They were locked in the house and were supposed to earn/raise money (presumably so they could buy food etc) via the interwebs. They were all deeply crap at this,…

hoping that I would finally have a chance outside of academia and pub quizzes to show off my relatively useless skill set of knowing the difference between Flatmates and kiwiflatmates.com – and Joanna beat me to it!

All is not lost. I get the impression that delivering a copy of…

I always sense from the brief glimpses that the audience is/has just enjoyed a meal and drink in the studio

There you go – let those lovely producers known their hospitality does make a difference onscreen.

There is…

NZs Hottest Baker was just so unjustifiably bad. I had to watch every episode.

Which was probably a lot more fun than actually being a contestant, I hear.

Intriguing, when I watch, I always sense from the brief glimpses that the audience is/has just enjoyed a meal and drink in the studio for some reason,

No, that happens earlier, outside the studio, and very good it is too.
;-)

We record very much as-live, and it's rare for us to go more than about 90 secs over. The producer will make that call if he thinks there's something that'll need tightening up the next day. So you'll see a little bit of magic-of-television, but only a little bit.

Intriguing,…

So was it Kiwi Flatmates that Jacqui Brown flashed her boobs on?

Ummm possibly, or perhaps Celebrity Treasure Island ? I must admit, I don't know. Okay I will turn over my Knowledge Bro membership card now...

I wish them both a speedy recovery so we can all go back to…

Oh yes, I know far too much about television...

I am in your debt: clearly, the two programmes merged into my mind.

So was it Kiwi Flatmates that Jacqui Brown flashed her boobs on?

I might be wrong — and Lord knows I seem to have been multiply wrong in the the original post — but wasn't that actually Flatmates? My memory is that Ihug was involved and doing the streams.

Flatmates was a show that screened when TV4 started, which went for two…

Charlie Brooker had a very informative report once on the various techniques used by Big Brother et al to create atmosphere and deliver a narrative. He showed how you could make the exact same scene covey a completely different story depending on how it was edited.

Sorry Russell, I hadn't…

Here's the clip in question:

You really are very good at Internet.

Charlie Brooker had a very informative report once on the various techniques used by Big Brother et al to create atmosphere and deliver a narrative. He showed how you could make the exact same scene covey a completely different story depending on how it was edited.

Here's the clip in…

My memory is that Ihug was involved and doing the streams.

Arrgh! Yes, I think that was the one. I will see if I can eke out more from some old 'Hug dudes.

Touchdown had a horrifying record during the reality show boom.

Or Unscripted Television as Julie Christie has taken to calling it now.
Citing Candid Camera as the original unscripted television sheew.

I think Prof Gluckman’s repeated point that the science is sorted to the extent that we as a community can start working on our response is well made.

However, I just about fell off my chair when you finished the…

That Noeline looks all class Joe.

She's still dining out on her 15 minutes. I'd be careful, though – her Sylvania Waters partner Laurie once knocked out a few of a neighbour's teeth with a garden hose.

The 'reality' in reality TV is a euphemism for

... "really cheap"

s'all

. . . feisty hard-drinking nouveau-riche mum Noeline . . .

Beady-eyed boganette

Usually there is a cut to the money-shot, the fired-on giving a facial reaction, the wincing narrowing of the eyes and slight turn, the look of disbelief, rapidly resolving through hurt and then relief that the suffering…

"Fuck you for profiting by wasting months of my time, I'm now going to get a real job that doesn't involve selling hot-dogs in a street stall, being tailed by goons, betrayed by friends, and talked down to by arrogant wankers".

Was left on the cutting room floor. Although compelling…

or 7 Up (is that what it's called?)

The first one was. Collectively they're the Up Series. I lost interest at 35 up. 56 up is coming up.

It is a little bit like current reality TV, but there's no game-show element, unless you consider the game being that the…

There's nothing real about reality TV.

Too right...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKh2RG0NaG0

And too right again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ceegnWSENQ

And one could, I suppose, in a fittingly existential mood on a Friday afternoon, could say the same thing about reality. There's nothing real about reality. It's all down to the editing

Ooh. Deep!

There's nothing real about reality TV.

Charlie Brooker had a very informative report once on the various techniques used by Big Brother et al to create atmosphere and deliver a narrative. He showed how you could make the exact same scene covey a completely different story depending on how it…

Amnesty released its first report on the persecution of gay and lesbian people in 1994, and had a gay chapter before that.

I can see how it might have taken time for the idea that people imprisoned for their sexuality are political prisoners to percolate worldwide, but individual country chapters…

After an unplanned tie on one show, they decided the winner by coin toss, then reshot the 'winner' 'winning' and the 'loser' cursing their luck for 'losing'.

"Reality" TV at its finest.

