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The Nation's Pulse
Nothing Is Real
At least not on reality TV — and Boob Tubus Americanus loves it that way.
Reality television personality David Hester has sued Storage Wars for wrongful termination alleging that the A&E program rigs auctions and plants curios in lockers. Will they next tell us that Santa Claus isn’t real?
It’s a sign of the times that a genre so obviously staged, coached, and scripted calls itself “reality” television. Think “Orange Drink.” In the words of that great green-toothed philosopher Johnny Rotten, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
Reality television producers eventually discovered what their colleagues behind primetime dramas already knew: most everyday strangers aren’t so terribly interesting as to merit their own shows. But they come cheaper than actors. So producers transform real people into fictional characters while retaining the illusion of reality.
Storage Wars is as real as Star Wars. But it’s hardly the lone deceiver.
TLC’s Breaking Amish depicts the adventures of five Anabaptist yahoos in the big city. But as the past divorces, tattoos, DUIs, and domestic violence arrests of cast members revealed, the stars of the show lost their innocence long before losing their anonymity on the idiot box.
A former participant on the HGTV program House Hunters spilled the beans earlier this year that she had already purchased a home when the program depicted her inspecting several houses, including the one she already owned, before settling on a property. She claimed, and the show’s producers never denied, that they wouldn’t even cast her until she had closed on a house.
“The Hills was pretty fake,” Kristin Cavallari admitted earlier this month on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live. Quarterback Jay Cutler’s baby momma described the MTV hit as full of “fake relationships” and “fake fights.” At least the faux-reality show fessed up to its fakeness by memorably ending the series by panning back to reveal a set, cleverly saying goodbye with a lingering shot of the “Hollywood” sign.
Americans are too jaded to be scandalized. More than a half century after payola and the quiz-show scandals, we’ve become habituated to being lied to. Judging by the ratings of Storage Wars, we even like it.
Our forebears liked Twenty One, too — until they discovered it a fraud. Congress investigated and uncovered malfeasance. Columbia University and NBC’s Today Show fired Charles Van Doren, the beneficiary of the rigging. Producer Dan Enright, Twenty One’s chief fixer, and its host Jack Berry endured exile from their profession for many years before staging comebacks. The affair scandalized viewers who had idealized Van Doren as the type of cultured, refined gentleman they had aspired to breed, be, or be with.
The rigged fifties quiz shows prefaced today’s reality television. “The contestants became the forerunners of Andy Warhol’s idea of instant fame,” David Halberstam explained in The Fifties. The late author continued, “After only a few appearances on the show, audiences began to regard the contestants as old and familiar friends. Perhaps, in retrospect, the most important thing illuminated by the show was how easily television conferred fame and established an image. Virtual strangers could become familiar to millions of their fellow citizens.”
Faker than the reality shows are the lives of the people addicted to them. Through their pixilated companions, the couch-bound make new friends, partake in romances, and experience drama. We are never as boring as when we find televised strangers’ lives more exciting than our own.
If we lived in a more ethical time and place, the revelations of cable-TV cons would invite cancellations and perhaps the metamorphosis of conmen into convicts. But we keep watching so they keep lying. Discovery’s Amish Mafia, which premiered Wednesday, is the latest program to elicit widespread skepticism. The show drew 3.4. million viewers, with the male demographic setting several records for the cable channel.
If only reality television had the decency of professional wrestling by admitting what the audience already knows, then decent people could view Omarosa, JWoww, and Honey Boo Boo as they do the Undertaker. Alas, producers don’t aim for the decent demographic, which isn’t as large as it was when Twenty One first appeared.
The Ivy League English instructor who was that program’s hero, and eventual villain, Charles Van Doren, would certainly have recognized that “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves.”
