Literally any reality show. Even things that I might be moderately interested in have this stupid drama injected in where I'm supposed to care about these people's problems.
Like damn, just drive the truck on the ice road and stop complaining.
In the same vein, Talent Shows. Any entertainment I might get from the actual talent is spoiled by the camera constantly cutting to Nick Cannon or whoever else making fake reaction faces every 5 seconds.
Any talent show is ruined once they let kids on, then it just becomes OMG look how cute they are! And the kid could just be doing armpit farts and still win.
I used to really enjoy America’s Got Talent for the unique acts and stunts. It gradually shifted more and more to singing elementary schoolers. Not that exciting.
There was a comedian in like 2012 who was actually really funny that made it to the finals. After him, I never saw another good act that wasn't singing/music
Loved Drew Lynch! Actually going to go see him next week. He posts a lot of his stuff to his Facebook account. I love when he does improv to the crowd.
Drew Lynch. He's still really funny. Got a YouTube channel where he uploads clips from his shows where he interacts with the audience https://www.youtube.com/user/WordsRHard
Don't forget that it just became who can give the biggest sob story wins.
"I really hope that I can win this contest because our house just burned down, my parents are bankrupt living on the streets and my brother committed suicide last year"
Proceeds to do some half-assed singing while somehow making his way to the finals and winning..
There was a magic act that got to the final of Britain's Got Talent a few years ago (apparently) doing pretty good tricks and stunts. For his final performance he then literally just told a long elaborate story with some little effects that weren't magic tricks about an elderly veteran, brought him on stage and that was pretty much it i think, maybe he did a "is this your card" with the guy too. If I remember right he then managed to fucking win.
I would prefer it if they did any talent but singing (because there are already plenty of singing shows). I might make an exception for opera style singing since that doesn’t have as much representation. I’m okay with kids if they are as good as the adults. Let the best in regardless of who it is. And spread out the types of talents more.
Years ago the little girl that got an stage and "metal screamed" made me cringe so hard. She doesn't know how to do it right and it's noticeable, she's going to ruin her voice.
I can’t stand the child prodigies on these shows! Sure, she’s a good singer for a 5 year old, but once she’s 16 she’ll probably be pretty average and no one will care anymore and good job world you gave a child an existential crisis for no reason when she realizes she ain’t that special after all
The whole "American reality aesthetic." Please make it stop. But I know it will never stop. Seemingly nothing will make this trend do anything but accelerate. There will always be millions of people with a bottomless appetite for this crap, it seems.
I'm so disappointed with the new one on Amazon. If was so bad :( First time I stopped watching a show like that.
I did really enjoy Next In Fashion, but the teams were unfair, the hosts bad (and had some really questionable fashion choices for a fashion show!), and do think a few of the blandest contestants made it to the finals. Still, I loved some of those outfits. I still think about the underwear episode, it was just that good.
My wife makes super cuts of game shows and AGT etc with all the fluff cut out. Some 40 minute episodes are 10 minutes long or less. It's absolutely shameless how much they reuse footage and keep teasing up drama, which I'm already watching this show you don't have to keep teasing me.
I don't really watch them, but I do like America's Got Talent. That being said! I don't get why they allow singing on that show. We have a hundred shows about singing! I like when they have dancers or magicians or comedians on.
Taken Shows are much better experienced in Facebook highlight clips. You still have those cuts to the celebs, but you also are basically only watching the cream of the crop level entertaining contestants.
Yes! I remember when I started watching it and it was so refreshing to see something go wrong for someone during a competition and all of a sudden like 3 other competitors jump in to help them get back on track.
Like you're all competing but you're also all amazing people who see someone struggle and recognize that you want to know you're the best bc of what you created, not bc someone else just happened to make a mistake or have a bad day.
There is like zero drama except recipes not going to plan or running out of time. The rest is just yummy food.
Exactly! They're all there to struggle together, and they become genuine friends. I love those last episodes when their families come, and it's just one big celebration.
