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cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 04-29-05, 08:46 AM (EST) "Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" LAST EDITED ON 05-03-05 AT 01:30 AM (EST) Hi, y'all. Often, I have wondered whether the short snippets that we see on TV are actually representative of the teams' actions, behavior and character. These teams are probably on-camera for hundreds of hours, and we get a very, very small slice of that. The question is: Is the very small slice that we see on TAR a fair sampling of the what the teams are like and what they say and do? I think you could argue either way. The TAR video editors might have a preconceived idea about how to cast a certain team to a stereotype (e.g., as villians, bickerers, lovebirds, gotta love 'em or hate 'em types, or the too nice to bash types), and stick to this general portrayal of a particular team, despite whatever else they do. I have a notion that there indeed is probably a bit of 'selective editing' done to create entertainment value (and thus increase ratings, and thus sponsorship dollars for the network). I think is possible, even likely, that some teams and racers have been portrayed as being somewhat different than they really are. I'm curious what the opinion of some of you other posters are on this, and I'd like to see what the results are in quantitative form. Later, I'll collate the vote statistics and comment on them, along with a summary sampling opinions on both ends of the spectrum. So, kindly vote, on a scale of 1 to 5 whether you believe 'selective editing' is done for the benefit of network ratings while inaccurately portraying the overall actions, behavior and character of the teams and racers. The scale from one end on both extremes is: 1 = no selective editing, with accurate portrayal of teams and racers. 2 = a little selective editing, with minor misportrayal of teams and racers. 3 = some selective editing, with some misportrayal of teams and racers. 4 = a lot of selective editing, with a serious misportrayal of teams and racers. 5 = highly selective editing, with gross stereotyping of teams for entertainment and commercial value. For reasons already stated, my vote is 3.   Top

Subject     Author     Message Date     ID    RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... Max Headroom 04-29-05 1    RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... cahaya 05-02-05 2        RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... Lula 05-02-05 3            RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... cahaya 05-03-05 4                RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... Lula 05-03-05 6  A fair and interesting question realitybites 05-03-05 5    RE: A fair and interesting question cahaya 05-03-05 8  RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... Snidget 05-03-05 7    RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... cahaya 05-03-05 9  RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... dragonflies 05-03-05 10    RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... Deekeryu 05-03-05 11        RE: Fair editing and portrayal of t... cahaya 05-03-05 12

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Max Headroom 10069 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 04-29-05, 09:31 AM (EST) 1. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" Using your scale, my vote is a 4. Supporting examples: 1. Gretchen - She and Meredith seem to have a good, strong relationship, but all the editing gives us is her saying variations of "Oh my God" 493 times per episode. There has to be a lot more to her than what we see. 2. Kris/Jon - Is anyone really that perfect? Given the exhaustion and stress of the race, they had to have a few spats along their route to the final 3. Did we ever see any of them? No, because they were being edited as America's sweethearts. 3. Colin - To me he seemed to be a garden-variety hothead, but the editing emphasized every "broken ox" episode. While he certainly had hothead moments, I firmly believe the real Colin isn't a walking nuclear warhead just waiting for the slightest stimulus to go off. Just my two cents' worth. Put them into your rankings, total them up, ask sittem the stats guru to provide a double-check, and let us know how it turns out!   Top

cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-02-05, 08:10 AM (EST) 2. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" Well, Max, it looks like this post generated as much excitement as a blizzard storm warning in Antarctica. I might have to timeshare a supercomputer to do the statistical analysis of the poll results at this rate. Well, at least we're in general agreement about the belief that teams aren't portrayed as fairly as they should be. Thanks! -- cahaya   Top

Lula 18 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Got Milk? Spokesperson" 05-02-05, 11:16 AM (EST) 3. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" I'll comment before it disappears. To me it's a 4. Some people refer to the team members as cast members. That doesn't seem like a good term to me. But, I think they were looking for stereotypes when the racers are picked. They have hundreds of hours of film and can pick and choose to portray a racer as a character. It is hard for me to believe the racers are really like they are portrayed, so I concentrate on the scenery and locations. Some people have pointed out that the words came out of the racers' mouths. Yes, but they can show comments out of context. The best of us say stupid things when they are very tired and stressed.   Top

cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 00:42 AM (EST) 4. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" Welcome to the boards, Lula! These board threads don't 'disappear' unless a moderator removes it, so you can always catch later posts anytime. There's another '4' vote, folks!   Top

