Is Big Brother True Reality
TV ClubHouse: ARCHIVES: Big Brother USA 2003 General Discussions Part 1:
Is Big Brother True Reality
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:25 pm     Just wondering... is BB reality tv? If so where are the disbaled, the elderly, the boring, the overweight and the list goes on? Every year they make sure they get just a little racial variety and at least one person who's weight they can talk about. Oh, and of course they always have to make reference to the homosexual as if it were something foreign noone has ever heard anything about. Wouldn't it be much better if it was how reality is? With tons of different types of people? I mean unless you work at the gym, bar or tanning salon or day care where would your normal life give you the opportunity to always be around, the cute, the young, the self-absorbed? I love the concept and drama of BB but it isn't realistic, is it? |
Crossfire | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:31 pm     No, it's contrived, a small subset of people in a fake house competing to win money 24/7 for 3 months, and a bunch of voyeurs peeking in the windows watching to see who wins. |
Bastable | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:34 pm     What reality shows are reality? I have always thought the term "reality television" was wrongly applied. These are game shows. If anything, "reality game shows." "Documentaries" already exist. That's what The Real World is. But Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor, and The Amazing Race? They are game shows, pure and simple. The only reason we expect "reality" is because the word is in the term we use to describe the genre. And maybe because BB1 had a sliver of an element of reality. But there is nothing about the setup of these shows that should lead us to expect reality. |
Tobor7 | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:40 pm     Most are "managed reality"-- but BB is as close as you can get I think. The sheer number of confined days and the "24/7" feeds supress the amount of management. |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:40 pm     Yeah, but is the reality they give us what we want? Or what producers think we want? |
Aus10 | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:40 pm     True reality is: 1. Not having an agent, ever thinking about getting an agent, or even wanting an agent for that matter. 2. Using a washing machine, not a big red bucket. This of course is true unless you live somewhere where you have to beat your clothes on a rock. 3. Getting paid for working, not sitting on your butt discussing how you will spend the next few weeks lounging in Mexico. If this were the case I'd be on cheaptickets.com looking up tickets to Acapulco right now. 4. Having a bathroom door...enough said. 5. Having one bed and not bed hopping from night to night. I have 4 bedrooms in my house, and never, ever have I spent one night in any other bed or bedroom for that matter.....the couch is quite a different story however. |
Laisey | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:42 pm     Aus, I bet you don't have a seating area in your bathroom either. |
Crossfire | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:43 pm     Heh, who was it hiding under the bed last year during a room closing...Marcellus? |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:44 pm     Well, I don't have 11 strangers that have unclarified criminal records living in my house. Maybe that should be the next relaity show. The Halfway House. |
Theo | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:49 pm     Yes Crossfire it was Marc when they were closing the HRD |
What555456 | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:52 pm     The LA Times refers to "reality" TV, as "unscripted" TV. It seems to me this is as good a description as anything. It clearly is not reality -- that is just a marketing term. |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:54 pm     Unscripted as far as we can tell, eh? Guess, I just think if you put a real variety it could actually be more interesting. |
Theo | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:54 pm     What I thought that was the learning channel |
Ocean_Islands | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:59 pm     TV is pretend. It is not real. |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:01 pm     Really? |
Jigglywigglyjun | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:03 pm     Ocean how dare you tell us that, Next thing your gonna tell us is that Santa Claus doesn't exist! |
Laisey | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:06 pm     OI, Do you mean Mr. Ed couldn't talk? I'm devastated. |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:10 pm     Okay, now you guys are just trying to make me cry. Santa Claus, Mr.Ed? I guess Superman couldn't fly and wonder woman wasn't real either? |
Cangaroo | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:11 pm     Next thing ya'll will be saying evil things about the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy... |
Mranon | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:16 pm     Originally Posted by :Willsbills Friday, August 01, 2003 - 08:04 pm ------------------------------------------------- Just wondering... is BB reality tv? If so where are the disbaled, the elderly, the boring, the overweight and the list goes on? ------------------------------------------------- Well, there was a person with a disability on the show before, although not truly eldery, there are older people on the show, the boring.. hello? Some of these people are REALLY boring..the overweight.. ok, so there aren't truly overweight people (although Gerry was pretty close)... True, most of the contestants aren't your average work a day people, however most of your average work a day people are in fact, working and aren't those who are likely to apply for a show such as this. |