I hate reality TV and don't usually watch cooking shows, but I have to admit when my wife had GBBO on I sat down and watched a ton of episodes. It's good fun with minimal drama bs. All those cooking shows may have some issues, but the contestants are hella creative.
The show also has very little inherent negativity. I appreciated that the contestants supported each other (up to and including helping each other in small ways), the judges weren't "gordon ramsey screaming" and always tried to offer a positive point, even in the worst dish, and always offered constructive criticism.
The show itself also explained why certain things worked/didn't work and what was tricky/important to non-bakers as they were watching.
Binge watched a season or two during lockdown and started baking. Solved two problems directly because of things I had seen while watching GBBO.
1) I had previously made a small jelly filled cookie and they never quite worked out. Some worked, some were flat, they often came apart. Went back to the recipe and realized that I had been skipping a step to work with cold dough/let the cookies rest/cool before popping them into the oven.
2) I was making a vanilla pudding for some creampuffs. Pudding looked great! Popped it into the fridge to cool ... turned into a liquid soup. It was the second time this had happened, but I had a better understanding this time of what was wrong from watchign GBBO. Hadn't cooked it to a high enough temperature, and deactivated the enzyme in the egg yolk that ate the starch. Added more potato starch, reheated, and cooled it again, and this time it worked perfectly.
I admit I'm a huge fan of the entire 'wholesome competition show' genre. Blown Away (glassblowing), The Great American BBQ Showdown, Glow Up (Make Up), to name a few. Its so fun and relaxing watching people who are passionate about a niche thing compete in interesting challenges without unnecessary artificial drama
If you think you might enjoy the exact middle ground between despising everyone associated with the show and quirky British television, Netflix has Interior Design Masters. I yelled at my TV so much, it was great.
I can confirm a glass of wine makes the experience much more delightful. "Multiple wallpaper patterns in one room in a show property??? What the FUCK. WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE."
I do like the cooking ones like Masterchef (the Australian one in particular is great except they are always too nice, no backstabbing n shit, on season 6 now)
I feel same as OP but then I saw Blown Away on Netflix. It was great because there was zero drama and instead a focus on the artists' camaraderie and admiration for each other's craft. I watched S1 and it was a lot of fun and very uplifting. We later found out it was a Canadian production, so I guess that explains a lot lol
İt's so interesting to see the difference of shows from different countries. Take cooking for example.
The US has Master Chef. İt's full of drama, strategizing, maybe a sob story or two. Don't get me wrong, i like the show and think it's good. But it's "more exciting each episode." You won't believe what we have this season!
Then you watch Great Britain's Baking Show. İt almost doesn't feel like a competition show. Everyone's just there to do their best and someone happens to go home at the end of the episode. Nobody compares each other's talents. There's no drama, no sob story. There's classical music playing in the background as they bake.
Then you've got Australia's Zumbo's Just Desserts. İt's very quirky and whimsical. Very Willy Wonka. The show is a competition, but again, not very dramatic.
At one point, i was watching all three shows at the same time and it was almost jarring between the differences when i watched them.
I enjoyed it until the season 5 winner admitted they were allowed to have a stash of beef jerky I think it was? So he basically won just waiting out the other guy and stretching out his beef jerky.
That's fair. However, the editing definitely doesn't mention them falling back on the emergency rations. My disappointment was with Sam in season 5 in particular. They made it seem like him and Britt were unknowingly facing off in a test of wills and starving, when Sam had extra rations. That put me off personally.
The survival show Alone on History Channel. I only watched for two seasons, and I'm not sure if initially they mentioned it but I don't think they did anyway. They talk about them being able to bring an item from home like a fish net or a saw- things to help them survive in the wilderness, but they don't mention that each contestant is given 5 pounds of beef jerky. During the season they of course make a big deal about the contestants finding a food source, which I understand yeah they need to find something other than the beef jerky, but it loses its effectiveness when you know they have the fall back, you know? In Season 5 in particular they played it up that the final two contestants were trying to out last the other by starving basically, and the dude that won was chubby so they were going for the angle that he more reserves to burn away. However, the winner admitted in an AMA that he had the beef jerky still, lmao. I stopped watching after that.
