http://www.avclub.com/articles/storage-wars-is-totally-fake-alleges-new-lawsuit-t,89787/
Apparently Dave Hester was absent from all of last season on Storage Wars because he got fired, and now he's suing the show and alleging that the entire show is a fabrication by the producers. Next you're gonna tell me that Barry Weiss isn't really good friends with Brad Whitford and the drummer from the Police, too.
Man, between his and the restaurant hidden camera shows, reality TV is really letting me down lately. I least I know that Parking Wars has to be 100% real, right? Ponytail wouldn't stand for disingenuous productions!
I always had my suspicions about this show. I stopped watching a while back because it started getting a bit long in the tooth and lost its charm. I still watch Pawn Stars because, despite fully understanding that all the drama between the family members is artificial and/or flat out scripted, it's at least educational; I feel like I'm actually "getting something" out of it. I'll also admit the characters are entertaining as hell, scripted or not.
ReplyDeleteTime for my favorite Blog of Doom refrain: If it's on TV then it's a work.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, this doesn't surprise me at all. I'm assuming the trope of the auctioneer not letting anyone look into the lockers before the auction is just a big inside joke at this point to the cast/crew. If anything, Barry might be the most real thing on the show!
One reality TV question: How much of the competition shows (e.g. Amazing Race, Survivor, etc.) is faked? I'm assuming they do multiple takes of certain key "scenes," but do they go so far as to pre-determine the order of elimination or give some teams advantages over others?
Of course it's staged. If you do "real" reality TV, then you get boring shit like the last 10 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
ReplyDeleteJoe Schmo was ahead of its time
ReplyDeleteOutside of Cops I'm pretty sure all reality TV is totally fake.
ReplyDeleteOnce I saw the same dude as a different character on American Pickers and Auction Hunters - I figured as much.
ReplyDeletePawn Stars is a sitcom and I think the dudes let you know that.
ReplyDeleteI would be much more willing to watch Pawn Stars if it wasn't on the History Channel. I hold that show (and Ice Road Truckers) responsible for the History Channel not having anything at all to do with history 5 nights out of 7.
ReplyDeleteThe best proof of how not scripted that show is would be how bad this season was. I'm a pretty die hard MMA fan but I couldn't make it through this season. Just worthless.
ReplyDeletemy understanding is multiple takes and creative editing to create faces and heels. Shows that have judges doing the kicking off generally have a note in the credits that says, "judges decisions have been made in conjunction with the producers," which is code for "don't get off the person getting major heel heat too early." As far as I have heard though, no one has ever complained about a non-judge decision competition show being faked, other than the aforementioned editing to create characters (and reshoots to get scenes)
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is that The Truman Show is even MORE ahead of its time than that!
ReplyDeleteThough both things are ridiculously prescient.
I remember breaking my poor mothers heart as I told her how reality tv works. It was like telling a kid Santa Claus was invented by the Easter Bunny, and oh by the way, he died from cancer on your birthday.
ReplyDeleteYou mean you WON'T find a rare artifact buried in a pile of dogshit for $100????
ReplyDeleteThe real ha-ha is all those people who've gone out to replicate the success they see on the shows.
ReplyDeleteThey talk about history most of the time.
ReplyDeleteJamie Dundee shatters the myth that Jerry Springer is real! I'm just as shocked as you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ynvUu7qUQ
ReplyDeleteFuck Hester. You mean the guy who tried to squeeze every penny out of the show that made him something (branding everything, asking for more money, etc.) is now bitter because they fired him? No shit. And mentioning Brandi's obvious boob job was just spiteful.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever heard the Nerdist podcast where they had Tom Hanks on and he went on a rant about his Storage Wars addiction, including impersonating Darrell? Good stuff.
Speaking about fake reality shows, Spike TV has a whole smorgasboard of them. Like, I always knew that Storage Wars was fake, but Spike's Auction Hunters, and all the other shows it has in its stable don't even bother to hide it. They're the most overly produced, overacted half an hours I've seen.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, I'm glued to my sofa every SUnday when they run like eight episodes of Bar Rescue.