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (66) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 12.14.12 @ 6:31AM
A couple of years ago, a very determined elderly White man blew the lid off the Government Run Lottery (OLG) by insisting that the owner of the convenience store where he'd bought his ticket had cashed in that ticket himself. A long-overdue investigation proved that a large number of major prizes were "won" by members of ethnic groups other than White, who just happened to own convenience stores and gas stations. The government, who had paid no attention to the subject until then, discovered that people will not play lotteries that are rigged, and promptly began to arrest the crooks and deprive them of their loot, and award it instead to the older white folks whose loot it actually turned out to be. They also instituted a system for the individual ticket holder to check her own ticket, urged people to sign their tickets, and started awarding a lot more prizes to elderly white people, who were by far the majority ticket buyers. There is still one lottery that is pretty clearly rigged, but most of us only play that one when it reaches its upper limit and the approximate week when prizes are routinely awarded. I buy tickets once a week, because $3 for a lotto ticket is cheaper than $18 for a movie, and my daydreams are better than 90% of the movies put out these days.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 7:19AM
Hey Appleby(Love your Sportszone BTW, it's like Hooters without the uncomfortable interaction with girls in hose/sneakers), maybe its an LSD-25 flashback, but I thought you said something about White Peoples playing the lottery. But I'll play along.
Hey Dude, gotta idea that'll save you $156/year, that if you put in a good no-load mutual fund, in 30 years will be enough to....oh forget it.
But still, $156 isn't chump change, try what I do,
steal, I mean, take the advertising inserts from Kohls, Target, Old Navy, they actually have some major league talent, and let your imagination and dominant hand do what Jehovah designed them for, and the nice thing is you can splatter right on them, and its not a sex crime, cause (Redacted) is bio-degradable. And that toilet paper you don't have to use adds up...
Oh yeah, whats the most you've won?
How many tickets have you bought?
But hey, thanks for paying for my daughters college(s)
Frank
Jack in Wi| 12.14.12 @ 8:18AM
You mean Storage Wars, Pawn Stars and the gators and wild pigs getting killed are all faked? Now what I am I going to watch? I gave up on Lox SNews and Lush Bimbaugh a decade ago.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 8:37AM
"Lox"??? Oh I get it, its JEWISH, sort of like the Savior you claim to believe in.
What are you going to watch?? Probably what your already watching, "Sweet Life of Zach and Cody", "What Not to Wear", and anything with your Sweetheart/Crush Anderson Cooper.
And FYI, I'm Jewish, and I HATE Lox, Bagels, and Creamed Cheese(reminds me of an X, nome sane?)
Frank
Jack in Wi| 12.14.12 @ 9:00AM
We all knew you were a zionist Frank that is why your posts are so obscene and deranged. I like Barry Weis on Storage wars. Does that that make me less of an antisemite in your perverted eyes? Of course anyone who knows anything about auctions knows the show was fixed. The same is true of Pawn Stars. They pay prices no sane person would pay. So what? It is all fantasy TV and Brandi does have big tits. I used to like Dick the Bruiser and the Crusher on All Star wrestling as well. Now are you going to tell me a that was fixed as well? My whole world is crashing down.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 11:49AM
You like Barry Weiss??
Don't ask Don't tell...
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 3:55PM
Frank: Jami GERTZ went to high school with my sister. (I jhad graduated the year before)
And Jack, you are still an antisemitic asswipe. And the Packers still SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK.
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 4:02PM
Sorry: "I had" not "I jihad"---"I jihad" is Jack in Wi.
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 3:48PM
Lox News, owned by the Saudi Sultan?
I am so pissed off that you liked Bruiser and Crusher, Jack you bastard. I want nothing in common with you. Packers suck.
Jack in Wi| 12.14.12 @ 10:18PM
The Crusher was from my old neighborhood. I know one of his cousins. Another one of his cousins went to grade school with me. The Bruiser used to play for the Packers in the 50's. The Viqueens lost to the Packers a few weeks ago. In my lifetime the Packers have won 7 titles. The Viqueens are zip. I used to see the 60's Packers up and personal when I was a groundskeeper at their games. I stood right in back of Vince Lombardi on more then one occasion.
Frank Drackman| 12.15.12 @ 7:01AM
So you and Vince were an item??
I'll give you this Jack, you're comfortable in your sexuality.
Frank "Don't Stand so Close to Me" Drackman
Jack in Wi| 12.15.12 @ 8:48AM
Frank: Your mind seems obsessed wirh perverted and muderous thoughts. Get help and take Occam with you. Have a happy Hannakah to both you weirdos.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 7:09AM
Rigged Schmigged, I only watch for the occasional glimpse up Brandi's skirt. And Laura's tits?? They bounce any faster the damn San Andrea's fault is gonna crack...
