Duty of Care - Reality TV?

G’day,

About 20 years ago a man was murdered after he appeared on a Talk Show revealing his love for another man. The show was sued for $25m for their part in the murder (which was eventually overturned). If ever “television” needed a wake up call, you would think this would have been it…

I know that there is this thing called FREE WILL… And even simply - being an adult, and making adult decisions. But - for example - Ink Masters. Every episode, “human canvases” are permanently marked with tattoos that are then critiqued by judges, by the contestants, by the other human canvases, even the viewers. So, for the “winning” canvas, they got a great tattoo! Yay! But for the rest, their skin is now forever marked with a design that in all probability will forever stand out as being “a bad one on Ink Master” - and this happens to something like 120 people per season!

In another example - there’s all the dating shows that have been popping up of late… Yes, perhaps a man gets a woman by the end… though the shows are essentially designed to break at least a few hearts along the way… but worse… Last week I was watching a bit of Adam Zkt. Eva (remade by the Yanks as “Dating Naked”). Naked Boy Meets Naked Girl… then New Naked Boy comes along. In this instance, the new guy - to camera - came across as a bit of an arrogant pig, all but stating he was out to nail a hottie… IF he had been successful… how would that girl have felt upon watching the show? Knowing that the producers, and then audience, were aware that this guy was simply wanting to fuck her?

I’m not actually a prude… nor a grumpy old man… And I know that every night/weekend people go out with the express purpose of doing what this guy was doing… But as I see it, there is a duty of care that Reality TV show producers should be showing toward their meal tickets, and in some instances, that care is sadly lacking.

Just an observation… Maybe I am a prude.

cheers

cosmic

Yes, free will etc etc… but when the producers are

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Sadly, reality TV is, and always was, only concerned with profits.

It exploits the worst that humanity has to show, and it seems the nastier you are, or the more arrogant, the more likely you are to be a favourite of the people who watch.

I find absolutely nothing to recommend reality TV. I used to like the music shows but even those are pretty crap now. The performers are often excellent, but what they have to endure is just ridiculous. As soon as I realised that shows like “The Voice” are only minimally about the performers and mostly about the judges, I stopped watching.

As far as I am concerned, there is absolutely no justification for their existence.

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Yeah @kyte is right - no care for humans, all about the profits.

I don’t watch much reality TV, only watching the voice because I know a competitor. I do watch a lot of foreign renovation/property shows on 9life - the american house flippers and tiny house people.

Actually I keep forgetting about house reno shows. I don’t much like the Aussie ones but there have been some UK ones I like, and I like Escape to the Country. They are exceptions to the exploitation rule, though, I think.

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Yeah I agree not all of them exploit, but an awful lot do :confused:

I’m not much a fan of the Aussie ones either, but I do like Escape to the Country and the American ones are funny :stuck_out_tongue:

Speaking of renovation shows, I always wonder how many of them actually have rules and regulations to keep contestants safe from things like Asbestos… It would be in so many of the buildings that those shows seem to get involved in!

I quite like grand designs as well. Not sure that it fits the criteria of ‘Reality TV’ as we know it but love that the shows focus is on the house and construction more so than they characters

Yeah I also like that. Kevin gets a bit much for me at times, especially when he makes pronouncements about how something isnt going to work. OTOH thats probably all part of the show and we know it will all be fine in the end.

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One word for grand designs - ‘Bespoke’

I love grand designs :smiley:

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