Is There Any Reality TV Show That Are Good

[Bartmanhomer]

I've seen so many reality show during my lifetime such as Flavor Fla, I Love New York, Jersey Shore, etc and they're all garbage. So my question is there any reality TV show that is actually good or no?

[Malimar]

I've heard good things about the Great British Bake Off.

[Bartmanhomer]

I've heard good things about the Great British Bake Off.

Cool. I might be interested to watch it online. Any other reality show that you know are good?

[Tom Tearcamel]

I’m only a fan of the travel ones. The Amazing Race is decent and the newer Better Late than Never is really funny. I don’t watch too much tv but have watched some of thoes shows with my mother.

With the latter, watching William Shattner, Henry Winkler, George Foreman, and Terry Bradshaw be old Americans doing goofy stuff in foreign countries is pretty great.

[eggynack]

A Night with My Ex is pretty good. It's surprisingly low key, and has some really great moments.

[2D8HP]

I really liked the "House" series on PBS that started with

1900 House


the latest installment being


Victorian Slum House

[Peelee]

I found a Canadian one on Netflix, Canada's Worst Driver. Loved it, angry that Netflix won't put up the non-HD seasons. It also totally taught me to parallel park like a champ. From that, I found Canada's Worst Handyman, which made me feel confident enough to do a few things that'll need fixing or replacing in the next decade or so. It seems like with every season of both shows, the host gets more and more obnoxious, but I really like both.

ETA: Also, An Idiot Abroad. Karl Pilkington is my spirit animal.

[emduck]

I've heard good things about the Great British Bake Off.

Seconded, it's pretty fun.

Back in the day, there was this show called The Mole. I think it was hosted by Anderson-Cooper, but it was one of those Survivor/Amazing Race/early reality show-esque shows, except one member of the group was actually "The Mole" and working to sabotage them, and they were trying to find him. I think it only went one or two seasons, but I saw the first one and enjoyed it.

[Artemis97]

The Great British Bake Off is just lovely wholesome fun and you get to drool at all the amazing food. Food based reality shows tend to be decent. My fiance is obsessed with Chopped, which is great because you can watch any episode any time, as there's no long running contest, each show is self contained. I love Iron Chef, either the Japanese original or the new America one.

The Mole was good. It had a very espionage James Bond vibe. I don't know where you'd watch it now. Survivor is a classic one, in the same vein, contesty type show. Haven't watched the latest seasons but mom and I loved the first ones. Oh the Amazing Race is a good one too, and you see lots of interesting cultures through that one. It's on Hulu last I knew. My mom marathoned them.

Survivorman is a great one, as the survivalist (can't think of his name right now), is utterly alone with just his cameras. He's really surviving out there and has to make it to his extraction point. A similar one is Alone, was on the History channel, I think. They took a dozen guys and dropped them with camera equipment and an emergency radio and put them each by themselves at points in the North Vancouver Island and said "whoever survives the longest wins" They have no idea how the other contestants are doing, if they're the last or not, and if they have to call for help they're out. Really freaked me out when the snow got heavy, because I was planning to move to Vancouver at the time. Didn't realize exactly how long and how far north the Island stretched. Close, sorta, but not near enough to have the same weather patterns.

Oh Cops is a classic, if you like to watch stupid people get told off by the police and chased around and stuff. Alaska State Troopers was similar, but I think that one's ended. It was Cops, but with like...Bears and Moose.

Speaking of Alaska, one of my absolute favorites is Alaska the Last Frontier. It follows a family of homesteaders and cattle ranchers as they just try and live their lives in Alaska. It's not extreme survivalism, but it is a fairly wholesome show. There is hunting and fishing in it, though, so some bits my not be for the faint of heart.

[Thrudd]

Depends on what we mean by "reality show". Contest/competition shows are sort of a different animal than the "follow people around in their life and watch them have pretend dramas" sort of show.

I like a number of contest shows, I dislike the other kind (which I think are really the actual 'reality shows').

Top Chef is a good one. Great British Bake Off was good, too. My wife and I also watch Amazing Race, Great Food Truck Race (not as good as Top Chef and GBBO), and she likes to watch Flea Market Flip and some of the House Flipping/Renovation shows on HGTV.

The only real "reality show" we've watched was "Flipping Out" on Bravo, following a really high strung real estate flipper/house designer in LA.

[tomandtish]

Depends on what we mean by "reality show". Contest/competition shows are sort of a different animal than the "follow people around in their life and watch them have pretend dramas" sort of show.

Very much this. I tend to break "reality"* tv into three categories.

*Assume the quotes exist from now on.

1) The "Follow the family/person around" category. This includes shows like The Kardashians, Jersey Shore, etc. A lot of the ones you named in your original post.

2) The "competitions". Shows like Survivor, Amazing Race, Temptation Island, etc. Where there is officially a contest, but people are selected/hired to participate primarily based on personality. These can range from extremely exaggerated (Temptation Island, Bachelor) to cooking shows like Top Chef.

3) The skill shows. Where someone builds/makes/cooks/tests/etc. something OUTSIDE a general competition.