I also enjoyed ‘Full Bloom’ on HBO for this reason. It’s about really talented florists. And holy shit… the stuff they create… AMAZING. And since it’s HBO, the production value is high dollar.
Same with Glow Up. It's a UK show about finding the best up and coming makeup artists. I was expecting more tears, anger and drama, but all of the artists were so supportive of each other and seemed genuinely happy when their fellow artists did well. This is the kind of world I want to live in, not just a constant competition.
Except blown away season 2 clearly allowed one entitled contestant to completely disregard the brief and still keep moving forward multiple times.... The favoritism in that show really turned me off.
The Great Pottery Throw Down is on HBO Max and is pretty much the same. Wholesome competition show with a judge who cries about how good the pottery is or isn't sometimes. I love it so much.
Season 1 of The Circle on Netflix was similar, it was just super wholesome and most everyone was just trying to get along. It didn't feel like too many were trying to push for being IG famous either.
Season 2 Was the opposite, they really got lost in the sauce.
Australian Masterchef has that vibe too. All the competitors are friendly and encourage each other, cry when someone has to leave. Focus is on the actual competition. It is nothing like the drama filled American version.
In survivor a guy will suffer a catastrophic injury and they will just have the host say something like “Daniel had to be evaluated by medical personnel now let’s get to today’s challenge”
Or that guy who passed out into a fire and burned himself horribly and had to be airlifted out and then came back like 15 years later and it turns out he was a pedophile.
As a survivor fan and someone who has applied, anyone who wants to go on that show is insane. ESPECIALLY the older seasons like Africa where elephants literally shat in the water they drank
The one girl said she had hookworms, tapeworms, and parasites and that took a year to figure out. And it took 19 months to fix her gastro/urinary track problems from the show.
Yep, anybody that’s out there towards the end is coming back with some shit.
I feel like British reality avoids the drama more than U.S. shows. Gordon Ramsey is a different person depending on which country made the show. If the U.S. ever did GBBO there would be dramatic music and that precommercial cliff hangers. It would be unwatchable.
Absolutely, the GBBO feels so wholesome and welcoming. Everybody comes to have a good time rather than having competition which is the whole reason I love it so much.
And also it really is about baking, you get to learn a lot of different kinds of things to bake. And I agree, the spirit of everyone encouraging and even helping each other is so refreshing. It feels much more real that way, too!
Same with Great British Sewing Bee, and Great British Pottery Throw Down (similar formatsto GBBO). So wholesome, lovely contestants who supports and help each other, and when they get booted off for being the under achiever for the week they all say "I knew it, I wasn't good enough and everyone will else deserved to stay". No angst, no tantrums. So, so lovely!
Fun fact, the US did make its own version of GBBO called the American Baking Competion. However it must have sucked because it came out in 2013 and only ran for 1 season.
It did suck and all the contestants were awful. Obsessed with winning and wanting everyone else to fail. My mum watched it and it actively made me angry when I'd walk past.
AND Paul Hollywood cheated on his wife with his fellow judge so... that happened too.
That one actually pre-dated PBS airing GBBO. The Great American Baking Show is the version that launched after GBBO gained popularity on PBS and ran for 5 seasons as a holiday thing. Not sure if its officially cancelled yet or if no season last year was just due to covid.
I enjoyed watching the UK version of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, and thought I might enjoy the US version. What a steaming pile of over dramatized fodder for mouth breathers that was. Constant fast cuts, the screen literally flashes, contrived cliffhangers, and a tension adding soundtrack. It’s all the worst parts of modern content in microcosm.
I love the US version. Yes the editing sucks but compared to the UK version the restaurants are just so bad and disgusting, and watching Gordon rip into the terrible owners/chefs never gets old. They are completely different shows.
