People are easily amused

[5thDragoons]

Channel surfing brings up some real winners. Like Expedition Bigfoot. I'm not sure if the principles actually believe in BF of if they're just in for the paycheck. Same for ghost hunters and other paranormal topics. To me, one of the most contrived is Storage Wars. Like how only the principles win locker auctions... and the rare, valuable things therein HAVE to be planted. But that program is into a new season, so there must be a ton of people watching.

No way I'd bid on storage lockers. Sounds like an easy way to bring home bedbugs or other vermin. And the money they're spending hauling leftover stuff to the nearest dump. Then, there's the issue of making money on all that junk. No thank you, please! SW

[lyman]

my brother used to watch a pile of reality TV as did my brother from another mother,

never got the attraction, it all seems fake,

did meet a local guy that filmed some hunting show,
he told me he would get vid of killing a deer in his back yard, the splice that up with whatever star or show dude they wanted,
as in the deer was kilt on tuesday,
and the rest of the crew was filmed stalking it and up in a tree the next week,

all fake, all filmed in a couple locations and designed mostly as a commercial for whatever bow, rifle, ammo etc was paying them

[Allen]

I have to believe most of these reality shows cast friends and relatives of producers or network owners. If you subscribe to cable or satellite TV there it is. Sure, we don't have to watch it but the characters on the shows are still getting paid no mater what and the networks don't care about ratings because the $ is built in with the programing contracts. The shows can be as bad/stupid as possible and it doesn't matter to them. They make money hand over fist due to the subscription cost we pay and the endless commercials (which should not exist).

Otherwise how could shows like "Kate plus Eight", "Honey Doo Doo" and others survive more than 10 minutes of just one show?

The storage war shows are very transparent as being fake. One of my old co-workers owned and rented out some storage units. He said in most cases people know ahead of time (plan) when they are going to give up a storage unit and cram them full of trash instead of having to pay to have stuff hauled off or make a trip to the dump. They have no reason to clean them out.

My son has bought some storage units. He may or may not make a little $ selling the stuff on ebay but if so only because he puts the effort into it that many would not do. In any case, the most valuable objects have always been in full view so you have the competition of who's got the deepest pockets when bidding. He once ended up with a nice looking Honda scooter but of course there was no key, no title, and no known reason why the scooter was put into storage in the first place instead of being used so it ended up as bulky weight that he had to remove.

We have Direct TV. Out of all the channels shown we only watch about 10-15 of them including the local channels for local news. Most of it is crap but with our "package" we have a DVR to FF thru the commercials (that shouldn't be there). My wife watches chick flicks and Christmas shows year round, records them and can pause them every time the phone rings. Most of the shows I've taken a remote liking to have ended (serials) and I don't get into many movies at all. We keep the Direct TV because of my wife and it is better for us than to stream, mainly because of the recording ability. We record a lot and delete or FF thru it later. Many, if not most, hour long shows or longer only have about 5 minutes of actual plot so I just FF thru all the talking and slow moving scenes.

I pay Direct TV around $150 a month for this convenience and for all those commercials, then pay them again for the DVR to FF thru them.

[5thDragoons]

I forgot to mention Naked and Stupid. Watched part of an episode and gave up on it right there. The Survivor series isn't too bad - people get to pick 10 items and see how long they can last in the wilderness - plenty of warm clothing. 500 large to the winner. SW

[lyman]

I watched parts of some of the nekid and stupid, one had some beefed up dude that ran his mouth alot, promptly got burnt to a crisp and wailed for a while while the chick did all the work

[Allen]

On these type shows where they are suppose to be alone and helpless they seem to forget to mention the camera and production crew that is there doing the filming.

[lyman]

there was one dude that had his camera and filmed his own stuff, supposedly all alone,

no clue what his name is or if it was true

[5thDragoons]

Saw another program last night that fits in this category - Storm Chasers. Guys following tornados around - on purpose. Okay - day time tornado chasing might not be that bad, but at night??!! You could be right in the middle of one, get tossed into the next area code and never see it coming!

I was about a mile from a large one once. Driving out in ranch country and glancing aside, there it was. I stopped and made sure it wasn't going where I was - watched it for a bit. This was middle o' nowhere country and the only damage from it was a little fence torn up. That's as close as I ever want to be! SW

[Johnny P]

Just like kid shows, the networks try to have something for all intelligence levels. In the end it's all about the ratings.