[Nottobrite]

I got into this discussion with some people on another board. I find it interesting how people react after such a tragedy like Katrina or 9/11 here in the States.

This discussion was prompted by a collumn written in the Detriot Free Press saying that CBS dare not promote the new season of Survivor and should probably be better canceling the show because it would be insulting to people who are realling trying to Survive in the wake of Katrina. She said that reality TV as a whole should be discontinued because we've seen enough of reality on the news.

While I had a lot of problems with what she was saying, I found the topic intriguing.

I am a huge fan of Post Apocalyptic books, yet is it wrong to get pleasure about stories about people getting their lives destroyed and turned upside down by a cataclismic event when it's happening in reality.

Now, in my opinion, if this thinking was true, then we should eliminate books and entertainment dealing with murder, terrorism, death, shady poilticians, global unrest, etc.

Yet, I was wondering how much real events effect your choices of entertainment. If something is happening in the real world, does it make you less likely or more likely to search out fictionalized accounts similiar? How much responsibility do publishers/producers have in protecting sentiment in trying times, or just avoiding seemingly exploiting tragedy for ratings/money?

[Ouroboros]

I'm inclined to agree with you that if we applied her logic across the board, then the restrictions placed upon entertainers / writers of whatever stripe would be absurd.

It constantly amazes me how many people out there are willing to roll back and restrict our freedoms in the name of intangibles like 'preventing offence to others'. Someone out there, somewhere, probably wants to ban walking and talking at the same time.

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As far as the intersection of what we see on the news versus what we take on board for entertainment: There's going to be an obvious connection, but I don't think its always the case that people will look for an alternative to whats on the news. There will be people who look at New Orleans on television and then decide to re-read The Stand or something similar. I don't think that too much should be read into that. Disaster and horror is compelling to us, we're engineered for it.

Good topic, by the way.

[Wulfa_Jones]

I'll start off by saying that I think Survivor and most of it's kind should be cancelled anyway! Thankfully Survivor never took off that well in the UK and was dropped after about 2 seasons I think but other reality TV shows still roll on... and on... and on...

I dislike the ones that pray on people, stuff like Wife Swap/Holiday Swap et al where they clearly choice two familes that are vastly different from one another because it will clearly create tension. That is praying the misery of these (foolish) peoples lives.

To wander back on to topic... I think it's sometimes a good idea to temporarily remove a TV show or a film from the schedules if, it could in some way relate to a recent traumatic event, i.e. after the bombing in London in July it would have been in bad taste to show a film about terrorism. Just as it would have been in bad taste to show one of the many films about natural disasters after Katrina.

But that is just a temporary thing, they can’t cancel a whole show just because of it contains the slightest possibility it might offend someone or be taken a disrespectful. Sure maybe the network could hold the show back a few weeks as a mark of respect but to outright cancel it? Then you might as well cancel the like of Lost as well because that’s about a group of people trying to survive as well. I can't help thinking that she is just a snobish reporter who thinks reality TV is a waste of space.

[Nottobrite]

I'll start off by saying that I think Survivor and most of it's kind should be cancelled anyway! Thankfully Survivor never took off that well in the UK and was dropped after about 2 seasons I think but other reality TV shows still roll on... and on... and on...

I dislike the ones that pray on people, stuff like Wife Swap/Holiday Swap et al where they clearly choice two familes that are vastly different from one another because it will clearly create tension. That is praying the misery of these (foolish) peoples lives.


I have to admit, while I don't enjoy 90% of reality TV, I enjoy Survivor and The Amazing Race. I think basically because it's truly a competition as opposed to exploitive shows like Wife Swap, which I think can sometimes be cruel to the children involved.

To wander back on to topic... I think it's sometimes a good idea to temporarily remove a TV show or a film from the schedules if, it could in some way relate to a recent traumatic event, i.e. after the bombing in London in July it would have been in bad taste to show a film about terrorism. Just as it would have been in bad taste to show one of the many films about natural disasters after Katrina.

I remember after 9/11 they postponed the premiere of 24 because it involved a terrorist blowing up a plane, as well as movies with Terrorist themes. Also, after the LA riots they delayed programming that featured similar themes. I believe this can be appropriate, as long as they don't take it too far. In the end, we need things to distract us, as proven by the embracing of MLB and the NFL after they restarted there seasons.


But that is just a temporary thing, they can’t cancel a whole show just because of it contains the slightest possibility it might offend someone or be taken a disrespectful. Sure maybe the network could hold the show back a few weeks as a mark of respect but to outright cancel it? Then you might as well cancel the like of Lost as well because that’s about a group of people trying to survive as well. I can't help thinking that she is just a snobish reporter who thinks reality TV is a waste of space.

I agree with that. I thought the Survivor thing was a reach and if you were going that far there were plenty of other shows that would have qualified. For the past couple of weeks NBC has been running a promo for the telemovie "Surface" which features the tagline "there's something in the water." I think what bothered me about the column was this hypocrtisy. It seemed that she decided to explot Katrina in order to get rid of reality TV. I think there are a lot of better issues that you can use the tragedy in New Orleans to highlight.