There can be a lot of overlap in some areas. Iron Chef is a combination of 2 and 3. Bachelor is a combination of 1 and 2. YMMV on where a particular show falls.

[The Glyphstone]

Would Pawn Stars, Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, etc., be an example of Type 1 (follow people around) or Type 3 (skills)? I like watching those once in a while, because you always learn something neat about old historical stuff even if the interpersonal/character relationships are exaggerated for drama.

[tomandtish]

Would Pawn Stars, Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, etc., be an example of Type 1 (follow people around) or Type 3 (skills)? I like watching those once in a while, because you always learn something neat about old historical stuff even if the interpersonal/character relationships are exaggerated for drama.

Don't watch any of them so may get this wrong, but they seem to be combos of 1 and 3.

So what you have to decide: Is it a type 1 show with type 3 elements, or the other way around?

[Hunter Noventa]

Very much this. I tend to break "reality"* tv into three categories.

*Assume the quotes exist from now on.

1) The "Follow the family/person around" category. This includes shows like The Kardashians, Jersey Shore, etc. A lot of the ones you named in your original post.

2) The "competitions". Shows like Survivor, Amazing Race, Temptation Island, etc. Where there is officially a contest, but people are selected/hired to participate primarily based on personality. These can range from extremely exaggerated (Temptation Island, Bachelor) to cooking shows like Top Chef.

3) The skill shows. Where someone builds/makes/cooks/tests/etc. something OUTSIDE a general competition.

There can be a lot of overlap in some areas. Iron Chef is a combination of 2 and 3. Bachelor is a combination of 1 and 2. YMMV on where a particular show falls.

I can only really stand the reality competitions. They're different from regular competition shows in that the contestants persist across episodes. It's like, you have Master Chef, which is one of our favorite things to watch at my house, which is a reality cooking competition. Then you have say, Chopped, which is just a cooking competition, since nothing persists across episodes unless they're doing a mini-tournament.

So my vote goes for shows like Master Chef, Hell's Kitchen, stuff like that, if you want 'reality' shows. Also to see Gordon Ramsey yelling at people, because that's always amusing. Though the absolute best is Master Chef Junior, because oh my god those kids are so cute and they can cook better than the adults and the show is so great.

[Bartmanhomer]

I can only really stand the reality competitions. They're different from regular competition shows in that the contestants persist across episodes. It's like, you have Master Chef, which is one of our favorite things to watch at my house, which is a reality cooking competition. Then you have say, Chopped, which is just a cooking competition, since nothing persists across episodes unless they're doing a mini-tournament.

So my vote goes for shows like Master Chef, Hell's Kitchen, stuff like that, if you want 'reality' shows. Also to see Gordon Ramsey yelling at people, because that's always amusing. Though the absolute best is Master Chef Junior, because oh my god those kids are so cute and they can cook better than the adults and the show is so great.

Does Gordon Ramsey yells at the kids? I'm curious.

[Gnoman]

Nope. He doesn't really yell on Masterchef much in the first place, and doesn't at all in the kid's version. His famous rants on Hell's Kitchen were never genuine temper, but started as "if you can't handle this, you have no chance of dealing with the pressures of running a real high-end kitchen" exercise, and are greatly increased on the US version because they bring in ratings.


I honestly prefer the one-shot competition shows to the season-long ones anymore. Chopped and Forged In Fire (Chopped, but with knifemaking instead of food) are my current favorites of this type. The long ones still seem to have too much drama (some real, some manipulated, some made in editing) to be enjoyable, but there's not much room for that in single-episode shows.

[Rodin]

There's also a huge difference between Master Chef (USA) and Master Chef (UK).

The US version had an excellent first few seasons, but has been steadily slipping into "reality" show territory as time goes on. The UK version is much homier and relaxing - there's none of the contestant rivalry you get on the USA version and a greater focus on the cooking. On the flip side, since the contestants are separated a lot more you don't get as good a feel for their personalities. It's a trade-off and I'm not really sure which I've preferred.

[Bartmanhomer]

Nope. He doesn't really yell on Masterchef much in the first place, and doesn't at all in the kid's version. His famous rants on Hell's Kitchen were never genuine temper, but started as "if you can't handle this, you have no chance of dealing with the pressures of running a real high-end kitchen" exercise, and are greatly increased on the US version because they bring in ratings.


I honestly prefer the one-shot competition shows to the season-long ones anymore. Chopped and Forged In Fire (Chopped, but with knifemaking instead of food) are my current favorites of this type. The long ones still seem to have too much drama (some real, some manipulated, some made in editing) to be enjoyable, but there's not much room for that in single-episode shows.

Well I'm glad that he doesn't yell at the kids. At least he's a good guy when it comes to kids.

[Daer]

i have to admit i have enjoyed Storage wars and other similar shows where people buy storage's and go through what they find.. it is kinda like loot boxes.

others i enjoy are where people compete making something like Forged in fire and what ever the show was where two groups competed making steampunk themed rooms.