I was searching Google one night to find something related to Storage Wars, maybe looking on info on Barry or something, and I came across a blog post written by someone who was at a Storage Wars taping. Apparantly they only let certain people bid and even then, they tell them when to bid and how much to bid. If you get there early enough, you can see them plant stuff in the lockers under a bunch of trash. It was cool to read about how the show is made.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I was eating at the hash house a-go-go in pacific beach and they were filming something for one of those laguna beach spin off shows. There was a camera and a mic at table. Then someone else came in restaurant and they had a mic pack on their pack and a camera following them in and sat at another table, and then filmed some shit with the people who were already there.
ReplyDeleteI ended up watching the part of the episode filmed in the restaurant a few month later and the other group that showed up was some rival group of girls that the other ones were "shocked to see." If that stupid shit is faked, everything is faked.
I broke that news years ago. Still hurts to think about it.
ReplyDeleteBrandi is actually a bit of a catch. She's cute, isn't an idiot, and seems like a bit of fun.
ReplyDeleteYou know what isn't fake? The Blog of Doom Board. It's popping over at http://boardforpeople.proboards.com/index.cgi
ReplyDeleteNah, I disagree. Like what Dougie said, they are still referencing history and educating the audience. At least Pawn Stars is. I can't speak for IRT because I don't watch it.
ReplyDeleteIs Dave a huge dick? YEAAPPPP. Fake or not, still a fun show to watch. Take it over Pawn Stars any day of the week. Anyone watch Hardcore Pawn? Some real class acts on that show(rolling eyes). . .
ReplyDeleteI knew Springer was fake when JC Ice showed up pretending to be a pimp.
ReplyDeleteRandom question: is the Ryan Murphy who posts here the same Ryan Murphy who has some articles over on WWE.com?
ReplyDeleteWasn't Iron Sheik on there once too?
ReplyDeleteIt's still real to me, damn it!
ReplyDeleteNope, not me. Nor am I the creator of Glee, nor my ex-wife's cousin.
ReplyDeleteAll reality shows are a setup for a simple reason: you can see and, for the most part, hear everything everyone says and does. Look at truly spontaneous news footage (or Cops) and then compare that to all these shows where everything is framed perfectly like a television show, lit so that all the principles were in clear focus, and with rare exceptions (mostly in outdoor scenes where it's hard to control sound quality) everything everyone says is clear and audible. All of those things are fake and furthermore, if there were that many cameras and recording equipment around, no one could really "act naturally".
ReplyDeleteHonestly, to me, the realest reality show was always Jon & Kate Plus 8 (up until the divorce drama, that was all a work for the benefit of tabloids) because they never did a goddamn thing on that show and it was always boring as fuck. That and Ace of Cakes, for the same reason, although I loved watching that show just to see how the cakes came out. (Cake Boss though has all the drama inherent in, week after week, not realizing your cake doesn't fit through your goddamned door.)
The owner from Hardcore Pawn and his douchebag son are the 2 most unlikeable people I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI would hope you're not the creator of your ex-wife's cousin.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY show in that genre I hold any respect for is Auction Hunters, on Spike.
ReplyDeleteThey SHOW THE MONEY the guys make, let the viewer see the sale/exchange of money unlike every other show where it's "I'll get X for Y", when Y's likely still in their shop/house/wherever ten years from now.
My old roommate tried telling me Pawn Stars was legit until we saw the episode where this lady brings in a rare Bob Dylan vinyl in awesome condition. The store buys it, and of course Bob Dylan HAPPENS to be playing in town that week. So, of course, they send Chumlee to get Dylan to sign it so they can make make bank on it. Chumlee HAPPENS to run straight into Dylan outside the venue, and here's the punchline: he has him sign it "To Chumlee," thus killing the resale value.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this guy also thought David Blaine and the guy from Crossing Over were legit, too.
It could happen though. She's got a niece that'll be 18 soon....
ReplyDeleteIf they make the product "edgier" it will probably get so much worse. I can imagine the dumb booby jokes cena is going to make. Although I would be all for letting the diva's wear the skimpy outfits again. If your going to have tits n ass (insert tna joke) on the show, either do it or don't, but these unsexy outfits they make the divas (at least eve) wear now are stupid. They don't really hire or push or would even present actual womens professional wrestlers, but they also have g rated the tna. Who are they even serving? But that will make 0 impact on the ratings, or really the quality of the show.
ReplyDeleteTHIS! I've been saying this since both shows hit the air. How do the people on Storage Wars know what that stuff is truly worth. When Darrell says, 'that's a 30 dollar bill all day,' fine PROVE IT. On Auction Hunters, it may be staged, but at least you see a transaction.
