Is There Any Reality TV Show That Are Good

[Peelee]

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).

Huh. I always thought of it as somewhere between popular science and bad reality TV.

[The Glyphstone]

Huh. I always thought of it as somewhere between popular science and bad reality TV.

I'm not sure where the 'bad reality TV' angle comes in. Reality TV as a genre thrives on artificially manufactured drama and scripted conflict...the most interpersonal conflict you ever saw in Mythbusters on a regular basis was "did it blow up? Okay, let's add more explosives and see if it blows up".

[Rodin]

I'm not sure where the 'bad reality TV' angle comes in. Reality TV as a genre thrives on artificially manufactured drama and scripted conflict...the most interpersonal conflict you ever saw in Mythbusters on a regular basis was "did it blow up? Okay, let's add more explosives and see if it blows up".

In the first season there was a bit, with the producers wanting to put in that sort of drama between Adam and Jamie. It only went on for a short time before Jamie said it was ridiculous and refused to do any more manufactured drama.

[Peelee]

I'm not sure where the 'bad reality TV' angle comes in. Reality TV as a genre thrives on artificially manufactured drama and scripted conflict...the most interpersonal conflict you ever saw in Mythbusters on a regular basis was "did it blow up? Okay, let's add more explosives and see if it blows up".

I didn't mean so much "manufactured drama" as "attempts to portray itself as more realistic than it actually is." Jamie and Adam are practical effects engineers. They are absolutely fantastic at that, and they constantly and readily about that it is what they are. As you said, the show was effectively "did it blow up? Okay, let's add more explosives and see if it blows up." The premise of the show was, "is X possible," with ever-increasing reaches for X, and definitive claims of yes or no at the end of the trial run.

[Liquor Box]

I'm a big fan of Survivor myself.

[Gurston]

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.

You should try Master Chef (Australia) it has the same format as Master Chef (USA) but there is a lot less contestant rivalry (at least in the seasons I have seen) so it has less of the forced conflict feel might be the right middle ground for you

[Fri]

I actually work as a professional subtitler and I've subtitled literally hundred of hours of reality tv, whether I like it or not. Another cooking contest I like is chopped.

Open tray. See a box of frosted cornflakes, three potato, and a chewing gum

"You have 60 minutes to turn this into an appetizer. Go."

[BannedInSchool]

Another cooking contest I like is chopped.

Open tray. See a box of frosted cornflakes, three potato, and a chewing gum

"You have 60 minutes to turn this into an appetizer. Go."

And either the contestants' shock at the ingredients is semi-scripted, or they've not watched the show before.

[Hunter Noventa]

I actually work as a professional subtitler and I've subtitled literally hundred of hours of reality tv, whether I like it or not. Another cooking contest I like is chopped.

Open tray. See a box of frosted cornflakes, three potato, and a chewing gum

"You have 60 minutes to turn this into an appetizer. Go."

That's kind of a cool job.

But yes, Chopped is a pretty great show. Cutthroat kitchen is up there too. I think the main difference between 'Reality Competition' and 'Game Show' is that the former relies on some manner of real life skill (Cooking, Athletics a la Ninja Warrior) whereas game shows are usually not much more than trivia or problem solving in a weird context.

[Anonymouswizard]

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

The great thing about the GBBO is that is is literally all about the baking, not the personalities. So while the participant's personalities do influence their creations (a lot), there's no reward for being an entertaining spotlight hog and the only thing that matters is our skills.

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.

I actually highly recommend anybody into Gordon Ramsey watches the British version of Kitchen Nightmares. The 'you did wrong' bit just after the tasting always felt much better in it because Ramsey would very rarely shout (which would make the cases where he did shout stand out more).

As I sometimes tell people, the difference is in the unusual episodes. In the American version the owners are bad at cooking, delusional, have outright illegal practices, and so on. In the British unusual episode the owner was a good enough cook that Ramsey cleaned his plate (twice), and their problems were the owner not being used to running a restaurant.

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

Ramsey's reaction is based on how competent he expects somebody to be.

If you're supposed to be good but make mistakes he'll tell you off but help you to improve.

If you're supposed to be good but can't get anything right he'll yell at you and treat you as helpless.

If you're bad but trying to improve he might get annoyed, but he'll admire the effort.

I remember a bit of fan theorising about 'what if Gordon Ramsey was hired to teach at Hogwarts', which began as an excuse to make yelling at the students jokes but quickly became a thoughtful discussion about how he'd heavily disagree with Dumbledore's efforts and tendency to put children in danger. Also putting a slice of bread on each side of Dumbledore's head.

