Grotesquely voyeuristic TV

BendiBus

Family Forensics UK on Living TV at the moment.

Actually searching peoples houses for skeletons and dirty little secrets. How low can TV go? How desperate can people be to get on TV?

DublinWriter

BendiBus wrote:

How low can TV go?

I have a sociological theory that I'll probably do a PhD on one day - all human entertainment is motivated by sex and death and is moving towards their ultimate mass media graphic representation.

How low TV can go? Live executions and live f*cking on TV.

Beat that!

mike65

Is already been done The year of the Sex Olympics which was made for BBC tv in 1968. I bet the author, Nigel Kneale wished he had'nt seen the future.

Mike.

Ailo

Its interesting to read your opinions about Family Forensics because I’m actually a media student and my final year thesis is on Reality TV and the increasing personal content that is appearing on it.
It would be great to hear any more opinions you have on the show, and in particular, if anyone feels like answering some of the questions below, I would really appreciate it.

· What attracts you to watching the show?

· Are you surprised by some of the personal content and information that this programme features about the family involved?

· Why do you think the family, or the person that organised the family’s participation in the show, felt it was a good idea to turn to a television programme to resolve the family problems?

· Have you noticed a change in what people are willing to reveal and talk about in Reality TV since, for example, the first series of Big Brother in 2000?

· While these programmes are usually disregarded by critics as ‘Trash TV’, do you think they are of any merit or value, for example in the way they show and help ‘real’ people?

Running Bing

Ailo wrote:

for example in the way they show and help ‘real’ people?

lol either you meant to say "exploit" in place of "help" or your the naivest media student in Ireland.

It just shows a complete lack of creativity, as simple as that. Its easy, not to mention dirt cheap, to throw a camera in somebodies face and follow them around. God forbid youd have to come up with original ideas for tv shows, then write scripts and pay actors etc. etc. as far as i can see every show now is either a bunch of halfwits(who may or may not be "celebrities" I truly dont know/care) trying to ballroom dance or a camera following some celebrity around there house while they show us there "crazy"(i.e. obviously scripted) lifestyles. The worrying thing is people actually fall for this tripe and enjoy it. I think that says something about people today.

Lump

BendiBus wrote:

Family Forensics UK on Living TV at the moment.

Actually searching peoples houses for skeletons and dirty little secrets. How low can TV go? How desperate can people be to get on TV?

Until people stop watching this type of show. If no one watches, they won't make them! It's not rocket science. I personally love that type of show.

John

Táck

live executions? but thats not practiced round these parts.

al jazeera tv is the one for this. they'll show just about anything. our government dictates what we are, are not, allowed see on tv. it should be our choice.

but thankfully they can't dictate the internet

Ailo

Babybing wrote:

lol either you meant to say "exploit" in place of "help" or your the naivest media student in Ireland.

It just shows a complete lack of creativity, as simple as that. Its easy, not to mention dirt cheap, to throw a camera in somebodies face and follow them around. God forbid youd have to come up with original ideas for tv shows, then write scripts and pay actors etc. etc.

I said ‘help’ because I’m trying to be as objective as possible. I agree with you that these shows, and Family Forensics in particular, seem to exploit the participants’ personal experiences and emotional reactions for the camera. However, I was surprised to find that at the end of all three episodes I’ve watched, the family members expressed genuine gladness that they had taken part, and said that they felt closer as a family now that they knew eachother’s secrets.

You’re right about the economic benefits of the low production costs that don’t include actors and scriptwriters. But I still believe alot of effort goes into coming up with versions of these formats, and keeping them interesting to audiences.

Babybing wrote:

The worrying thing is people actually fall for this tripe and enjoy it. I think that says something about people today.

So what do you think the popularity of these programmes says about people today?

Ailo

Lump wrote:

I personally love that type of show.

What do you love about them?

Lump

They're interesting, and real.

John

Ailo

Lump wrote:

They're interesting, and real.

So they're more interesting to you because they feature real people, as opposed to characters in a fictional series?

Mossy Monk

T&#225 wrote: »

live executions? but thats not practiced round these parts.

al jazeera tv is the one for this

have you seen a live execution on Al Jazeera or is it what you have been told?