There's nothing real about reality TV.

Charlie Brooker had a very informative report once on the various techniques…

Slow indeed. I asked the question sometime late 1990s. At that time they didn't support GLBTT political prisoners. AI lost me then and there, and haven't been back since.

Amnesty released its first report on the persecution of gay and lesbian people in 1994, and had a gay chapter before that.…

i think a lot of the ideas for the wave of "reality" programs out of the UK in the late-80s/early-90s were gleaned from dozens of bizarre Japanese television programs of that era and slightly earlier. the ideas were…

Touchdown had a horrifying record during the reality show boom.

After an unplanned tie on one show, they decided the winner by coin toss, then reshot the 'winner' 'winning' and the 'loser' cursing their luck for 'losing'.

"Reality" TV at its finest.

AI started out solely campaigning on political prisoners, and decides which human rights issues to campaign on by international consensus, so it can sometimes be slow to expand its remit.

Slow indeed. I asked the question sometime late 1990s. At that time they didn't support GLBTT political prisoners. AI lost…

I'd say Reality TV is older than that, or at least that early models can be found in the 60s with shows like Hidden Camera (punked), or 7 Up (is that what it's called?)

Then there were some…

I mean, it was *nice*, and I felt very tender towards them all for being so self-deprecating, and I would love it in real life, but it doesn't make for much televisual drama, does it?

Modesty is NZ's cultural trait. It makes for bad TV, but better people.

... Put. A. Buck. Et. On. Your. Head.
Put a bucket on your head!"
I'm not kidding.

Beyond the pail then...?
Luckily canned,
er, scuttled...

...as ewer...

1981 is when it all began, on the BBC: Now Get Out Of That!

Reality TV is 29 years old, and counting: any advances on that?

Once I found out that AI refused to support gays and lesbians imprisoned simply because they were gay or lesbian, I have never given them any time or money.

I think your information may be out of date. from http://www.amnesty.org/en/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity :

Amnesty International considers people detained or imprisoned solely because…

I remember sitting outside journo school one day as he walked past and we asked him where his bucket was.

he gave us the fingers.

oh, good times.

Does anyone remember 'Going Straight' where people had to do a number of tasks that involved going in a straight line. That was pure genius whoever came up with that

You mean the show where one of the contestants was horribly burned during a "challenge"?

Worse, [[http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/sunday-star-times-wellington-new-zealand/mi_8185/is_20040509/safety-weakest-link-reality-tv/ai_n51646064/|it only happened because…

I'd argue quite the opposite, actually. Amnesty has always supported the rule of law, and the rights of individuals over public utility. In this case, they're arguing for the rights of people with quite odious views to fair and timely trials.

I quite agree — although in the case of…

It was around the same time (I think) as our failed attempt at an NZ version of Hey Hey It's Saturday.

They've revived that show in Australia. Only it screens on Wednesdays.

DayOfTheWeekFail.

Oh, speaking of crappy local reality shows, does anyone remember one from about 1998 that was an online attempt at a Real World type show?

I might be wrong — and Lord knows I seem to have been multiply wrong in the the original post — but wasn't that actually…

It has shaken my conception of AI as a "good" organisation. For me, it raises some critical questions about whose rights are prioritised, and to what extent some rights may need to be traded. I guess it shows that AI is a utilitarian organisation rather than a Kantian one (i.e.…

I remember that show. Your worst light entertainment nightmare.

Previously for sale here...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instruments/Vinyl/45-RPM/Other/auction-281960293.htm

It was around the same time (I think) as our failed attempt at an NZ version of Hey Hey It's Saturday.

I can still sing part of the theme,…

http://sciblogs.co.nz/open-parachute/2010/04/23/climate-scientist-sues-newspaper-for-false-reporting/

That reminds me of a show called " Put a Bucket on Your Head." Not a reality show but hosted by Nick Tansley. Anyone remember that? It had a studio audience, but I have no idea what it was about.

For filmies: if you go to the Directory of World Cinema site www.worldcinemadirectory.org, you can download a free copy of the just-published American Independent Cinema directory (337pp of it), edited by John Berra. A magnificent deal--I hope Intellect do the…

Does anyone remember 'Going Straight' where people had to do a number of tasks that involved going in a straight line. That was pure genius whoever came up with that

You mean the show where one of the contestants was horribly burned during a "challenge"?

I'm waiting for the 'rural apprentice' with that Crafar guy being the Don of the boardroom

On Radio NZ this morning (streaming 12 mins) he displayed the loudly arrogant ignorance that seems to make Americans perfect participants in such shows.

Cows are athletes and I never saw a fat athlete.…

Hell, it makes me want to have a ciggy just reading bout it 'cept i dont smoke these days unless i'm drinking and thats pretty infrequent too.