I loved Kitchen Nightmares where it is Gordon using his vast wealth of experience to help struggling restaurants. There is plenty of drama from people resistant to change, and you never know if the restaurant is going to listen to him and thrive or bullheadedly flounder.
But it kills me when you see someone who knows their restaurant is failing, getting help from a world famous chef with multiple Michelin star restaurants, and tell him to pound sand. The audacity amazes me.
A teacher I was assisting for a class period in high school would tape Survivor since I worked the nights it came on. Got to watch it the next day at school. Good times!
I also think the Great British Bake off escapes as well - no drama between the participates and so much joy and fun between them and they are all so helpful to each other
My friend's dad actually won a defamation case against a TV channel here in the UK because they featured him on a reality show about hiring au pairs, but they cut the whole thing in a way that made him look like a complete creeper who was trying to constantly hit on the au pair.
They then started having the au pair accuse him of things on camera he hadn't done and gaslighting him.
Then one night my friend had a house party and we were all over there (we were about 16), and the camera crew shows up and starts filming us like we were complete degenerates and he was letting us run riot in his house. We weren't running riot, we were just getting irritated because we didn't consent to being filmed and the crew wouldn't fuck off.
He cancelled the filming after that, but they still aired it.
I was in the house for most of the shoots hanging out with my friend (his daughter), and he NEVER did any of the shady shit they made him out to have done in the edits.
Yep! I was really into deadliest catch & they mostly avoided adding unnecessary drama into it until Cpt. Phil had his stroke & the ratings skyrocketed. It’s been trash ever since. Isn’t even about crabbing anymore. It’s about whatever kind of fake drama they can manifest into it.
As a mom to a newborn I can say that I watch these to keep me awake during late night feeds but also have on something I don’t care about turning off in the middle.
I feel the exact same way. Shows like Chopped, for example, have a fascinating premise, but are so full of unnecessary angst and tears and crap that it simply isn't enjoyable anymore.
For the longest time I wanted to edit a compilation video called “Chefs on Chopped talk about food” that starts off that way but progressively turns into just talking about their sisters with cancer or how they had drug addictions.
Alone is pretty good- there’s not a lot of drama between people, and you get some good solid human emotion that’s not scripted but still heavily edited down to make a good show but overall it was the only reality tv show I didn’t just get so mad at.
The only good reality show to ever exist was The Mole. We were talking about it awhile back and people agreed one of the things that made it stand out was the lack of drama. It was just about sabotage and the game.
I feel like the variety of original crabbing/fishing/boating shows kind of kicked that trend off in their final seasons. Like Deadliest Catch was a fucking banger originally, but as it went on, I think they were running short for materials, so they said "Hey what if we talk about their rivalries?" and then "What about their family" and so on, until it became "That man took my spot! I'm going to ruin his traps!".
Similarly, all of the motorcycle/vehicle shows did the same. Season 1-5 "Check out this sick chopper, Vinnie made this cool part, Check out this sweet paint job!" And then it devolved in to "Dad mad. Son temper. Shop falling apart"
I loved it for a bit, but it gets repetitive. There's also a bell curve in the seasons where at first it seems like they were taking just anybody, then they got popular and started finding quality smiths, and then they got desperate after running out of new candidates to the point where they let a guy with an Nazi tattoo compete.
That's why I liked strip search, all the contestants become friends and there is no drama. The judges even point out that they wanted in fighting during one of the showdowns at the end and try to convince the contestants to start some shit.
Joel Haver has a hilarious video parody of this; the way the shows on History, Discovery, and similiar channels are these overplayed, overdramatic stupid narratives with silly conflict just injected into them
Flavor of love got reality tv perfect. Trashy, awful, dumb, hilarious people set up in games to compete with each other for a guys ‘love’. The ‘drama’ is nothing serious, because everyone is so goofy and over the top that it’s impossible to take anything seriously. It makes Jersey shore look like greys anatomy in comparison.
