Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder My wife loves the show House Hunters on HGTV, where a couple will go through three homes and then anguish while they make a decision over which one to buy. I'll get sucked too in once in a while, especially if the people are buying in Chicago. Well, it appears very often if not always, the show is staged or fake. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/house-hunters-fake-hgtv_n_1592900.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...tpopular</a> What doesn't help is the network's response to the question of the show's authenticity: "We're making a television show, so we manage certain production and time constraints, while honoring the home buying process. To maximize production time, we seek out families who are pretty far along in the process. Often everything moves much more quickly than we can anticipate, so we go back and revisit some of the homes that the family has already seen and we capture their authentic reactions. Because the stakes in real estate are so high, these homeowners always find themselves RIGHT back in the moment, experiencing the same emotions and reactions to these properties." Whoever came up with that should be a politician's press secretary. It's an enjoyable show nonetheless, but now I'll always think of it as professional wrestling for prospective home buyers.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I just took the time to follow up on some links related to the first one I posted. There are all sorts of shenanigans involved with those HGTV shows. Sigh.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Every reality show is staged, this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Every reality show is staged, this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one." Sorry to have pissed in your Wheaties.
Originally Posted By mawnck Wheaties or not, WilliamK99 makes a valid point, and it should be circulated as widely and as loudly as possible. We have become SUCH a gullible society when it comes to media. And don't single out HGTV .... they're ALL faked to a certain extent, including the Idol-type shows. At minimum, the "reality stars" are told what to say and do before the cameras roll. Pro wrestling is actually an excellent comparison, although it doesn't rely on editing as much. (If anything, it's classier, since it's a live continuous performance, rather than one cobbled together a shot at a time.) What always gets me is that reality stars are usually TERRIBLE actors. Am I the only one that notices? I know I'm sounding like a conceited twit saying that, but I really do find it baffling that people buy this stuff.
Originally Posted By KCCHIEF I love House Hunters....and read the recent articles. Just going to pretend it is still "real"...
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>What always gets me is that reality stars are usually TERRIBLE actors. Am I the only one that notices? I know I'm sounding like a conceited twit saying that, but I really do find it baffling that people buy this stuff.<<< I'm thinking that this is a major reason why "people buy this stuff". It's not slick and doesn't appear scripted, at least not completely. So it looks real, thus "reality". I'm guessing here because I have never watch a reality so in my life except the first ones to air. Can't remember that ones name but I think it was on MTV. It took about three show to know that was anything but reality. I just think many people find comfort in feeling that everyone is just a little bit dysfunctional, not just them.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 "Every reality show is staged, this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one." Sorry to have pissed in your Wheaties.<< Wow I am being subjected to negative posts for making a valid point...I love how you and a host of others do this towards anything I post on here...
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I'm not going to lie, one of my guilty pleasures is watching Road Rules and The Challenge...but I watch it while I am doing other things and realize that they are basically low budget actors rather than "real people" Another comparison is Hell's Kitchen which i watch with my wife...The contestants this year suck royally, I mean my 8 year old could probably cook better than them...but they were selected specifically to get Chef Ramsey angry rather than produce good food.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip It would HAVE to be somewhat staged. Do you really think anyone would select a house to buy after seeing only three of them? Did you think the HGTV crew trooped around to 20 houses with these folks filming every one and then just showing their top three favorites? I always assumed we were watching a highly abbreviated version of people's actual house hunt. This information doesn't surprise me a bit. You would have to be pretty naive to ever think otherwise.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin I'm also not surprised that they go back to the houses, and I'm sure make suggestions on what to say. I'm a little surprised at how they would show houses that weren't in consideration, but I'm sure I shouldn't be. I just would think (see above) that there would have been lots of houses not seen that were considered. Even knowing this, I still intend to watch pretty regularly because I like seeing the cities and the different houses, and I am amused/entertained by the quirky (if exaggerated) people with crazy wish lists. I don't think that all these shows really fit into one group either.
Originally Posted By MissCandice I am gullible and naive so it doesn't shock me that I thought it wasn't staged. I thought after I heard about this a few days ago that it would make me not like to watch House Hunters but I watched an episode last night and enjoyed it. Its an entertaining show still.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I don't think that all these shows really fit into one group either.<< I'm sorry, but speaking as someone who was in the industry, they really do. If it purports to show actual people living their actual lives, and it isn't specifically branded a documentary or news program, then you can safely assume that it's only slightly more realistic than The Simpsons. No exceptions. No, not even that one. The whole reason for the popularity of these dang shows is that they can be done dirt-cheaply, largely because the writers aren't officially "writers" and the actors aren't officially "actors", so the makers of the show get a lot of their (for want of a better word) talent without having to deal with those pesky union contracts. They're all pretty much staged. Real life is too boring for television. It's fine to be entertained by them, but for crying out loud, don't ever confuse them for genuine human interaction!
Originally Posted By ecdc My kids and I enjoy watching MasterChef together. I was trying to explain to them the power of editing to evoke certain feelings and emotions as some people were dismissed and others weren't. They weren't getting it. So I told them, what if I followed you around everyday for two weeks, then made a show that was 1 hour long. They said that would be fine. Then I asked, what if I only showed you yelling, fighting, crying, complaining about video games, complaining about what's for dinner, not going to bed on time, etc. Everyone would think you were the brattiest, worst kids ever. They said, "You can't do that!" I said why not, and they said it wouldn't be fair. So I asked why on earth they thought TV shows were trying to be fair when they were really just trying to get people to watch? Then they got it.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Wow I am being subjected to negative posts for making a valid point...I love how you and a host of others do this towards anything I post on here..." Wow, my post was nothing of the kind. It's as IF you WANT to be offended.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I don't think most people, even my wife, thought the buyers in the shows looked at only three houses in a short time span and then had to make their choice from those three. Many times during these shows it's mentioned that buyers have looked at many prospective homes. However, to feature houses they never looked at, were never for sale, and/or make them fake as of they haven't made their choices yet, it isn't too much to expect the producers not to have them fake THAT. However, apparently it is.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Mark Burnette calls Survivor an "Unscripted Drama" he's always rankled at the term "Reality Show", probably because he knows his shows aren't reality. I don't see why House Hunters or Duck Dyanasty or any other of these shows should be different.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Does this mean that Jessica Simpson's now-famous "Chicken of the sea" monologue was scripted? If so, the writers should have gotten an Emmy and Simpson is a much better actress than I thought, as it was a highly convincing performance as an airhead.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb "UNscripted Drama" I think there may be a few spontanious moments in any of these shows, and you can be sure her brain farts made it into the show without any help from an editor.
