All ""reality shows"" are so scripted.

Cases in point on the few ive seen one or more times since NOTHING DECENT SEEMS TO BE AIRED ON TV THESE DAYS.

Pawn Stars. I went into it KNOWING they were a scripted show and now they are blatant about it. i.e. with Chum making his Pawn Shop ""movie"" and so much other CARP going on. Also, notice when they call in their ""buddies who are Gods gift to their specialties"" like on Militaria for instance. They call in craig gottlieb (whom I know and whom is a first class jerk and whose prices are WAY OVER MARKET PRICES and who also lives in CALIFORNIA and NOT--Las Vegas Nevada. I find it funny they call this unknowledgable jerk in to appraise firewarms and such when he doesnt know his a__h___ from a hole in the ground.

Another case in point: I forget the actual name of that show--but it depicts 4 men who specialize in all kinds of guns and militaria and historical documents.

Well, they were recently in Houston doing an auction. Well, two guys came walking into their tent and brought them a FULLY FUNCTIONAL MG-42--which was taken to the range and test fired. They were told the weapon was guarenteed to sell for about $4,500. Well, after it was test fired, the auction dork said he would like to have it in the auction. The two sellers said they had been offered $4,000 cash by some guy before they went to the gun range so they decided to sell it to him. Well, I sure HOPW they did it legally because--if they themselves didnt have a collectors or class III license--they broke all kinds of laws. Also, since they mentioned that to the auction guy--that guy SHOULD have informed them of the laws dealing with buying and selling fully automatic weapons--however, he made zero mention of anything. Anyway, the jist to this is--is that ive seen at gun shows--fully functional fully auto--MG-42s listed at and sold for: $75,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All those stupid Storage Wars reality shows--every single one of them get a good item and plant them in certain lockers--by the shows producers.

Dave Hester--recently parted ways with the show he was on0--even after they offered him $750,000 to do another season of the show. He got tired of the producers pulling wool over everyones eyes and left because he has a certain amount of ethics.

Anybody else notice this garbage in reality shows they might watch once in awhile? This blatant public deceitful garbage makes me sick. For instand--all four of those """specialists"""" on that military-antique auction show--NOT-A-ONE-OF-THEM-KNOWS-JACK-SHEEP-IN-WHAT-THEY-CLAIM-To_BE-"""EXPERTS"""-ON. On that same episode that had the MG-42--they sold an average Walther PPK-from WWII--those go for way less that $1,000 all day long-yet the one they ""sold"" went for $4,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a guy who went on one of their episodes and sold a helmet or somehting. Well, those ""experts"" knew what he had so he had to tell them about it--then when they were shown on TV--mimicking what the helmet seller told them--making it LOOK like they were experts.

Now, what I say here is just what I can clearly see whats going on behind the scenes on these types of shows. For instance--Pawn Stars. I know a few people who went there on different occasions just to see the store in person. Well--the store is located in the dregs part of Las Vegas, none of the pawn "stars" are ever seen in the shop. Such a total waste of TV time and personal time. I watched the Pawn Stars show because it IS a slight way of learning a few things that might come in handy some time--but 99% of it is pure BS. I dont call "low-balling" people ethical. Yes--I KNOW a dealer has to buy lower than retail and such in order to make a buck and make it worth-while but, when they get an item in worth say--$25,000 appraised by one of their "'experts"' who have already been emailed photos and such of the item for sale--then they cna correspond behind the scenes with each other and come up with an ""reasonable gustimate"" of what the item is worth and the price they will offer for it.

I saw a perfect example of a Civil War Le Mat pistol--everything original. Those pistols were carried by Confererat Soldiers--mostly Cavalrymen. Anything dealing with that direct connection to a Soldier in the Civil War--especially one who was a Confederate--will fetch a premium. Well, LeMats IF--you can find one and IF--its all original--will easily fetch arount $35,000-to-$45,000. Well, guess what? the jerks at Pawn Stars bought one from a guy for less than $10,000-saying its top most value was MAYBE $16,000. They sold it for $40,000.

The guy who came in with that LeMat--was NOT the owner--but a person hired by the producers to bring in the piece for the owner--but who was posing as said owner. The reason I know that at least on this piece--is that I know the person who owned that LeMat.

All those other shows that ar or were of interest to me--like: Red Jacket Firarms and shows liek that--all fragging so scripted. I guess those who "star" in shows like that have no ethics, and are in it for the money. I started watching shows like that because of my passion for militaria and firearms and such. I wanted to see if they were actually serious--NOT A ONE OF THEM ARE. These COULD have been a great way to educate the public but--the producers figured it best to deceive the public for their purposes.