And Mr. Flynn, you can insult "The Hills", "Honey Boo Boo", but when you question the integrity of Professional Wrestling, there's gonna be a fight!!
Have you ever watched "Real" i.e. Highschool or College Wrestling? Makes C-Spans "Booknotes" watchable...And howcome in this enlightened error there's no Women's Baseball? Football? 3 on 3 nude beach volleyball??
Where I come from, calling the Undertaker a faker is just this side of giving Moe-hammed Atta flying lessons(who was that guy anyway? must have been some statue he violated) Lets see, how can I demonstrate your cultural Faux Paux???
BOB COUSEY COULDN'T DRIBBLE OFF HIS CHIN.
TED WILLIAMS COULDN'T HIT THE CHANGE!!
BILL BUCKNER
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,
Bill Buckner, thats all I had to say.
Frank "Red Sox Suck!" Drackman
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 4:02PM
Buckner played for the Cubs fairly well, you know.
83champ| 12.14.12 @ 11:26PM
When Hank Aaron hit 715, the Dodger outfielder climbing the wall was none other than Bill Buckner.
Frank Drackman| 12.15.12 @ 7:07AM
Buckner was my favorite Dodger in the early 70's. Lefty like me, good looking(no Homo), fastm was one of the top 1st base prospects in baseball, but had the bad luck to come up the same time as Mr. Perfect, Steve Garvey. Was a great leftfielder till he shattered his ankle, which probably took 50 points off his average. When that groundball went through his legs I almost cried, cause I hated the Mets even more than the Redsox.
I did like Mookie Williams, how can you not like a player named "Mookie"??
Frank
WaffenSS| 12.14.12 @ 8:14AM
The current taste in TV programing, for most people that happen to live in the U.S., is similar to the mobs of Rome. Which reminds me of another observation. As America becomes more of a mongrel mix, will the government look more like the mongrel government of Italy.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 9:56AM
they had TV in ancient Rome?
And you been to Germany lately? The only TV shows that aren't American re-runs are copies of American Re-runs, "In Namens Gesetzes"(Law & Order) even uses the same Musik for cryin out loud.
And my Shepherd/Dobie/Collie mix will kick your Dachshunds ass...
Frank
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 10:27AM
Frank, do Germans still find David Hasselhoff to be an uber-talent?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.14.12 @ 3:30PM
We're missing you at the contest, BG.
Al Adab| 12.14.12 @ 11:40AM
Bread and circuses. Translates to health care and TV. Keep the public distracted and dependant on govt. largess.
Anthony| 12.14.12 @ 12:09PM
Calling Italians mongrel's eh, isn't that a hate crime? No matter, but I would invest in one of those remote car starters for that Nazi mobile that your drive if I were you.
Oh, and pay no attention to that horse's head in the back seat. Sorry for the mess.
JmsA| 12.14.12 @ 1:14PM
Just asking, but what's up with the Waffen-SS name? I mean, I know those guys could fight, but they also committed incredible atrocities during the war, and the Totenkopfverbände SS ran the concentration camps. I also get the thingy about the mongrel mix, which Hitler wrote about in Mein Kampf.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 1:25PM
Its simple,
Waffen-SS ist ein VERSAGER
that means "Failure" in Kraut,
you could also say "NadelSchwanz", "Mastdarmatmung" or "Scheidegesicht"
he's also "Schwul" with 2 of those little dot thingies over the "u"
Frank
JmsA| 12.14.12 @ 1:57PM
Thanks, Frank. By the way, yours and other comments per Bill Croke's "Romance in
JmsA| 12.14.12 @ 2:00PM
Oops, I hit the wrong key. Meant to write: 'Romance in the Ruins', cracked me up to no end last night.
KyMouse| 12.14.12 @ 3:39PM
Frank, those little dot thingies over the "u" are an umlaut.
Or maybe an umlaut is that thingie between the tonsils.
Aw, everybody's a diacritic these days.
Appleby| 12.15.12 @ 7:51AM
No, that thing in your throat is a uvula.
Ryan| 12.14.12 @ 8:27AM
One of the reasons behind the prevalence of reality tv is the cost-benefit. They're CHEAP to make, because the people on them don't get paid a whole ton until later if the show is a success...maybe.
Louisiana shows, in particular, because there's no union for the people on the shows.
