv these days, like Operation Repo, Swamp People, and
    literally every hillbilly is doing a Picker show or Pawn shop reality show. I hate them with all my guts!

    Yet. I still like some reality tv. Like my favorite ‘American Chopper’, Amazing Race
    (Australian version sucks btw) and sometimes even Survivor!
    Probably my reason for watching chopper is I just like big bikes, and the drama between Senior
    and Junior seems fairly genuine.

    Reply
42. 

    Bagmup

    August 21, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    This week…On American Hotrod..

    Reply
43. 

    Eko

    August 21, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    I just watched Masterchef Allstars because Justine is really hot. Does that make me a bad person?

    Reply
44. 

    Baws

    August 21, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    I would never have seen that if you didn’t post it here. I’m glad you did.

    Reply
45. 

    AussieSniper

    August 21, 2012 at 5:11 pm

    The only “reality TV” shows I watch are documentaries. Just finished up “Flying Wild Alaska” on Netflix. Good show, especially for aviation enthusiasts.

    Reply
46. 

    Warlok

    August 22, 2012 at 6:44 am

    I hate reality TV, All I ever see on tv is crap like that. Bring back Full Frontal/Fast Forward.

    Reply
47. 

    Ozoneocean

    August 22, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    “Reality tv” is TV committing suicide because it was afraid the internet would kill it off anyway. By watching that you contribute to the idiocy.

    Reply
48. 

    N0NEoftheAB0VE

    August 22, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    The best show to watch is “The Soup” which unfortunately I don’t get to see since giving Foxtel (E!) the flick – but it does a roundup of the week’s viewing on American TV and man alive you get to see some bizarre reality shows there – it was the first place I remember seeing ‘Swamp People’ for instance!

    Reply
49. 

    Os7

    August 23, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    “oh my god its my birthday, im 18!” click[closes tab]

    Reply
50. 

    Jack

    August 24, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    I stopped watching once they got social media involved. My TV time is me time, and I do not want to be bombarded with with messages telling me to like this and tweet that or having other peoples two cents shoved on the screen. Cannot stand Xfactor.

    Reply