We should set up an enormous fake reality show, in a huge empty mall or something where anyone can join without an audition. Then we just tell them that the cameras are rolling, leave, and we all get to enjoy a few months of life with about 10,000 less annoying narcissistic people out in the streets.
I never thought I'd like a reality TV show until my girlfriend got me into my 600 pound life, literally just watching it because it's a freak show. Like how the hell do these people not work a day in thier life and manage to eat 30-100 dollars of food a day?
I loved the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, for at least the first handful of seasons, if not more. The drama surrounding the Harris Brothers--especially Jake--and the loooooong drawn out story of will-they-won't-they get the Cornelia Marie back is what I think finally started me toward tuning out of the show. Until that became such a focal point of the show, there was only so much scripting or creative editing that could be done to create drama. At the end of the day, the camera crews were stuck on those boats and had to film them catching and sorting crab and not dying in the frozen hellscape of the Bering Sea. I think it helps that, in that job, there really is no down time to screw around with anything except the task at hand.
But the editing to create drama started getting too obvious. I started to read about how events in the show were presented completely out of order to make it seem like various boats were encroaching on each other more than they really were. People like Jake Anderson losing his Dad and receiving the news basically all in real time in front of cameras is some real raw and genuine stuff, but at the same time it's not why I tuned into a show about surviving the incomprehensibly harsh Bering Sea in order to catch eye-popping high numbers of illogically large crabs. Credit to Jake (and people with similar tragedy that unfolded on camera) for keeping it together and letting the cameras film that, but it doesn't do it for me
And then the real killer for me was realizing that this show I liked, much like how artists like Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn are the direct connection between older country and today's bro country pop, was the direct line connecting Discovery being about the natural world to becoming a show about human drama. And I was out.
So I saw a movie recently about a British reality show, only there’s a zombie outbreak outside the studio and the inevitable happens. I also hate reality shows, so naturally I really liked this movie. Might want to look it up.
I havent watched it in forever but I give a pass to survivor. At least its challenges are entertaining and Ive heard the strategy and drama from it has become so common that they were able to pull back on misrepresenting or forcing drama as much.
I started watching shows without as much interjected drama. "Love on the spectrum", "astronaughts: do you have what it takes" and realised these shows can still be thoroughly enjoyable without the trash factor.
Man, I love Hell's kitchen but it's so painful to watch sometimes. The way the editors replay the exact same sound bite several times in a row, the dramatic musical stings, reaction shots from people who aren't even close by.
If you don't like reality shows, you should check out "Nathan for you". It is a total satire that's played completely straight. I recommend it any time I get half a chance. Check out a clip or two from YouTube and see if you like it.
It perfectly encapsulates each classic beat from reality tv in a brilliant way
My parents watch a bunch of reality TV shows. There is one called Christley (idk or care if I got the name right) Knows best. It's focused on a rich southern family bitching about day to day issues.
This thing I cannot stand the most about these type of shows, is the quick camera cuts that are obviously not from the same moment in time. Like there'll be a clip of somebody jerking their head like somebody said something inappropriate. The show will literally use that same clip more than once to make it look like somebody is offended or overheard somebody say something they shouldn't have. Almost every single reality show does this.
Yes!!! Reality TV is just horrible in my opinion. The only reality show I've ever thought was ok was the joe schmo show and that was a long time ago. Made me laugh. Everything else I've heard of since then is just based on drama and no thank you.
I like some reality competition shows (Survivor, Big Brother Rupaul’s Drag Race), but other than that I agree. Reality TV is cheaper to produce though, which is why it has cluttered the airways.
I heard that part of blame for so much reality tv was the Friends cast who got popular, then bargained hard and got a million dollars each per episode. The network paid, but wanted to avoid getting in that situation again, so they went big on reality and Dateline type shows.
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u/supersnaps 28d ago
Literally any reality show. Even things that I might be moderately interested in have this stupid drama injected in where I'm supposed to care about these people's problems.
Like damn, just drive the truck on the ice road and stop complaining.