Comments on: reality? Get real...

reality? Get real...

konolia — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:13:39 -0800

Reality's Apprentice Reality TV may seem a world away from real life, but what happens when Donald Trump's The Apprentice moves in upstairs? Worse, what happens when it seems to be a sham? Keith Hollihan reports with a fascinating account of his life's surreal intrusions.

By: Eyegore

Eyegore — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:16:45 -0800

It was sort of interesting for about 20 minutes then I realized I wasn't even halfway through the first page and gave up.

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:36:37 -0800

Discussion of this article in the Television Without Pity Forums

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:40:39 -0800

I thought it was fun. Thanks lil k!

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:44:28 -0800

Shocking.

By: cbrody

cbrody — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:56:34 -0800

Great story. Is this this something I'd need a TV for to know whether he made the whole thing up?

By: tsarfan

tsarfan — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:57:42 -0800

i really hope he got paid by the word

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 22:58:54 -0800

Reality TV != reality. New York landlords can be unscrupulous. Film shoots can be obnoxious. This is news?

By: page404

page404 — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:01:08 -0800

what happens when it seems to be a sham? Hmmm, If the circumstances are a sham on so many levels (as posted) it sort of follows that the reality show is a sham. Interesting read, I wonder what the spouse wrote?

By: dabitch

dabitch — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 01:59:45 -0800

that was so much better than watching any of the shows. I wonder what "D" wrote...

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 06:49:54 -0800

I liked how "Reality TV" was pressed between two scenes of New York Reality. I can't wait for this article to be ripped from the headlines on Law & Order.

By: BlueTrain

BlueTrain — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 07:31:12 -0800

Great article. Thanks konolia.

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 07:49:42 -0800

Great article. Anybody who has a problem reading well-written but long stories like that needs to go back to Little Golden Books. Regarding the fakeness: the professional wrestling analogy was spot-on. This stuff is scripted from top to bottom. What isn't scripted is prompted. An off-screen producer will ask a contestant, "What do you think of So-and-So?" The contestant's response is then edited with out the lead-in question to make it appear like he spontaneously said, "I think he's a jerk." Failing those two tactics, controversy is invented in the editing room, where a ten-second comment one day is tacked onto a ten-second comment made weeks later so that they look related, contiguous, or like cause and effect. It's all baloney, and has been since Puck and the gang appeared on MTV.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 08:09:39 -0800

Great Article. Good job tracking this stuff down. Still, I do love my Sureality TV.

By: widdershins

widdershins — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 09:03:13 -0800

I quite enjoyed that. Pretty much why I don't watch 'reality' TV nor live in NYC.

By: cmicali

cmicali — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 11:40:21 -0800

great post, thanks!

By: swank6

swank6 — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 11:41:06 -0800

Interesting read indeed. He brings up a somewhat disturbing point - if I were that Tammy person who got booted off that episode because the team lost the competition, I'd be pretty pissed. I don't watch the show, but why should we believe that any of the competitions AREN'T rigged? Doesn't it just defeat the whole point of the show?

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 11:42:31 -0800

stories like this always make me think about how in the first draft of Truman Show, the movie actually took place in Manhattan, not in a manufactured terrarium in Florida. scary.

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 12:39:12 -0800

Thanks, konolia & anastasiav. An entire morning wasted, but I picked up this phrase in balance: 'the passion of a thousand fiery nuns'.

By: bingo

bingo — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:25:47 -0800

Having worked on three reality TV shows, I can vouch that the TV side of this article describes situations that are pretty typical. Between the thousands of hours of footage shot "just in case," the editing room, the "character arcs" planned for the season, and the light and sound equipment constantly in the faces of all the actors/participants, there is very little reality left.

By: greengirl

greengirl — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 16:33:38 -0800

swank6, Tammy didn't get fired because her team lost the competition, she got fired because Donald didn't want to hire her. For this show, the outcome of the competitions doesn't make any difference, since it's all one big "job interview" and only one person is going to get hired in the end. Tammy had no chance of winning anyway (I sure wouldn't hire her)... the competitions are really just a way to get to know the candidates better, and for us to be entertained. That's the brilliant and refreshing thing about The Apprentice -- at the very least we know that the folks doing the eliminating are trying to make the best decision from a practical business perspective... there's really no room for strategy or alliances or back-stabbing among the contestants. It's been interesting to see who forgot that aspect and thought of it as more of a game.

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 17:26:46 -0800

how do you get fired before you're even hired? I guess "you're not hired" just doesn't work as a catch-phrase-- which is the nut of the whole thing right there.

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:55:46 -0800

They're fired from their apprenticeship. They're going to be hired as a head of one Trump's organizations.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 15 Apr 2004 06:25:01 -0800

This is like an impartial article about you written by the cranky guy who lives downstairs and hates how you play your music too loud.

By: VeGiTo

VeGiTo — Thu, 15 Apr 2004 21:55:02 -0800

Actually, riffola, there is only one apprentice. The guy left at the end is hired as Trump's apprentice.

By: riffola

riffola — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 06:27:04 -0800

Yeah you're right, my mistake. Well they still worked for Trump during the show so that might constitute as being hired and fired?