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PBS makes awesome posters shaming reality TV.

edited May 2013 in Art!
Via Entertainment Weekly:
A series of new posters that chides the state of modern television has begun appearing in subways throughout New York City this week.

The prints, distributed by Thirteen, a local PBS station, advertise outlandish, fake shows with names like Knitting Wars and Bayou Eskimos alongside the biting tagline, “The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV.”

“It’s pretty scary when you look out there and see what’s on television these days,” Jeff Anderson, Executive Creative Director at CHI&Partners NY (the ad agency that created the campaign) said in a release. “If New Yorkers want an inspiring and educational option, they need to get behind a network that we sometimes take for granted.”

EW has obtained copies of all five posters that will appear in subways until the end of June, and while we’re 98 percent in agreement with the sentiment and snark, we also kiiiiinda want to see Knitting Wars on the air, if only because the “It’s Sew On” kicker had us in… stitches.
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Post edited by Daikun on

Comments

  • I'd watch the fuck out of Dillionaire, but I do take my fermented and pickled foods very seriously.
  • I agree with PBS, but I will say that AMC's Small Town Security is unscripted reality and also one of the best shows on television. It's a special case, though, because it's so weird that it feels fictional.
  • I somehow can't help but love The Dillionaire. 5 bucks says someone will make it a thing.
  • Currently taking bets on which of these will be the first to get an actual show. My money's on Knitting Wars.
  • The best part of these posters are the fake TV channel names.
  • Married to a Mime is just...I'll actually be interested to see how someone, anyone, would approach that.
  • Science damn it. Now I want to know how mimes fuck. I hate this thread now. >_<
  • Well, since they don't make noises, they wear squeaky toys on the front of their hips so, when they thrust, it makes a noise.
  • fffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuu
  • I'm still waiting for a furry-lifestyle barracuda farmers reality show, hopefully taking place in western Arkansas. Honestly, reality TV needs to get with the times.
  • PBS' premise is flawed. Any content, regardless of its outlandishness, can be interesting and receive critical acclaim if done well. Besides, "The Dillionaire" is no objectively more ridiculous than "My Little Pony" or "The Walking Dead." An engaging, well-edited show about what makes mimes tick? I'll bet Darren Aronofsky could make it work. In the right hands, any premise can rise to be art. Think about society's attitudes in the 1950s toward comic books, or how they judged science fiction films before Star Wars. A planet populated by apes, a show called Bullshit, a sitcom about nothing at all: Stupid ideas until seized by capable hands.
  • Yes, conceptually those things could be well done. I would posit, however, that this is the opposite of what would make money.
  • Monkey tennis?
  • I want a show about people waiting in queues and those that dare to cut ahead in those queues.
  • Guys guys.

    Can we re-film Citizen Kane, but instead, have him be a pickle baron?

    ART!
  • I know some people would watch Sewing Wars. I'm amazed there are no sewing-based competitive shows out right now. Most creative outlets already have a show in their name.
  • edited May 2013
    Guys guys.

    Can we re-film Citizen Kane, but instead, have him be a pickle baron?

    ART!
    This argument has been borne out every time new mediums and methodologies rise to replace well-trodden ones.
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    It's more pickle baron than Mona Lisa, but it's still art.

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    It's more Bayou Eskimo than Birth of Venus, but it's still art.

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    It's more Married to a Mime than The Creation of Adam, but it's still art.
    Post edited by Jason on
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    Modern art.
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    Modern art.
  • PBS' premise is flawed. Any content, regardless of its outlandishness, can be interesting and receive critical acclaim if done well. Besides, "The Dillionaire" is no objectively more ridiculous than "My Little Pony" or "The Walking Dead." An engaging, well-edited show about what makes mimes tick? I'll bet Darren Aronofsky could make it work. In the right hands, any premise can rise to be art. Think about society's attitudes in the 1950s toward comic books, or how they judged science fiction films before Star Wars. A planet populated by apes, a show called Bullshit, a sitcom about nothing at all: Stupid ideas until seized by capable hands.
    The premises in the posters are reality shows. The examples you gave in your comment are not.
  • Aw, how cute. You think "reality" means "non-fiction." Sweet.
  • edited June 2013
    Aw, how cute. You think "reality" means "non-fiction." Sweet.
    Where'd you reach that conclusion?

    Would Darren Aronofsky make a reality show? Is the show called Bullshit a reality show? Is the sitcom about nothing a reality show?

    Oh, that's right. They're not. Those concepts would have to be radically changed into another genre entirely away from the "reality" gimmick in order to work. If not, it would be the same junk as shown on those posters.
    Post edited by Daikun on
  • edited June 2013
    Part of the issue is that there can be a bit of a fine line between a reality show and a legitimate documentary about something currently taking place or a group of people currently living (as opposed to historical documentary, such as one on the Civil War).