EDIT: also agreeing that Cutthroat Kitchen is good, it's a lot more about overcoming problems that other cooking shows are.

[BannedInSchool]

In the British unusual episode the owner was a good enough cook that Ramsey cleaned his plate (twice), and their problems were the owner not being used to running a restaurant.

Although the story I heard was that the show didn't have a name until they visited the first restaurant, so it couldn't have been so good to have been a "@#$ing Nightmare".

EDIT: also agreeing that Cutthroat Kitchen is good, it's a lot more about overcoming problems that other cooking shows are.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a "Jumped the Shark into Glory" trope on TVTropes. Cutthroat Kitchen started with tame challenges, but at some point decided to make them more than inconveniences. "You shall attempt to cook wearing this 'Fat Suit'!".

[Reddish Mage]

I actually work as a professional subtitler and I've subtitled literally hundred of hours of reality tv, whether I like it or not. Another cooking contest I like is chopped.

Open tray. See a box of frosted cornflakes, three potato, and a chewing gum

"You have 60 minutes to turn this into an appetizer. Go."

Are you the one I should blame for all those horrid misspellings? Because I’m pretty sure those come along because the subtitles are relegated to machines or they are doing the transcribing for live TV or something.

Also I was going to mention Chopped, in fact, anything on the food network seems to be a cut above (pun intended).

[Fri]

Are you the one I should blame for all those horrid misspellings? Because I’m pretty sure those come along because the subtitles are relegated to machines or they are doing the transcribing for live TV or something.

Also I was going to mention Chopped, in fact, anything on the food network seems to be a cut above (pun intended).

Might be .

I don't live in US, but I know that the english subtitle team in the company I'm working in is basically spread all over the world, then the english subtitle we worked is used by the local team wherever, whenever they need it.

Edit:

I now remember another type of reality show that sometimes can be good, but haven't been mentioned yet. Someone touched a bit on shows on shows about Pawn Stars, but there's a genre of reality show about companies, usually family-worked, like American Chopper (big bikes), Fish Tank Kings (aquarium), LA Ink (Tattoos), Cake Boss (bakery) and so on. It quite varies, and sometimes it's obvious that certain events are staged or overblown, but if you're interested in the type of work, they can be fun. I have product design degree, and at college my prof used to show the class shows like that about cars or bikes, to show how design job works in real life.

There's this one interesting show that I forgot the title, about animal catching company. It's surprisingly nice. The main character looks like a crude yokel, but he's genuinely a professional animal catcher, knowledgeable, and care about animals. Whenever he capture wild animal intruders from people's property, whether venomous snakes, angry badger or even wasp nest, he always try to catch them alive and release them in the wild.

[The Glyphstone]

There's this one interesting show that I forgot the title, about animal catching company. It's surprisingly nice. The main character looks like a crude yokel, but he's genuinely a professional animal catcher, knowledgeable, and care about animals. Whenever he capture wild animal intruders from people's property, whether venomous snakes, angry badger or even wasp nest, he always try to catch them alive and release them in the wild.

Call of the Wildman.

[Anonymouswizard]

Although the story I heard was that the show didn't have a name until they visited the first restaurant, so it couldn't have been so good to have been a "@#$ing Nightmare".

True, but I was specifically comparing Amy's Baking Company with Momma Cherri's Soul food Shack. But the British version is still much calmer generally, you're more likely to see Gordon calmly expressing his disappointment to a chef then yelling at them. It's not that he doesn't yell, it's that it's just quieter.

A video I like contrasting the two versions, notice that there's just much more talking in the UK bits. Not that there's no yelling, and there's definitely still swearing (although it's pretty much all Gordon), but it's all just a lot calmer.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a "Jumped the Shark into Glory" trope on TVTropes. Cutthroat Kitchen started with tame challenges, but at some point decided to make them more than inconveniences. "You shall attempt to cook wearing this 'Fat Suit'!".

Of course, especially as the challenges are tested to make sure they aren't impossible. They also seem to be designed to either require creativity, teamwork, skill, or waste the chef's time, and part of the challenge is identifying which of them will be more than an inconvenience to you.

[An Enemy Spy]

There's a lot of context that gets ignored when people talk about Gordon Ramsey. He never just barges into a restaurant and starts screaming at people. He always starts off very open minded and if it gets to point of screaming and swearing, it's the result of gross incompetence, illegal practices, safety violations, and lack of basic respect for other people. Gordon can't stand lazy workers or scumbag owners who treat their employees and customers badly.

