Hello, this is Jen Matto, one of the producers from Exiled. Triple-J Productions is in the creation of another reality tv show. I'd like to know what you as an audience would like to see in a reality tv show. It would help us create something different from all the others and satisfy the audience too.
What would you like to see in the casting process? The challenges? The rules? The location? The name of the show? etc...
Just trying to see what interests die-hard reality show fans. thanks and I'd appreciate any feedback at all!

• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,wildchickenhunter, 03:10 PM, 02-07-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,dabo, 04:04 PM, 02-07-03
  • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Exiled producer, 04:33 PM, 02-07-03
    • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,survivorscott, 05:36 PM, 02-07-03
      • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Exiled producer, 08:03 PM, 02-07-03
    • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,dabo, 04:12 PM, 02-08-03
• Good Casting,Q, 04:27 PM, 02-07-03
  • RE: Good Casting,dajaki, 08:55 AM, 02-08-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,WindChillFactor, 04:57 PM, 02-07-03
• This may sound lame,survivorscott, 05:45 PM, 02-07-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Chrissy gal, 08:04 PM, 02-07-03
  • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Ashmo, 04:39 PM, 02-08-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,munson, 10:31 PM, 02-07-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,AMAI, 11:00 PM, 02-07-03
  • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,WindChillFactor, 12:48 PM, 02-08-03
    • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,AMAI, 05:07 PM, 02-08-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,LadyT, 03:38 PM, 02-08-03
  • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,dabo, 03:57 PM, 02-08-03
• Production Gufus,dabo, 11:57 PM, 02-08-03
  • RE: Production Gufus,managerr, 12:13 PM, 02-10-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,weltek, 09:58 AM, 02-12-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,realitycoholic, 06:37 PM, 02-17-03
  • Agree,dabo, 01:26 AM, 02-18-03
  • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Exiled producer, 01:07 PM, 02-18-03
    • RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,Chrissy gal, 00:39 AM, 02-19-03
• RE: What do YOU want in reality TV?,realityisfun, 08:22 PM, 03-10-03

I think it is safe to say that everyone on this board would like to see WildChickenHunter on a reality show...
Furthermore I think everyone on this board would like to see WCH win all the money.

I do have an idea for something like surreal life...Put 4 has been celebs with 2 regular people. That are not and I repeat are not, enamored with celebrities.Force them in a living and working situation and get a little stress in there. Watch the regular people bring the has been's back to reality....

I am sure just about everyone on this board knows what I mean. All I have to do is mention the surreal life and Corey 'I'm down to earth' Feldman.
Just think how good this show would be if you had someone like Bebo, Snooch,Dabo,Webby,SD and many others around to put that wasted piece of crap down.

Hey I got it, Put Bebo and me in Glen Campbels house with the Facts of Life Girls and George Clooney. We will kick all their whiny ass around for a couple of week....It will be great TV.

Hi, Jen (and LOL to wildchickenhunter)!

Such a broad subject, I'll have to get back to you later with more stuff if I can. Overall, I enjoyed eXiled2, though I dislike games of pure chance (which eliminated Manesh) and subjectively determined challenges (though it was obvious that the booty dance contest was really more about putting on a show so that was one time I actually didn't mind it so much). When it comes to Survivor-type contests, I think it would be neat if someone some day actually figured out how to make it about survival aptitude and so on.

One of my biggest pet peeves with Survivor itself has been the casting of the series, which I realize is a difficult thing to have to do. Mainly, I want to see a cast where everyone is actually out to play the game to the best of their abilities. Some shows have managed to populate the cast with serious players (Mole 2 was outstanding in this regard) without resorting to tokenism and such in the name of having a diverse mix of characters (some of whom are only out to grab their 15 minutes).

Well, as I said above, I'll have to get back to you. Oh, one thing I just remember. When I first heard about the NBC show "Lost" I thought it might be a neat show, but it kind of lost its appeal once the contestants reached civilization and it became just another race to get home. A sort of relay race in the wilderness, with challenges and mysteries to solve and whatever, might be a concept worth exploring.

SMILES ARE FREE

thank you for your input wildchickenhunter ;) and Dabo.

What if there was a reality tv show created that defeated the term "reality TV?"
It would start off as any other reality tv show, and go on normal the first 2-3 episodes, after say episode 3, things on set start to go wrong and someone disappears in the cast. The game would then change to a mystery and though the audience and cast would think this is all real, the producers have scripted it to happen from the get-go. Then you start seeing camera crew in the shots as well going crazy, Blair witch style almost.
So, basically it would be part reality and part scripted.