And yes, they are "staged," I would say, more than "fake." Pro Wrestling is a very good parallel.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 8:42AM
Pro Wresting's fake?
John Stossel's ears are still ringing from Dave Schultzes Bee-otch slaps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrX9Ca7LSyQ
Frank
Al Adab| 12.14.12 @ 11:43AM
Mork and Minday had that coversation yearws ago. Mindy arrives home to find Mork in tears over some TV show.
Mindy: "Mork nothing on TV is real"
Mork: "You mean the Dallas Cowboys are kidding"?
Mindy: "No sports are real"
Mork: "Thank goodness. I thought you were going to tell me wrestling was fake."
fmm| 12.14.12 @ 9:18AM
The government lies to the people 24/7 so why not TV shows?
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 10:15AM
The Vocational Reality Shows are unwatchable for many reasons, not the least of which is the wardrobe.
Is this really what red-state Americans wear? If so, I wanna go back to the attire of the forties and fifties. I'll have sweatier b**ls and will be more uncomfortable but we as Americans have simply abused our casual-dress-code privilege.
I mean, the wife beater shirt; the cap worn backwards; the absurd all black short/shirt combo...and, of course, the troglodyte who chose to pair his baggy capri-style pants with white tube socks.
Sorry to offend my fellow red-staters but seriously, can we put the clown clothes to rest?
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 11:22AM
Yeah Right, ever see "Fargo"?(which mostly takes place in Min-a-Soda)or Wisconsin/Iowa/Michigan/UpState NY/Illinois/?
where "Formal Attire" means the laundered Vikings/Bears/Browns/Steelers/Jets/Giants/Patriots Jersey???
and don't make me dig up Kurt Kobain, who was burried in flannell...
Frank "only thing Grunge about me is my Balls" Drackman
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 11:50AM
Frank,
I'll cut the Fargo People a little slack. After all, they're up the their nutzz in snow 6 months out of the year.
Whatever gets 'em through the day.
The rest need to be arrested, stripped naked, have their testicles shorn, lashed,...and have other assorted humiliating, civil-rights-violating acts performed on them by the Fashionista Police.
Sorry but it's just a pet peeve of mine.
Btw, you are one funny SOB! Keep 'em coming, please.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 12:52PM
Funny?? Like I'm a Clown, I make you laugh, I'm a fucking CLOWN, WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUNNY ABOUT ME!!!!!!!!
sorry, I've seen "Goodfellas like 600 times"
and can you believe some people say it was just a MOVIE???? Dumbasses
Frank
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 3:58PM
Fargo is a wonderful place filled with nice people and good looking women.
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 5:49PM
With a high concentration of Nordic people, who could doubt you.
Show me a better looking group of women and I'll eat some of that nasty fermented fish garbage they call "cuisine".
Perhaps Surstromming has something to do with beauty?....
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 3:57PM
Fargo was shot in Brainerd, MN, except for an establishment shot in Fargo. Brainerd is SOUTH of my place by several hours.
And I like our laid back clothing style, which beats sweating in the South (the only thing I dislike about 'Bama is the damn HEEEEAT).
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 6:08PM
Fargo. A great movie!
I remember taking my fiancee to see the movie right after release, sometime around Christmas, and how blessed I felt walking out of the theater to a 65 degree balmy day in Austin, Tx.
BTW, for another great Cohen Brothers movie and Frances McDormand performance, check out Blood Simple. I believe it was their debut.
c. j. acworth| 12.14.12 @ 10:47AM
Reading this article and the comments made thus far makes me think I made the right decision when I blew up my TV years ago.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 1:06PM
Who needs TV with that gay porn stash you've got....
So you're saying you have no TV set in your home?
Yeah right, and I haven't jerked off today, oh yeah I did.
And with no TV, no cable/satellite/ somehow I don't believe you...
So you're sayin you watch the Superbowl on Radio, oh Only the commercials...
Frank
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 5:58PM
Do you mean Gay Porn 'stache?
c. j. acworth| 12.14.12 @ 8:55PM
That's exactly what I'm saying Frank. I haven't had TV in my home for years. No satellite, no cable, not even an antenna. And I have as much interest in gay porn as I have in the Superbowl, which is to say, none. As if I care what you believe.