Lula 18 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Got Milk? Spokesperson" 05-03-05, 08:38 AM (EST) 6. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" I meant to say disappear to page 2. Thanks for the welcome.   Top

realitybites 1174 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Politically Incorrect Guest" 05-03-05, 07:21 AM (EST) 5. "A fair and interesting question" Based on your scale, my vote is 3. It's actually impossible to know what the true personalities of the teams are without either being that team or having the footage. Some teams claim they were portrayed accurately, some were portrayed selectively (i.e. all the interesting stuff didn't make the screen), and some claimed they had their images mangled. I think TAR plays fairer than most reality shows in this regard. They tend to cast people who have potential for conflict (except for one or two teams in each edition), and the race itself is a severe stress test for many reasons. They don't have to suggest stuff that didn't happen in order to get their quota of excitement.   Top

cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 02:31 PM (EST) 8. "RE: A fair and interesting question" It's interesting that you and Snidget (below) mention casting to be as much a factor as (if not more than) the editing. I tend to agree with both of you that teams who already have some internal conflicts to resolve are more likely to do unpredictable (and thus more entertaining) things in stressful situations. A number of posters on other threads have mentioned that one of the things they like to watch on TAR is the team chemistry (within teams and with other teams) and how this chemistry develops throughout the episodes. You mention the impossibility factor (there is no way a viewer can know the true personalities of teams/individuals), and that's what makes the show (and this message board!) all that much more interesting.   Top

Snidget 44369 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 08:59 AM (EST) 7. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" I'd have to go about a 2.5 on your scale. Yep they do select what to show, but there is only so much you can do with what you are given. They can not show stuff to make some things out of context, but I'm fairly sure some people are just not self-aware enough to realize just how badly they come off a lot of the time. (just standard human's aren't always good at that sort of thing, not sure how reality TV people stack up against the standard issue I have no idea I come off that way person off the street, although some do seem more clueless in this area than usual, but that may be a casting thing, you want people who don't have the ability to filter themselves too much, as that may not be good TV). I think a lot of the claims of "it was all the editing" are in a lot of cases people just trying to spin and deny who they are when they are in stressful situations. And most people off the street would be just as bad off under those situations. I'd love to see one of these people go to something more like, "yep I'm just a standard issue screwed up person under stress who does stupid things sometimes, deal with it." Rather than the usual "it was just the editing," thing that they all seem to rely on to explain away bad behavior. And the producers know if you put people under high stress and pressure that there will be plenty of TV worthy moments. They generally won't show 45 minutes of people being calm, safe, boring, etc. so there is some selection in what gets showed, and they do select clips that over time present a certain story arc. The editing of story arc can give clues as to who is where in any given game. (like when a lot of bad behavior gets redeemed or a usually well balanced person has their flip out moment shown, you do want each person/couple to have a cohesive story so they have to pull out the parts that tell the tale of, even if that isn't a 100% total representation of how there were 100% of the time. I mean if X person is boring, normal, sane, etc. 90% of the time and really whaky 10% of the time thier edit is not going to be 90:10 is is going to be at least 50:50. They have to maximize what they are give to what people will want to watch) I think there is more manipulation of the situationst to create TV worthy moments than manipulating the film afterward to turn people into something other than who they were in the race. They set them up to show their worst side, but they do have the option to not express that if they do not want to.   Top

cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 02:41 PM (EST) 9. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" Interesting comments, with a poignant line: I'd love to see one of these people go to something more like, "yep I'm just a standard issue screwed up person under stress who does stupid things sometimes, deal with it." How many of us can actually be honest with ourselves and say this during our worst moments, especially on-camera?   Top

dragonflies 8051 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 02:49 PM (EST) 10. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" I vote 3. As stated above, Kris/Jon were cast as very nice, almost boring peeps, but the video I watched on Jonathan&Victorias site sure showed a couple of wild ones. That being said, the producers can only work with what they are given, so manufacturing abuse would be very difficult if there wasn't already some present. another syren masterpiece   Top

Deekeryu 136 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Blistex Spokesperson" 05-03-05, 03:09 PM (EST) 11. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" I would vote a 4. Based on other team's assessment of Jonathan and Victoria, many said they were shocked at how they were negatively portrayed, and they also said that Victoria was giving it to Jonathan just as much, but was never shown. They said he wasn't crazy as always shown, and certainly wasn't the most dysfunctional couple as it appeared on television from their season. All the racers had nothing but postitive comments to say in their post-race interviews, and acknowledged Jonathan and Victoria's antics saying they were all under a terrible amount of stress, and Jonathan was just obsessed with winning, but at pitstops, and out of the race, they were great. They said they saw no trace of what was edited on TV in real life. Jonathan and Victoria have become very close with other racers, and hang out and keep in contact with a lot of them. He even went to Cabo with Kris and Jon to celebrate Jon's birthday. If Jonathan and Victoria were so bad, people seen as nice as Kris and Jon wouldn't spend time with Jonathan and Victoria.   Top

cahaya 19891 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 05-03-05, 04:23 PM (EST) 12. "RE: Fair editing and portrayal of teams? Votes, please!" Two more opinions by dragonflies and Deekerya raise still another interesting point: the racers themselves may be the best people to provide hard evidence and judge whether they and the other racers have been fairly portrayed or not (that is, if they are honest with themselves and about the other teams). I'm curious whether anyone has gone back into more of the previous TAR seasons' participants public statements about this. It might give us a better picture of how the racers themselves felt about the accuracy of how they and the other teams were portrayed. Do they share the same opinion on this topic as us arm-chair TAR viewers and message board posters? Thanks, you two!   Top

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