Reality TV is not reality!
The very first things that we liquidated during our pre-cruising downsizing were the 3 television sets that we had in our house. Since that time, we have watched virtually no TV, other than the pre-recorded television series that have been shared with us by friends. Are we missing out? This past week has confirmed for us that no, we are not.
One of the byproducts of staying in hotel rooms during our trip to and from California is that we once again have had access to a TV. What are people watching these days? It seems that the so called “reality” shows are more popular than ever. Seriously, could anything be further from reality than these poorly-scripted time wasters? Want an example? We just saw for the first time the program Below Deck which features the crew of a mega yacht running charters out of St. Maarten. I’ll admit that we watched it with some interest, given our lifestyle and the job that we will soon be undertaking. We also recognized some of the locations used in the show which made it kind of neat. The drama on it was ridiculous though. If I was in charge, at least two of the crew would have been fired at the end of their 3-day charter, no question. The show, and others like it, is a bit like a train wreck though, hard to turn away. Perhaps all that drama is the draw for people. Not us though. We’ll take reality over reality TV any day.
The cast of Below Deck. You know you are going to go look this show up now, aren’t you?
You are absolutely right. This show is not worth a minute of you time. Most ridiculous show I have ever watched.
Well, I have seen worse. In fact, we stumbled across one called Naked and Afraid last night. It was definitely worse!
I just downloaded and watched the first two episodes yesterday. Having worked in the industry, I have to say this is the most real reality show I’ve ever seen. Yes it is a train wreck, and that is exactly the way it is on many yachts, filled with horny, drunk twenty somethings, who think the job is one big pub crawl around the Caribbean. Wars between stews and chief stews, crazy bipolar captains, chefs who think they are gods gift to yachting, the list goes on and on.
Which is why I, as a late 30’s guy, who got into the industry way to late in life, quit after 3 years.
Like I said, I would have fired them.
Well, now I have to look it up…at least once 😉
Yes, you do.
It’s so funny that you are blogging about this. My husband and I also watched it the other night. After watching it, he showed me this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Deck
Pretty interesting for reality TV!!
That wiki page is actually what I have linked in the post. More interesting than some shows, for sure. Still a train wreck IMO.
Hello from Phoenix, well now I will have to watch this little drama, maybe. Geezzzz I don’t want to be left out of the fun. As for TV! Well we have cut ourselves off, sort of. We ditched the sat. dish and bought a ROKU. A portal to the ether of TV and free except for the cost to access the internet, but then we have it anyway.
Some interesting stuff out there, subscribed to HULU and NETFIX and so far satisfied. Get local stations via digital antena. Not sorry at all in fact getting more workout time for the TRX, lol. Greater selection of educational/travel documentaries and access to “real WORLD” news.
Our daughter has one of those Roku boxes and we watched a couple of movies on Netflix when we were in CA.
‘Reality” has go to be the biggest misnomer of the decade. They are the farthest thing away from real life.
The sad thing is that because reality shows are dirt cheap to make, vs regular drama’s, comedies, mysteries, they are gradually crowding out those better shows. Not that we watch a lot of TV but when we do watch the shows are probably 85% HBO type series…BoardWalk Empire, Shameless, Dexter, Curb, etc.
We do have regular news shows but we don’t watch sports, and network TV has very little to offer other than yet another vampire show. There will probably never be another hit network show like Seinfeld on network TV.
We also enjoy watching the HBO-type series, commercial free. 🙂
We gave up TV about 11 years ago. We do watch some things on Netflix once in awhile but we’re avid readers and that takes up most of our spare time. If you want some engaging fast-paced dialogue and subtle humor, go back and watch West Wing from the very beginning. We did that over the winter and all other TV fades by comparison.
Deb
S/V Kintala
http://www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
I had not heard of that show before.
West wing = best show ever (if you are a political junkie)