I also agree with Dabo on how Survivor casts these people that are out for the fame sometimes and don't necessarily strateize or even know the first thing about surviving outdoors.

WCH- ( sorry I had to abbreviate your name this time )
I like your idea of throwing odd couples together, ther would definately be some drama there!

Not to put your idea down. But it does sound a little like Murder in Small Town X.

Come in a stranger,leave a little stranger

I've never seen Small town X, just heard of it, i didn't know my idea was already taken! damn...;)

I like the "Blair Witch style" idea, if you're going to try to sell something to MTV that is. There was a show called "Fear" which had something of that flavor, the players were sent on missions in spooky places, had night cams attached to themselves, stayed in contact with a control player; it was a pretty limited concept but it sort of worked out.

As others have noted, attempts to mix scripted with reality have been done, it doesn't seem to work. To "defeat" reality TV you would probably need to go one way or the other, a scripted spoof of reality or an actual reality game so demented that it becomes impossibly hilarious as things move along. For research into the latter you may want to pick up the Mad Magazine Game which turns Monopoloy inside-out. It would have to be some sort of trial by ordeal still, like Survivor or a national election.

SMILES ARE FREE

I dislike the trends these days for reality shows to have recruited cast members. I think all contestants should have been the ones to initiate contact. If that means changing the process to include more "open" casting calls, as opposed to applications, then so be it. But the contestant should have show up in the first place, not have been approached.

My 2 Cents.

By the way I also enjoyed eXiled 2, and do not mind games of chance coming into play. Thems the breaks, I say, but I also would not require games of chance come into play either.

It is astonishing how foolish humans can be in groups, especially when they follow their leaders without question - States: The Bene Gesserit View. All States Are an Abstraction.

I hate having recruited cast members. If one more player shows up who was "discovered" at Belly, or any other LA bar, I'm going to yak. The vast majority, I'm talking really high percentage here, of actor/actress/model contestants have no talent and make it obvious that the reason they were cast is for another listing on their skeletal resumes. Please cast real people.

Other than that, the other ideas I've seen here are great. If I could come up with better, I'd move to the fringes of LA and hang out at Belly until I could sell my idea to the highest bidder.

LAST EDITED ON 02-07-03 AT 04:58 PM (EST)

I'm a super geek....and that is important to know before reading what I want.

I like seeing people adapt, change and learn about themselves. I like it when the challenges are external and internal.
I like to learn something.

So basically, I would like to see a hybrid of PBS's Frontier House , Survivor and the "Real World." Let's have young people compete for survival...basic survival....without the element of "voting off."

I think we should work against the type of people to participate in these situation for the fame. Let's see if people can get past their personal ambitions and egos. Let's set up conflict and possible failure to see if they can succeed. Let's have rich people learn what it is like to be poor. Let's have suburban people learn what it is like on a farm. That is what I want to see.

It's sick...I know.

A large scale scavenger hunt.
with a diverse and unique list of items not commonly gotten. The trick being they have to carry everything with them. Give vans to each team, a computer and puzzle/type clues. Bonus' for the "biggest" or the "first" to get things.
The list could be things as simple as a crown from Burger King, to harder things like a rotary phone,throw in the occasional biggest watermelon, have them take pictures at certain locations like the castle at Disneyland and in the Jungle room at Graceland

Come in a stranger,leave a little stranger

I really liked the casting on the most recent Exiled! Someone for everyone to root for, but nobody able to "fly under the radar". I thought that the "most hated" challenge was great, because it made people look at themselves and others differently - Kinley out of the "Fabulous Five" and Jade wondering about other people's perception of her. I also loved the look on Jeff's face when he realized that only one of the people he chose to be Exiled would actually be leaving.

I think I want a reality TV show that doesn't allow the participants to get bored. Survivor, Big Brother and High School Reunion all suffer from bored participants. Why not keep them on their toes all the time and make the game shorter? Mix things up a little: if there are going to be people leaving the game along the way, make the way they leave different (vote one time, contest one time, random one time, etc.); and don't let them know when the next person will leave (vote one night, contest the next morning, then nothing for two days, then someone just disappears, etc.)

Here is a specific idea: if they are on an island, tell them to get a life jacket and swim out to a bouy and back to shore, the participants think it is a race, but the lifejacket they chose determines who will stay and who will go (or compete to stay).