[BannedInSchool]

One thing that annoyed me about Cutthroat Kitchen, however, is the bidding-phase strategy of the contestants. Having more money is an advantage, so you'd like someone with more money than you to be eliminated. That means assigning challenges to those people, not necessarily enacting revenge on the ones who've given you a challenge. Any bidding you're going to lose you'd also like to drain the most money from the winner. Giving up early because "he really wants it and I'm not going to win" or not contesting at all because you're "saving your money" is wrong. Run up the bid either as far as you would be willing to pay and win or more if you think you can get away with not winning it! It makes me so angry. Make them pay!

Assigning challenges is also a case of only having to run faster than the bear, so pile on the challenges to make someone other than you most likely to be eaten. You don't have to make the best dish, just not the worst. Make someone else make the worst. You're not trying to make it a fair contest! Sometimes this could be at odds with the previous money principle, but if someone has a challenge already then that's money they didn't spend in bidding.

That doesn't cover all the bidding rules, but those are the two that I think contestants frequently get flat-out wrong.

Another fun reality-type show is Dirty Jobs. It's a documentary at its core, but the host participates and it's trying to be entertaining too, putting it toward "Reality" TV.

[Scarlet Knight]

The longest running reality show: Baseball

[Ravens_cry]

I like Chopped Junior. The dishes those kids come up with are amazing, and the kids are often much nicer than the adult contestants. On at least one occasion, I've seen a kid go and help another contestant to make sure they plated on time, instead of letting them get eliminated by default by not having everything ready for all the judges.

[Bartmanhomer]

The longest running reality show: Baseball

Don't forget, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Golf, and the Olympics.

[gomipile]

As a contrasting reference, and for some humor, here's an analysis Jenny Nicholson recently posted:

Spoiler: YouTube link

Show

https://youtu.be/JKFgn6tNU6w

[Anonymouswizard]

The longest running reality show: Baseball

Ah yes, discount Cricket.

[Peelee]

Ah yes, discount Cricket.

Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!

[Manga Shoggoth]

Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!

Which kind of crumpet are you talking about? If you have one form of crumpet you won't even care about cricket.

[2D8HP]

Besides the House series I enjoyed (I'm still hoping that they do a 1980's House like they did 1900 House and 1940's House), another good British made one I saw on PBS was:

Warrior Challenge

The basic premise was they'd take two different groups of guys, (one episode had a bunch of U.S. Air force servicemen, and London Metropolitan Police "Bobbies") train them in the technics of historical fighters (Roman soldiers, Medieval knights, etc.), and have them compete.

I seem to have a taste for watching modern folks endure "history".

[Peelee]

Which kind of crumpet are you talking about? If you have one form of crumpet you won't even care about cricket.

You'd have to ask Raphael.

[Manga Shoggoth]

You'd have to ask Raphael.

Raphael would probably only know about one of them. Casey might know about the other...

[Psyren]

GBBO is wholesome and sweet (natch) though that leaves it a bit dull for my tastes too. I prefer a more "caustic critic" style - if you can impress someone like Gordon Ramsey or Tabatha Coffey, it proves you truly know what you're doing, and the ones that fail often do so in spectacularly entertaining ways. I enjoy GBBO for what it represents - that softer and kinder television competitions can still enjoy mainstream success - but I'm also glad it's not the only kind of competition out there.

[tomandtish]

Speaking of shows, Trading Spaces is getting a revival on TLC, to begin airing 4/7/18.

A good example of a show that started as a 3, but moved more and more into a 2 as time went on.

[Anonymouswizard]

Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!

Who doesn't know what a crumpet is? That's as simple as knowing the correct way to keep your whites clean while hitting sixes.

But yes, the way Americans missuderstand cricket confuses many of us, although we also don't really see the appeal of baseball. To British people nothing happens in baseball, while in cricket fours appear frequently and sixes aren't exactly rare. You've just got to know what when the bowler starts running he' preparing his throw, that once the batter at the opposite wicket hits the ball then the batting team gets one run for every time the batters switch places, and that if the ball leaves the pitch the batting team scores a total of four runs, or six if it didn't hit the ground. Sure, there's a lot more rules around it, but those are the basics. Batters are out when a bowler hits the far wicket with their throw (bowled out), the ball is caught post-bat without it touching the ground, they obstruct the ball from hitting the wicket, or they're stumped out by the bowler or wicket-keeper (are in the middle of scoring a run when the ball is touched to one of the wickets).

Yes, there's a lot more rules, but you can enjoy cricket knowing that much (which is roughly what you're taught in schools once they decide you can move on from rounders). I still remember playing rounders actually I could never score for my teams due to just not running fast enough, and that in the rare secondary school game players who had seen too much baseball would get sent out because they dropped their bat.