    So, for a legitimate PBS-style documentary, you could have a camera crew filming Eskimos up in the Arctic as they go about their daily business while impacting said business minimally -- perhaps only periodically asking questions of them to explain their various cultural traditions, hunting techniques, and so on. The show would then, ideally, provide legitimate insight on Eskimo culture to those unfamiliar with it.

    By transplanting Eskimos to the Bayou, you're actively interfering in their daily business and therefore no longer making a documentary, but a reality show. Add in the focus on drama between the Eskimos instead of Eskimo culture itself, perhaps toss in a bit of "fish out of water" drama and even additional stuff provided by the production team, and bingo, you've got serious reality crapola.

    Looking at those other posters, you can also draw the line between legitimate documentary/how-to/etc. and reality crap, with all those posters being reality crap.
    • "Big Bad Bagboys"
      • Legitimate documentary: The plight of minimum wage workers in America's supermarkets and how they manage to survive without health care, affordable housing, etc.
      • Reality show: Bag boys yuk it up, complain about customers, and get into food fights. Emphasis is made on the drama between the bag boys themselves and others
    • "Knitting Wars"
      • Legitimate how-to (a PBS staple for many years): A show on how to knit things. How novel!
      • Legitimate documentary: A show on the history of knitting and various knitting traditions across multiple ethnic groups.
      • Reality show: A bunch of old ladies periodically getting into fights and other drama over who gets the purchase the last ball of pink and white yarn at the local knitting supply store
    • "The Dillionaire"
      • Legitimate documentary: A show on the history of pickles and pickle production throughout time, culminating with a tour/demonstration of a modern industrial pickle plant as given by the "Dillionaire," said plant's owner. The "Dillionaire" himself could even narrate the show if he has sufficient voice talent.
      • Reality show: The drama involved with running a pickle plant with little or no information on just how pickles are made. Emphasis is made on arguments and drama between the "Dillionaire" and his employees, suppliers, and family members.
    • "Married to a Mime"
      • Legitimate documentary: A show about the history of the art of mime, how one trains to become a mime, and so on, narrated by someone who happens to be married to a mime
      • Reality show: Ohmigurd, I'm married to a mime! He's always dressed like a clown! People are always yelling insults at us! He never talks at the dinner table!
    Going back to the whole reality as fiction vs. non-fiction argument, here's where it comes down:
    • Legitimate documentaries and how-to shows: absolutely non-fiction, provided the creators did their homework and kept the shows factually accurate
    • Sitcoms, soap operas, dramas, cartoons, etc.: Fiction, but okay as they only portray themselves as such and feature professional actors, writers, and so on generating original content. Any one of those aforementioned reality shows could, in the hands of a talented enough crew of people, potentially be entertaining comedies (I can't for the life of me see how any of them could be serious dramatic programming).
    • Reality programming: Straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction. At best, it's the equivalent of just leaving a webcam running out your window all day and broadcasting everything that goes on outside your front door. It's non-fiction in that there isn't any original writing (or very little original writing, anyway) and none of the people filmed are professional actors playing roles on a program (though they may be professional actors outside the program. You could have a reality show about people auditioning for Broadway plays, for example). Fictitious elements may come in if the production crew attempts to stir up the pot, so to speak, in order to produce more "compelling" television.
    Post edited by Dragonmaster Lou on
  • Where do scripted reality shows fall? Reality shows that are based on true events but recreate them with a reality feel.
  • Where do scripted reality shows fall? Reality shows that are based on true events but recreate them with a reality feel.
    Historical re-enactment, I suppose. In that case, it would probably come down to how accurate the shows are with respect to the facts and how many, if any, liberties they take with them for the sake of making watchable television.

    For example, it's impossible for us to know every single word spoken by Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg. However, it would be acceptable if a historical re-enactment show about Gettysburg made up lines for the actor playing Robert E. Lee to speak, provided the language used was appropriate for Robert E. Lee based on what we do know about him and the era. Having the actor say a line like "I believe that we will achieve overwhelming victory by charging up that hill" would probably be acceptable. Having him say something like "We're going to kick their *bleep*ing asses by running straight up that mother*bleep*ing hill!" (censorship bleeps provided to illustrate how it would probably look on actual TV) would not.

    There are certainly gray areas, but generally we're only talking about the most extreme and outlandish of television programming here. Reality programming itself is an offshoot of legitimate documentary and how-to programming, with PBS's own "An American Family" perhaps being the originator. However, the problem with most modern reality programming is that they try to be outlandish for the sake of being outlandish and sacrifice any sort of enlightening, illuminating, or educational content in the process.

    I admit, I do watch a couple of reality shows, but they tend to be more sober and much more documentary in style than any of the fake shows presented by those posters. If it matters, those shows are "Deadliest Catch" (I grew up in a commercial fishing town, so the adventures of fishermen just really gets to me for some reason) and "Flying Wild Alaska" (I'll watch nearly anything if it's got airplanes in it). I can't stand the Real Housewives, Honey Boo-Boos, Parking Wars, and so on, which is what these posters try to address.
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