ReplyDeleteAce of Cakes was awesome but I'm not sure I would put that into "reality TV". It was truly a "how to" show imo.
ReplyDeleteI still say Survivor, Race, DWTS, etc are all fake and planned out. They keep the villains around as long as they can, and the favorites usually get screwed in the end. The only real shows left are Jeopardy, WOF, TPIR and Let's Make A Deal.
ReplyDeleteEx-wife? I remember there being a separation, but it's official now? Sorry, man. Let me know if you want to start a support group with me for ex-husbands of crazy women.
ReplyDeleteDWTS has villains? I mean yeah some right-wingers that those of us on the left hate stuck around, but that's because other right wingers voted for them. However DWTS would fall into my note about judges. Not sure if that one has a notation about producers consulting with judges, but with judges being part of the vote, it is fairly easy to keep key people around. If Survivor or Amazing Race was faked results, at some point someone would have gone public. instead, you hear complaints about being edited to be a villain or having to do reshoots of scenes, even conversations. But the actual voting seems legit and no one has said otherwise. You would think at some point someone voted out fairly early would write a tell-all book or at least get paid for a GMA or 20/20 interview for revealing secrets.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't mean it's real either. I read a piece on Storage Wars where pawn shop owners give the show merchandise to place in their units and then the unit's owner will then "sell" it to their "good friend" the shop owner. The pawn shop gets showcased on TV, making viewers think they have unique items, they get their merch back, and the show gets their "Holy shit, look what was stored in this room full of junk!!" moment. So you may see money change hands, but apparently it doesn't take much for a deal to be worked out ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteIt's no different than seeing the APA get "paid" for their protection services. Unless it's with beer.
Nah we haven't officially got divorced, I'm just ready to distance myself. I haven't worn the ring since the weekend we split though, because I took it off in a fit of rage and now I'm afraid it'll be like the One Ring if I put it back on.
ReplyDeleteThe one reason I bought into the show was Hester was SUCH A HEEL, I thought if it were a work they would not have this guy be making all the money, winning all the auctions. I mean.... one of the items the article is citing as being planted is a locker full of Elvis Presley obituaries. HESTER BOUGHT THOSE!
ReplyDeleteSo the show is fake (this makes me sad), and I'm guessing the reason he's fired is because they wanted to (in wrestling terms) "get some heat on him." And he wouldn't play ball. So he got fired.
But yeah, fuck him.
The "negotiations" on Auction Hunters are by far the fakest of all the auction/pawn shows. Cameras already on the scene when they pull up, multiple camera setups as they are "walking away" to get a better deal. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy the show but man it's fake as the repo shows.
ReplyDeleteHarrison admits a lot of the show is deceptive. For example, if you go to Gold and Silver you won't see Rick, Chum, Hoss, or the Old Man. They can't be out there because it draws a crowd and nothing gets done. Instead if something interesting comes in, they close the store, get the cameras, and bring out Rick or whoever.
ReplyDeleteI like Les, but the two kids are awful.
ReplyDeleteAnd I cannot think of a person on Earth who is married above his paygrade more than Jerrod.
ReplyDeleteLOVED Joe Schmo. Both seasons were great. The first you had a guy so likable that the cast almost stopped because they felt so guilty. BTW, Dr. Pat was Kristen Wiig pre-SNL.
ReplyDeleteThere's only so much you can do about WWII.
ReplyDeleteWho says they don't have to sign a confidentiality agreement and can't talk about things on the show? I'm sure they have ways to protect the shows, but I still think there is a lot of bullshit on these shows, and it just seems like certain players/teams get extra help. Look at the twins on this season of TAR, they always flew through everything and rarely if ever got lost, just seems to strange. Other players hated them, most people watching hated them, but "Controversy Creates Cash", and keeping them around till the end was probably good for ratings.
ReplyDeleteAh, so that's why you haven't been around much. Sorry to hear it, man. But at least you can go out and smash some box!
ReplyDeleteJust another ploy to not admit that booking is truly the issue.
ReplyDeleteI knew it was fake when one of my classmates in High School appeared as someone's cross-dressing gay lover.
ReplyDeleteI shit you not.
It's coming back next year last I heard.
ReplyDelete