I hope this helps!

Here is a specific idea: if they are on an island, tell them to get a life jacket and swim out to a bouy and back to shore, the participants think it is a race, but the lifejacket they chose determines who will stay and who will go (or compete to stay).

I just wanted to say when I read this, I thought that was an awesome idea. Just mess with people so much. That would be able to get rid of a lot of the strategy if they didn't know how the next elimination was going to be.

I want to see unapologetic attention whores put in situations that bring out the absolute worst in their "character" and personalities. Throw in any type of game that eliminates participants along the way and I'm in.

I don't want to like these people. I want to mock them. It's OK to give me someone to root for, but make sure I've got plenty of whores to hate. Study the work of Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim. Cast for conflict, edit for maximum dramatic effect. The executives at FOX also seem to understand this pretty well.

Some really great ideas, here, eXiled Producer. Here's what I thought of what's been mentioned so far.

Dabo said, “When it comes to Survivor-type contests, I think it would be neat if someone some day actually figured out how to make it about survival aptitude.”

I totally agree, this makes for an interesting show. Unfortunately, the show Shipwrecked! tried that and doesn't seem to have made much headway with American audiences.

Dabo also said, “Mainly, I want to see a cast where everyone is actually out to play the game to the best of their abilities. Some shows have managed to populate the cast with serious players (Mole 2 was outstanding in this regard) without resorting to tokenism and such in the name of having a diverse mix of characters”

I agree. It's definitely better to have smart contestants if you want the show to be taken seriously.

Q said “I think all contestants should have been the ones to initiate contact.”

Suddenly I thought of all those geek-a-zoids we saw during the American Idol auditions. Throw the obviously unfit couch potato who shows up to willingly be part of a "survivor-esque" experience - and see what you get.

survivorscott suggested, “A large scale scavenger hunt.”

This could be interesting. Especially if it's about solving cryptic clues which aren't baby-easy, but which can be solved. It would be watching people think out loud.

Chrissy gal made an excellent point. “I think I want a reality TV show that doesn't allow the participants to get bored.”

Oh halleluia - exactly! All this starving them to see what they do. - They do nothing!!! *&%$ It gets to be soooo booooring.

Munson would get his wish with Q’s idea, I think. “I don't want to like these people. I want to mock them. ,,,someone to root for, but make sure I've got plenty of whores to hate.”

I too am one who goes for the snark. But there hasn't been much in the way of quality intellects being brought on board for these shows.

eXiled Producer asked “What if there was a reality tv show created that defeated the term "reality TV?"
It would start off as any other reality tv show, and go on normal the first 2-3 episodes, after say episode 3, things on set start to go wrong and someone disappears in the cast. The game would then change to a mystery and though the audience and cast would think this is all real, the producers have scripted it to happen from the get-go. Then you start seeing camera crew in the shots as well going crazy, Blair witch style almost.”

Frankly, my first thought was - it would suck. The Murder In Small Town X mentioned above HAS been done and it was done badly. It was a drunkard's home renovation of a tv show.

WindChillFactor said “Let's see if people can get past their personal ambitions and egos”

This idea is the only one I totally DON''T want to see. I'm fed up with ugly displays of self-sacrifice and altruism. I know a lot of people don't understand me when I say that but it's pretty much what we see in the form of wars and violence and I'm not in the mood for seeing the psychological display of giving up things of value for the sake of things that don't mean a damn thing. Which, at bottom, is what "getting beyond one's personal ambitions" really means.

I'm not interested in seeing people being told to "get past their personal ambitions." To do what? WCF, you're going to have to be more specific about what you mean - could be I'm misunderstanding you.

Excuse the long rant, there. WCF's post set me off.

I guess my point was to see IF people could get past their own heads. The thing is...that I doubt many could. I agree with a previous post saying that I want to see people looking like fools.

I want to see people realize that they are not good people. I want to see people who THINK they are altruistic made so see how selfish and petty they really are.

People think Reality TV is an easy shortcut to fame and fortune. Let's make it worth skipping the "paying dues" stage.

Thanks for your reply, WindChill. I appreciate the fact that you didn't go nuts back at me. I'm sorry if I seemed a little over the top there.

I don't think it's bad to see good selfishness - we hardly ever see that.

I am a bit tired of the self-absorbed type of behaviour that seems to pollute just about everywhere.

I would like to see more people who are real and not set in stereotypes. Like the Real World, with the angry black man, aneroxic girl, slutty girl, etc. Get Real people and how they interact.