That lttle guy with the perfect teeth seems like the type of shit to try and blacklist you with his mates in the real world if someone actually said what they must think but dare not utter...

He really does look like he has a big stonk-on when he gets…

But if you want to see reality tv taken to the sky, watch Jersey Shores... I'm not sure they can use the…

That lttle guy with the perfect teeth seems like…

I do have to wonder at the sort of people who choose to be in those shows in the first place

I think it would most likely be an insidious trap. Initially, it could seem like a bit of fun. After a round or two, people who are naturally competitive…

There can't be this many people in…

I mean, it was *nice*, and I felt very tender towards them all for being so self-deprecating, and I would love it in real life, but it doesn't make for much televisual drama, does it?

Bizarre, isn't it?

The exact same thing has happened several times in The Apprentice NZ…

There's a list of a whole bunch of forgettable shows on the Eyeworks Touchdown Wiki page (formerly Touchdown Productions.) Also this blog post about being a…

I watched the opening "episode" online, which I remember taking ages to download. Louise Wallace was the host, and she showed the contestants around the…

Gita Sahgal, who criticised Amnesty’s ‘pro-jihadi’ links, leaves job…

Another thing about Project Rungay is that I'm the kind of freak who actually watches the show for the clothes.

I do the same. Then again, I have an excuse: my girlfriend's mother is a professional dressmaker, so just sitting in the room with them is an education on the…

Don't dish NZs Hottest Home Baker

Oh. the tension! Oh, the drama! Oh, the cupcakes!

re Popstars

It certainly influenced the development of Pop Idol (as well as the nasty rash of boy/girl bands through the 1990s). By all accounts, the format was sold (to Freemantle?) for diddley-squat, partly because…

If anyone can even start to explain the appeal, I'd be most grateful.

Oh my god, I fucking LOVE it. It is *endlessly* quotable and totally fascinating. Here's the thing: a long time ago, The Real World became this series of manipulated trope characters (the gay one! the small town…

Has anyone tried to watch 'Jersey Shore'? Was on in the breakroom yesterday lunchtime (it was like that when I found it, officer...).

I haven't, but I suspect the appeal is much like those ghastly (and IMO psychologically abusive) Wife Swap things. No matter how sad your life is, at…

But who remembers Flatmates? I briefly wondered whether I'd imagined it myself, or at least got the name wrong.

I do remember a disastrous show called Kiwi Flatmates and even recall their website was kiwiflatmates.com (no longer exists).

Yes. I said it.

Hunter's quote you opened with is a perfect example of the problem faced. Watch closely;

A direct quote from the RSNZ;

"...Science has not proved [that] human activities are changing the climate..."

QED, it's all bullshit and we should carry on burning dinosaurs.…

Has anyone tried to watch 'Jersey Shore'? Was on in the breakroom yesterday lunchtime (it was like that when I found it, officer...).

If anyone can even start to explain the appeal, I'd be most grateful.

However i do like Project Runway. Now that is some genuine skill, talent and flair on display there.

A brief, 100 dollars and one day to sew something amazing...WOW. The only thing is, one cant get…

They all look the same to me, and all the contestants seem like people I'd try and avoid down the pub.

They're worse — the the kind of bores who make the Christmas party season so damn unpleasant.

but it doesn't make for much televisual drama, does it?

Yeah, but…

'Treasure Island' was hosted by Nick Tansley

I think that was "Treasure Hunt", and it was based on a UK version of "La Chasse au Trésor" (again, thx Wikipedia)

Can comebody please explain how "Popstars" ... was the earlier form of "Pop Idol"

Popstars introduced and popularized the idea of a reality series following the shaping of pop performers. There have always been talent shows on the telly, but Popstars was the first to mix the talent quest with…

http://professionalaesthete.blogspot.com/2010/04/not-sharpest-tool.html

Can comebody please explain how "Popstars" — a reality show about the trevails of a pop group — was the earlier form of "Pop Idol" — a talent show, in which contestants get knocked out on a weekly basis (a format which has been around for some time)?

There was…

Treasure Island first. Two seasons of it, I think

Yeah, two seasons of Treasure Island. The second one included Clark Gayford before he was famous.

Big Brother was definitely inspired by __The…

We didn't have Non-Celebrity Treasure Island first; we jumped straight to the variant.

Umm ... yes we did and no we didn't. There was definitely a non-celebrity Treasure Island first. Two seasons of it, I think (prize in the first one was $5000, the second, I think $25,000).

we were rather winningly crap at it

In our household we have theorised that everyone on NZ reality shows is too pleasant and well-adjusted to really give us the goods, nutbar-wise. All the judges on New Zealand's Next Top Model, for example, were so *logical* and *supportive* of the models…