I feel like my IQ plummets just from overhearing that garbage.
Eso. the ones like the OP mentioned.
Some, like Cake Boss, or It's Me Or The Dog, are fine because... well... to put it bluntly, the people on those shows tend to have these things called brain cells.
Then there are other reality shows like The Voice, Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, etc. Not my thing generally but those are also competition shows, so it makes them more exciting I suppose.
But I despise shows that follow around a bunch of nobodies who all get famous because they're either:
- Stupid
- Horrible people
- Eccentric
- Or D, all of the above
And I mean like constantly. It's one thing if it's a show like Taboo, for example, which - first of all - actually has interesting subject matter as it focuses on taboos in society and they tend to have a good balance of cultures (like it's a worldwide thing, basically - they compare how what is taboo here may not be taboo somewhere else). In this case following around eccentric people, or stupid people, is fine because you wont ever be seeing them on the show again most likely anyway. But pick any of those people and start following them around daily and things are gonna go down the ****ter real fast.
The only reality TV show I have ever seen that I have liked, which is the exception to what I just said, would be Skeleton Inc. and that only ended up having one episode. Basically the people who were the focus of the show were on Taboo, during their "Working With The Dead" episode. And they are a family of... well... you ever been to a natural history museum? You ever see skeletons of animals or people? Yeah, well, that's what they do. They strip the flesh from human and animal remains. For science.
What I'm getting around to is I guess people can handle tons of fake violence, but can't handle real blood and gore. Now that is some ****ing reality TV! I loved it and wanted more of it, because **** that **** was cool! I learned the process of flaying an animal while preserving its hide.
The only gross part involved buffalo heads having been thawed for too long and then... maggots. Funny thing though, the guy in charge of this business pretty much got sick to his stomach because of the maggots. Sure he works with death all day, sticks his hand into a pile of flesh-eating beetles (although they only eat rotting flesh, so you'd have to be dead for a while first), collects skulls, but maggots squick him the hell out.
Point is, that **** was ****ing awesome. Obviously not for the weak stomached. But this **** was educational, entertaining, and morbid! Plus, you know, real. That is hard to come by, but no it gets scrapped for some reason. Likely because it would have been traumatizing for the weak stomached.
Anyway, but crap like the Bad Girls Club, Real Housewives, anything that has the word 'Jersey' in it... it's way more vomit inducing than seeing a dead lion getting flayed, strung up, disemboweled, and then having it's heart played with.
One possible exception to the typical reality show though is Ice Loves Coco... because, well, they're actually pretty **** sweet and adorable. And they're not ****ing idiots. Hell, man, those two are geniuses compared to many people on the typical reality shows that are one now. Plus they're also pretty chill overall, and I can respect that. And they were already celebrities. Point is they don't have to go out and act stupid, they have actual lives and that's what we're seeing - what they do anyway. The show more often consistent of them being awesome more than anything else.
Come to think of it though, most of the shows that followed around former Playmates were actually decent in comparison to other reality TV shows. Hell, Kendra was even tolerable (for me) for a while. Which means it was good for a reality TV show.
But Ice Loves Coco is the only reality TV show, of the typical variety of TV show, that entertains me at all. Reality TV involving jobs can be entertaining, you can learn something, competition shows can be pretty good, Ice Loves Coco is the exception to what I'm about to say... but following around people just to follow them around? Hell no. Mostly if they're nobodies. I can maybe understand it if they're celebrities, as in the case of Ice Loves Coco, but otherwise you're following around people who are actually ****ty people overall, or unintelligent, or both, and half of it is staged anyway so it's all one big lie when you get right down to it. Ergo, not worth the time.