Laisey | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:22 pm     Cangaroo, No one on this board would ever say anything evil about any bunny. The tooth fairy is an entirely different matter. In fact, I thing she cheated me of a dime once. |
Willsbills | Friday, August 01, 2003 - 09:23 pm     This is true. I'll tell you guys this. My grandma is in her 80's she's hip, she even used the word "sucks" today which totally cracked me up. She's totally into pop culture and is healthier and in better shape than I am. I want her to try next year. I think that would be hilarious to see this little old lady with her little blonde hair out there dancing and hanging with the young kids. Now, granted I don't what she'd look like in a bikini but trust me she will speak her mind and she would tell you off in a heartbeat. Just think someone like that would be really funny. |
Costacat | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:00 pm     Whomever thinks reality TV is really "real" needs a reality check. Really, how real could it be when your "real" people don't really apply to be on the reality TV show. I mean, really! You should realize that any semblance of realism in the reality show is too unreal to be real. Costacat is still babbling and is really gonna go make some real coffee, really! |
Willsbills | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:02 pm     Actually, real people do apply. it's that arnie and Co. don't cast them. therein lies the problem. |
Laisey | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:20 pm     I really haven't recovered from one of the anchors on E News Live referring to BB as a Reality Dating Show. |
Costacat | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:24 pm     Wills, you totally missed my point. Really. <grin> |
Lancecrossfire | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:25 pm     I don't think that BB is reality in a complete context. It isn't how life goes--you don't put a dozen people in a house away from everyone and everything. I think what is real is what happens within the system that is created--be it BB, the mole, survior, amazing race, temptation island--any of them. The end isn't decided--things can happen based on people's words and actions--chance/luck can play a part--or I shoudl say often does. (just look at the fact Kathy didn't get voted out of Survivor the first 3 times she could have been voted out) It's real to me in terms of what it takes to win. I look at Richard Hatch winning the first survivor and being pissed off beyond belief because everyday I see it's those type of people who get ahead in the work wold, make more money, etc. That is the part that is real. |
Weinermr | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 12:37 pm     What is reality anyway? Is reality to you or me the same as it is to Charles Manson? I hope not. I think they call it reality TV because these people's lives (for the most part) are not scripted. They are not acting. They are being themselves. Granted, they are being themselves in a contrived living situation, but they are being themselves in it. It is not OUR reality. This is a TV show, something we should always remember. These people are hamsters in a cage, and will act and react given those circumstances. |
R151996 | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 02:13 pm     Dead on target about applicants being overlooked, Willsbills. I noticed in one of Dave's exit interviews where he said he didn't apply either. After he was cast the producers had to scramble at the last minute to get Michelle on as his ex. That now makes at least eight of the 14 (the 14 number includes Brandon) who we know were recruited and did not apply on ther own. |
Buttercup | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 03:03 pm     Lance and Weiner, I agree with you both
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Weinermr | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 04:03 pm     Well rounded casting? (Thanks BC) |
Spunky | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 05:59 pm     Who has seen the movie EdTV?? About the video store clerk who agrees to have his life filmed for a tv channel. I saw this movie a couple of nights ago on our local channel and I think in that movie you get the sense of what reality on tv would be like. Matthew McConaughey reminded me a bit of Nate, same drawl and a bit of his looks, but not the personality, Ed was really fun to watch and the audience went nuts over the show. But it couldn't last as the constant attention almost wrecked his life and it had to end. I thought a bit far-fetched that an entire nation would be glued to the tv to see what happened next and Ed almost a hero. But if we want reality that scenario in that movie was the closest you could get to reality, BB is just a game. |
Willsbills | Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 11:25 pm     I just think it could make for some really good tv if the casting was more realistic. that's all folks. |
Kellirippa | Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 12:38 pm     I'd be interested to see what the relationships would be in the house if it were the same group of people, but there were no game. Just these people in the house for 3 months as roommates that are forced to co-exist, still no TV or outside contact. Obviously some of the friendships that exist now are strategic, rather than genuine, if there were no need for strategy, who would naturally form friendships? |
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