Frank Drackman| 12.15.12 @ 7:12AM
Umm You must care enough to ride your horse down to the local Saloon&Internet; bar to type your reply. I mean if you blew up your TV you certainly wouldn't have a computer, what with its access to Filth, Flarn, Filth, and (Gasp!) TELEVISION..
Frank
Anthony| 12.14.12 @ 10:59AM
No problem, I still would like to bid on Brandi, I don't care what else they've planted in that locker. And thank God American capitalism is alive and well, with those American patriots who control Duck Dynsasty, despite the Muslim Marxist.
Next, you'll be telling us that the gold that they dig up on Gold Rush is fake and planted.
I root like hell for that 17 year old kid who took over grandpa's mining operation, hoping he'll becomes one of those 1%ers Obozo wants to steal from.
Maybe we can get the suits in Hollywood to come up with a reality series about a Kenyan Muslim Marxist who manages to pull off the greatest con job in world history, and gets himself elected president of the United States.
That would make for a series almost as interesting as the exploits of President Slick Wee Willie with his cigar box and his cumly chubby gal pal, as together, they save America from the dastardly Republicans.
Petronius| 12.14.12 @ 11:23AM
Reality has been totally displaced. So call it something else. The trouble is, nobody wants what is real. The bottom feeders want their expectations met. When the serfs cry over their goodies on Undercover Boss, they cry too, and their ersatz catharsis is orgasmic. The passivity which overtook Americans when television stayed on the air 24/7 has become an occupassion. Most people don't know anything else and could care less. The flat screen is an idiot lantern and little more than an extension of the bullshit factories we call public schools. Worse still are the talking heads who are "the smartest people in the room". They not only discard reality, they abhor it. That manifestation is the contagion we call Liberalism. They'll tell you. "Reality is what you want it to be." And television programming is what they want Us to have. When They bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" which will muzzle those pesky Conservatives who engage REALITY, they'll get Their monopoly back on what the public is told, thereby controlling political and social discourse until this country is over run and falls due to their colossal ignorance. How do I know this? A politician once told me: "You're dangerous. you READ." That leads to something more dangerous; Thinking. Where are the trolls today who are so allergic to it?
Anthony| 12.14.12 @ 11:28AM
Petronius, The trolls are marching on Washington hoping to get Harry Belafonte appointed the new Sec. of Homeland Security.
cuban pete| 12.14.12 @ 11:52AM
"Quiz Show" is a great movie. VanDoren got caught and went away.Today he would git a raise and his own TV show.
Frank Drackman| 12.15.12 @ 7:19AM
John Turturro Kicked Butt!!!!!! Seriously, that Homo Limey who's supposed to be "Lincoln" couldn't carry Turturros nut sack,
Anyone who can play Moe Flatbush, Barton Fink, Billy Martin, and that guy in "Oh Brother where art thou" deserves a laminated Oscar...
Frank
A. C. Santore| 12.14.12 @ 11:52AM
Well, what an elitist thread!
Literature and Drama - forerunners of television - have been full of "reality" shows since writing replaced grunting.
It's to laugh, guys!
I've watched only this one "reality" show, but knew it was "theatre" before the show was a few minutes old - so I just enjoyed it.
By the way, Dave Hester in real life appears to be mimicking art in the form of his "character" or "persona" in the show - a whining cry-baby.
Love it!
Ronsch| 12.14.12 @ 12:19PM
Shoot, I just stick with fictional shows....They are more entertaining than the "reality" stars who appear to be complete morons anyway.
"Supernatural" and "Justified" are pretty much my limits...And what is up with this "mid-season finale" crap? When I was a kid, the TV shows ran original episodes from fall through late spring, and then re-runs went on during the summer. We had the "cliff hanger" in May and the resolution was the first episode of the fall season.
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 12:42PM
Yep,
Person of Interest (a favorite of mine but you have to suspend disbelief to enjoy; think an updated, cyber version of Mission Impossible) threw that mid-season crap on me last night.
It's like they go out of their way to piss off their viewers. An odd way to conduct business. Very sadistic. It's enough to blow off television all together.
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 1:08PM
So true, I mean when "Gilmore Girls" got cancelled I must have cried for a week...
I mean I GOT REALLY ANGRY! AND PUNCHED A COMPLETE STRANGER IN THE MOUTH!!!!!
