Must-read expose of reality TV contracts

Ben Elton, who wrote Blackadder, wrote a novel centered on an American Idol/X Factor type program called Chart Throb a few years ago, and one passage stuck with me. I don't have the book any more and have to paraphrase, but in it the not-Simon Cowell character is asked about the sales performance of his "stars" on the charts, and he says something like "Have you looked at record sales lately? A Number One hit record sells like 50,000 copies - not worth the trouble to buy the advertising for it. I make more money on one night's voting than all the records these losers have ever released put together." Thinking about when it used to cost 95 cents or something to call in a vote to AI's 900 number, it made perfect sense.

 

I admit to watching this series for a couple of seasons. But I’m so sick of reality TV I could just puke. I think the only one I watch anymore is The Profit.
Thanks to Netflix, HBO and others for keeping story based entertainment alive and well on TV.

 

Since the writer never signed the contract, thus is not bound by it's terms, I wonder if she could make it publicly available, like putting it on the Smoking Gun website?

 

The goons in suits might assert intellectual property rights.

 

Maybe if she worked with a lawyer to make a critical evaluation of the contract, then they could assert a fair use defense.

 

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive.

 

Reality TV is the antithesis of what I consider to be entertaining good content.

 

Fair enough, but I think there's a clear difference between a show like Real Housewives and something like Survivor, which (at its best) is extraordinarily well-crafted. To me it's no different than sitcoms or dramas where you'll find a few genuine bright spots among mostly duds.

 

I used to watch AHR with my dad until I just couldn't take it anymore. The leads all seemed like terrible people, nobody could get along with each other and every single project was "we're never going to make this unrealistic deadline waaah."

On the other hand, I watch Bitchin' Rides which is practically the same show but with likable people, no drama whatsoever and much, much cooler cars.

 

Not surprised by the expose, especially the contract.

Reality shows are a pretty good reason why a lot of us have turned to turned to well crafted series like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and a lot of what's on Netflix.

 

The main reason the networks moved to "reality" shows is that they are cheap. They are the high fructose corn syrup of programming.

 

Breaking Bad was like a perfectly seared, medium well steak.

 

There used to be a TVshow about reality TV...yeah the irony, but they showed how shows were edited to appear differently than they were.

At some point you have to just appreciate them for what they are, entertainment.

 

I've told my family for years that reality TV is just cheap drama.

 

"I'm the one who sizzles!"

 

Fear Factor...Bull's balls...

 

FF...
Fear Factor (TV Series 2001– ) - IMDb

 

Yikes. I forgot about that.

The budget on Survivor a few years ago was somewhere around $1.5 million per episode, and they literally have about 6-7 editors working on each episode every week. It often takes 2-3 weeks to cut together one show, so a ton of work goes into developing these "storylines" and figuring out where the show is going at any one moment. The cable shows are a lot lower. I think American Idol is higher because the host and judges make very high salaries ($10M per year for Ryan Seacrest and $25M per year for Katy Perry), but the production costs are a lot more modest, I'm guessing maybe $500K.

One of the biggest reality show post houses in LA is a place called Chainsaw, and the last time I walked through the building, I went by room after room after room after room of editors doing nothing but cutting reality shows all day long. I was told they had somewhere close to 100 rooms like that in the building, which is about 6 stories over there in Hollywood.

These shows are essentially written in the edit bay, because that's where the concepts for stories and emphasis and the crafted drama all really come from.

 

People viewing Survivor as a well-crafted show is a horribly sad thing to read.

I'll stick to watching shows like The Shield, thanks. All that reality TV stuff is utter pure garbage any way you cut it. It's manufactured gossip worthy of listening to conversations in a hair salon. If you can't see the difference between that and *real* shows, I can't help you.

Enjoy it but don't even try to compare that tire fire to contact that's not even in the same universe in every way imaginable.

 

the best comedy reality show has to be the Bachelor...when they fall madly hopelessly in love in a hour and cry like babies when they are rejected? HOW CAN ANYONE watch this crap? nevermind believe it!

 

I wouldn't say it's a case of loseritis at all. What she wrote jives with other stories I have heard over the years about these sorts of reality shows. It's not too much of a surprise to read what she wrote if you've heard other peoples stories. Nothing in that article is that surprising to me.

Those psych evaluations aren't for the contestants own good. It's an insurance/legal procedure meant to protect them from liability and potential physical harm.

 

American Hot Rod was a good show. I enjoyed watching it. Seems so long ago! Never saw Overhaulin' though. It wasn't on in the UK, at least not on any of the channels we got. Although Foose did design cars for Boyd, which I don't think is up for debate by anyone, you make it sound like Boyd did nothing, which is not true.

 

Found the article to be unreadable, but the premise to be pretty obvious.

 

Great read.

 

The main difference between American Hot Rod and Overhaulin' is that every single episode features Chip Foose sitting down with the person behind the refurbishment with a blank piece of paper and designing the whole new car from scratch, generally with two to three different color treatments, then doing another version as the final render.



He's got a wooden toolcase filled with drawing and painting supplies and just knocks a drawing out as easily as breathing. It's the most enjoyable part of the show. On the other hand, I never in a single episode of American Hot Rod saw Boyd so much as pick up a pencil. He may have been capable, but reference was constantly made on the show about the design coming from unnamed third parties.

There was bad blood between Boyd and Chip, as Chip had designed the Boydster II and a bunch of other cars while working for Boyd, and reasonably enough wanted to live his own dream after enough years working for Coddington. Boyd never forgave him.