When I say this, I will tell you that I haven't seen Exiled and have no desire too. No offense please, I don't watch any reality shows except for HS reunion because they all seem to be part of a pattern. I am not saying don't cast beautiful people, but some not so beautiful people and you will get lots of conflict. I would like to see some hell raising.

Good luck

I can just see the ads now for S7 this coming fall:

Jiffy: ... And this times things will be different ... This time Survivor gets Ugly!

Great idea, LadyT, and they could bring in the Jerry Springer and Howard Stern people to give them tips.

SMILES ARE FREE

Jen,

Starting with Survivor: Africa, I began an on-going seasonal bashing of the show which I call:

The Gufu Award!

It is too complicated to really explain, but basically it is a seasonal competition to determine what was the dumbest thing anyone did during the show. By the time S4 was underway it seemed obvious that I needed to separate things into two separate categories, as my original intent was to focus on the players themselves but many people wanted to award "hey that was stupid" recognition to the people who were producing the show as well.

So, for whatever it may be worth for you, here are links for you to follow to the Production Gufus (S1 and S2 were done retroactively as a summer project):

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/cgi-bin/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1379&forum=DCForumID1&archive=yes

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/cgi-bin/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1339&forum=DCForumID1&archive=yes

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/cgi-bin/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1116&forum=DCForumID1&archive=yes

http://community.realitytvworld.com/boards/DCForumID1/1432.shtml

"If all machines were to be annihilated at one moment, so that not a knife nor lever nor rag of clothing nor anything whatsoever were left to man but his bare body alone that he was born with, and if all knowledge of mechanical laws were taken from him so that he could make no more machines, and all machine-made food destroyed so that the race of man should be left as it were naked upon a desert island, we should become extinct in six weeks." (Samuel Butler, "Erewhon")

Like Dabo says, It may be easier to say what I *don't* like about Reality TV rather than what I like. Really, any show that can keep me entertained and offers good drama is good enough for me. I like the high production values and drama of the Amazing Race, but I must admit the smarmy nature of Joe Millionaire works for me too.

My pet reality show pet peeve is when the people behind the scenes blatantly introduce "twists" which ruin the dynamics of the game at the end. That takes away the natural drama and makes the viewer feel cheatever overall. Like the 3rd couple in Love Cruise. Or the final challenge in Exiled 2. (WTF, I wanted to see if Jeff really would backstab Carole and Graham and align with Jade)

I'd like to see fewer reality shows with producers concentrating on only doing high quality.

Just sayin, that's all.

Jen,

Have you ever played the "Myst" computer games? Take a look at them and see the type of puzzles which need to be solved before proceeding and you'll get an idea of what I'd love to see in a reality show.

One of the things I find most gratifying in the Mole reality shows is the intelligence of (some) players. I want to try and figure out the clues that the producers/editors have slipped in there, too.

I could see a type of Amazing Race/Mole/Survivor hybrid with players needing to figure out clues that will help them later on in the game--not neccessarily at that place. The players would have to keep their wits and notes about them in order to proceed in the race. If they can't get past a "roadblock" because they didn't get the clue right on a previous "mission", they could get a chance to redo the previous mission, but with a severe time penalty. It's either that or be booted.

I'm just brainstorming thinking about what I would love to watch that would be new and twisty. I must say however, I do get my jollies with the no-brain type reality shows as well.

I'm just a...

One of the best things about The Mole is that execution is merit-based rather than a matter of a vote (though exemptions can throw things off a bit, and well they should).

"If all machines were to be annihilated at one moment, so that not a knife nor lever nor rag of clothing nor anything whatsoever were left to man but his bare body alone that he was born with, and if all knowledge of mechanical laws were taken from him so that he could make no more machines, and all machine-made food destroyed so that the race of man should be left as it were naked upon a desert island, we should become extinct in six weeks." (Samuel Butler, "Erewhon")

Thank you all for your feedback! You all have some great ideas and concerns about reality tv. Although a few of you suggested having celebrities pitted with everyday people, we most likely cannot cast those famous people, but it would make for great tv.

We are still in the creation of a new format for a show, although we want to be original and have all aspects most of you suggested, it will be hard to perfect it. We will try!

Keep the suggestions / comments coming!
Thanks
Jen

Be sure to let us know where we can see your next project. Good Luck!!

Check out the new reality show:
www.triple-jproductions.com