[Friv]

Well I'm glad that he doesn't yell at the kids. At least he's a good guy when it comes to kids.

There was a great joke on a podcast that I listen to a while back, where they were discussing Ramsey's different attitudes, and one of the hosts basically said, "I wonder what it would be like if a kid was filming that show right before their 18th Birthday, and Gordon would be, like, 'Okay, the taste on this is pretty good, maybe we could try adding a hint of paprika, Jim, but you're definitely on the right track, and oh, is it midnight? Happy birthday, Jim. Now YOUR FOOD IS @*$*^@# YOU PIECE OF (#*&@ING GARBAGE HOW DARE YOU BRING THIS SWILL INTO MY @&*#!ING KITCHEN???"

[Bartmanhomer]

There was a great joke on a podcast that I listen to a while back, where they were discussing Ramsey's different attitudes, and one of the hosts basically said, "I wonder what it would be like if a kid was filming that show right before their 18th Birthday, and Gordon would be, like, 'Okay, the taste on this is pretty good, maybe we could try adding a hint of paprika, Jim, but you're definitely on the right track, and oh, is it midnight? Happy birthday, Jim. Now YOUR FOOD IS @*$*^@# YOU PIECE OF (#*&@ING GARBAGE HOW DARE YOU BRING THIS SWILL INTO MY @&*#!ING KITCHEN???"

Oh wow. Did he really said that?

[Artemis97]

It was just a joke, Bartmanhomer. Because he's great with kids but harsh with adults. So when a kid hits 18 would he suddenly switch tactics?

[Bartmanhomer]

It was just a joke, Bartmanhomer. Because he's great with kids but harsh with adults. So when a kid hits 18 would he suddenly switch tactics?

Ok. I understand.

[BannedInSchool]

i have to admit i have enjoyed Storage wars and other similar shows where people buy storage's and go through what they find.. it is kinda like loot boxes.

One of the regulars on Storage Wars also tried to sue the show under the "Rigged Gameshow" prohibition. The supposed "gameshow" part was arguing that the profit tally at the end was a score for the competition of the bidding. The "rigged" part was the show placing items in the lockers. Now I don't care how much of the show is fake/scripted as long as they weren't making stuff up about the items, same for other old item shows.

(I also think that's why professional wrestling doesn't pretend at all to be anything other than live theater, to avoid charges of rigging a supposed competition of skill. They make no such supposition. )

Heh, that also reminds me of a gag on Frasier. The boys wanted to watch their antiquing show, and Martin wanted to watch his gameshow where people tried to guess the value of old junk. Obvious Punchline: it was the same show, Antiques Roadshow.

others i enjoy are where people compete making something like Forged in fire and what ever the show was where two groups competed making steampunk themed rooms.

There was also Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars in which teams competed to build stuff, often vehicles, to then use in a competition, often a race, against each other. The junkyard was obviously stocked with potentially useful (and necessary) items, but teams still had to run out and look for what they hoped to find based on their initial designs.

[Fri]

If you don't know, the Ramsay's Hell Kitchen is different in the US and UK version. In the US version there's a lot more yelling and swearing and such, because it's thought to bring the ratings to the US, while there's less of than in the UK version.

[Ravens_cry]

There was also Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars in which teams competed to build stuff, often vehicles, to then use in a competition, often a race, against each other. The junkyard was obviously stocked with potentially useful (and necessary) items, but teams still had to run out and look for what they hoped to find based on their initial designs.

I came here to mention that. Does Mythbusters count as reality TV? Because the build process for the various devices was as much part of the fun as the devices they used to test the myths were.

[JoshL]

For a while, I was enjoying Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men. Part them recording a podcast, part hanging out in the comic store he owns, and part buy/sell haggling over items. The last part was kinda neat, to see all these weird and rare toys and collectables, but ultimately wore me down. I worked some retail where there was some buy/sell/trade, and it always made me feel a bit icky.

I also used to really like the UK quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, which was music trivia with comedians, musicians and celebrities. No prizes and arbitrary points. Soothing to my non-competitive side, and really funny.

[Hunter Noventa]

Well I'm glad that he doesn't yell at the kids. At least he's a good guy when it comes to kids.

He really is good with the kids. He'll certainly scold them when they're screwing up, but he's nearly as profane as he's known to be. Most of the time though he and the other judges are encouraging and kind and it's just amazing to watch, because half the time these kids can cook better than some of the adults they get on these shows.

[tomandtish]

...(I also think that's why professional wrestling doesn't pretend at all to be anything other than live theater, to avoid charges of rigging a supposed competition of skill. They make no such supposition. )

Actually, it goes back to 1989. They wanted to get de-regulated. If they were real, then there were a bunch of licensing requirements for athletics they had to deal with, and a LOT of taxes they had to pay. By admitting they were staged they could avoid all that.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I came here to mention that. Does Mythbusters count as reality TV? Because the build process for the various devices was as much part of the fun as the devices they used to test the myths were.

Mythbusters always struck me as being somewhere between popular science and documentary. A lot of the scenes are obviously staged (not all of them, admittedly).