Seriously, friggin "Gunsmoke" ran for 20 years, and they cut "GG" just when it was getting interesting...
Frank
Bob Grant| 12.14.12 @ 2:21PM
I hear ya,
I felt the same way when Square Pegs was cancelled. That was NOT bitchin', nor tubular. More like 'gag me with a spoon'...
Frank Drackman| 12.14.12 @ 3:30PM
you didn't like 16 yr olds Sara Jessica Parker and Jamie Getz?? wat are ya, a Hoe-Moe????
Oh wait, you're saying CANCELING the show sucked, damn I hate Engrish with it's indefinate pronouns...
Frank
Occam's Tool| 12.14.12 @ 3:59PM
Gertz, as in, beat my shithead sister out for roles in high school plays (you go girl!).
Jane Chingo| 12.14.12 @ 5:18PM
Sigh. Let's go over this one more time. Everybody with an IQ above freezer level (admittedly a high bar these days) knows that reality shows are staged. The wink wink nod nod is knowing that but pretending you don't. In the case of Twenty-One, not only did it present itself as real, nobody thought it was anything but. I'd throw some nostalgie de la boue in there, but I doubt it would mean much to anyone these days.
cuban pete| 12.14.12 @ 5:26PM
I'm old it might mean something to me. Give it a whirl and throw it in. If you're not too busy.
All the best,
cp
Anthony| 12.14.12 @ 8:06PM
Sorry Jane, I refuse to accept your premise that Brandi isn't real. Nope, my side by side freezer IQ will never ever accept that fact.
Big sigh, besides, her dorkey husband can't match up against me in any catagory, except major ugly. Yes, I'm jealous.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 12.14.12 @ 11:59PM
I typed a post around 10 am this morning, where I asked if Dave Hester's case survived summary judgnent, when he was sworn in to give testimony, would he respond to the question about telling the Whole truth with his classic "Yuuuuuupppp".
Petronius| 12.15.12 @ 11:33AM
I neglected mentioning the one thing I saw on television that better be real or we might as well be dead: those Victorias Secret models.
Bob Grant| 12.15.12 @ 1:02PM
I'm simply shocked that we apparently have so many Storage Wars fans on this site. What gives?
I have a few simple rules for determining what shows to watch and not to watch:
* Reality shows. The exceptions being Shark Tank and Amazing Race, that is, if the mood strikes me.
* Any show in which it's promo includes a bottom-up shot of it's cast members posing arms crossed with full-on attitude.
* Any show with an Oh-So-Clever name such as "Pawn Stars", "Bling it On", "Sons of Guns", etc.
* Any show that includes the name of a city, the word "Real", the word "Wives", the word "War(s) or Battle(s)", the word "Celebrity", etc.
... In a roundabout way I'm saying reality shows are not my bag. Not that there's anything wrong with them...
Stevemmn| 12.15.12 @ 1:59PM
For what it's worth, my daughter got a part as an extra in a very low budget movie and one of the film crew said that he worked on the first series of the show Survivor while he was chatting between scene takes (which was most of the time).
He said the show was about 85% realistic. The contestants really did go hungry much of the time and really did eat rats. But there was also a world class resort a fairly short distance away and while the contestants were going hungry they could smell gourmet meals being prepared for resort guests there. So they weren't really quite out in the jungle stranded alone.
Frank Drackman| 12.16.12 @ 8:58AM
What a conincidence, I was an extra too, whenever John Holmes was in his refractory period, they'd call me and BLAMMO!(HT Bill Cosby)
No Offense Stevemmm, but your part of whats wrong with America.
I mean besides the Mexican Invasion/Muslim President/and "How to give your Crush Great X-mas Oral!" on Morning TV(I really didnt need to see Kelly Rippa deepthroating that large Colored Fellow)
and FWIW(you don't have to type it out)
what you said about Survivor was common knowledge in the last Millenium.
Seriously, it was the last Millenium, this one didn't start until 2001.
What are you gonna tell us next? Jesus gets executed?
Frank
PCPSmokerII| 12.16.12 @ 1:42PM
Relax, its entertainment. Catty fights, interesting people, new processes to be learned, best of all, no political agendas, no "victims" to be exploited, no anti-rich/gun themes. Just life, spiced up for dramatic effect.