All reality shows are

Also, if anyone watches American Pickers--those two are members of the USmilitariaforums and they also spout off about some stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

Quote from WaynamoJim

Carl, I hear you loud and clear. I've known for a time that those shows, no matter what they are, are scripted. They have to, just to add a little drama and make it interesting. My wife and I watch Pawn Stars sometimes and we both have said before, why would you sell your artifact to them at such a low price if it's worth so much to a real collector or could get far more at a reputable auction house. And I've seen that other show you mentioned where people bring in different weapons and have them checked out, tested, and auctioned.
As for Storage Wars, I knew it was pretty fake because off camera, the stars of the show have closer friendships that they portray on the show. But my favorite guy on the show is Barry, the white haired guy. He seems pretty cool and he's been around and knows alot of what's going on in that part of California.
To give you another example of how fake these shows are, we like to watch HGTV House Hunters, where potential home buyers go through three homes and pick one of them as the house they're going to buy. Turns out that the buyers already own the house they choose. Rules say that to appear on the show, they have to have bought their house in the last 2 months. They have to be able to have access to the place they moved out of so they can put their furnishings back in it for the show. Before they go in any of the houses they look at, they have to show the proper emotion of someone seeing the house for the first time. If they don't, they have to shoot the scene till they do. Also, what gets me is that some of the couples buying the house are quite young and yet, they seem to have all this money to pay for the house while some of them are still in college or one is an artist, the other works at a restaurant as a waitress.

Hi jim, thanks and same here. I knew they were rigged--but I hadnt realized how badly till the past several months and ive been keeping tabs on a lot of things. There is another show which starts the jerks who own IMA--which I think is in Masachutsetts?? and the old man--buys loads of antique guns and such--they son--knows little or nothing even though they have been in the biz-for about 30 years. Well, about 20 years aago--I called them up and was going to buy something German--I cant recall what it was? but it was a rifle of some type. Well, the thing was vastly over-priced by the price standards fo the day--and was also as it turned out--mis-matched parts. In those days--that rifle would be considered "just a shooter" meaning--nothing that would ever go up in value--unless you found a buyer who was stupid.

Well, most of the collecting community on the net--knows how they operate and none of us buys anything from him. The old man is arrogant as heck--the son just plain stupid. They were worse trying to deal with--than Sarco ever was.

My feelings are the same-meaning--that to sell a valuable heirloom for next to nothing?? no matter how badly I might need money at some point--I aint selling. Ill find what I need another way.

Same here-Barry is my favorite on the show. I still watch it here and there--but only if nothing else is on.

Another show im fast disliking--is the one with the two guys going around with metal detectors. Every time one finds a buried rusty nail or a penny?/ has to jump up like he won a $500 million Dollar lotto. Another ive watched only twice and cant stand--is the one with former wrestler Rick savage and his family owing some sort of salvage business.

Well, when I finally get all the DvDs of movies and shows I want--ill NEVER watch TV again--or rarely will. The History Channel is FINALLY coming out with a real show about history--called: The Vikings. Im looking forward to that as well as the other called: The Bible. Other than that-I have watched that House Hunters program and figured it too was badly fixed. Same with Preppers and a couple others I gave a chance to--but will never watch again.

Quote from WaynamoJim

My wife and I still watch House Hunters and House Hunters International, but only because you get to see what some houses look like in different parts of the world. A couple of other shows on HGTV that we watch sometimes but think they're lame, are Love It Or List It and Property Virgins. On Love It Or List It, it's about a home designer vs a realtor who compete to see if they can get the homeowner to pick their own house after the designer does a makover or sell it after the realtor finds them a new house to buy. With the designer, she has a set budget to work with, but it always ends up with something going wrong, with the contracters finding something bad wrong with the house that needs fixing and eats up some of the budget, and the homeowners getting mad at her, or mad at the realtor for not coming up with a house that fits their needs. It gets predictable after awhile.
With Property Virgins, it's about first time home buyers finding their dream house. One thing I don't like about it is that if they're approved for say, $350,000, to buy a house and they have $20,000 to put down. The shows agent automatically puts the down payment into their approval figure and tells them they can now afford a house that's even more money. Isn't a down payment supposed to be used so that the amount you finance, is lower which means a lower payment? Also, when the buyers are ready to make a bid, on most shows, it turns out there's multiple bidders and that they may have to bid higher than the asking price to get the house. To me, that's just wrong and silly.

I think they think that every person who watches TV--only has a Brain Stem for a Brain. :lol::lol::lol: I agree-its silly.

The only other show that I guess is a reality show--that I can halfway stand--is: The Amazing Race. I havent watched it in about 2 years--but mainly because im always busy when its shown.

Hated: Survivor. I watched the 1st season only because a neighbor of mine kidnapped me for the time slot for the show.

Quote from Gorch

I admit to watching the very first season of Survivor and that cured both me and my bride of ever tuning in to another "reality" program. No dancing, buying, singing, selling, pawning, debunking, discovering, talent(less), whistling, juggling, who's bossing or kitchen working has since darkened our living room.
All the more time to watch movies.

We deal in lead, friend.

Heh heh, great assessment of the people behind and in front of the camera--who are part of those shows. I once liked watching Sons of Guns (aka) Red Jacket Firearms--BUT--when they turned it into a love story--jealousy-fest with whats his face (""Jesse James"") in it?--um--the former hubby of whats-her-face both of whom now live in Austin along with Matt McConnaugy (SP?) who brought in a minty fully original Browning Automatic Rifle) and had those bozoes screw it up by chroming it and such--I quit watching that show that I only watched in order to get to see a show about guns. >:-((

Like Bill says--more time to watch movies :-))

Quote from Sterling Price

OMG ~ Reality Shows are all just "scripted"? So WTF is next? ~

Are you also suggesting perhaps that programs such as "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" may also be "rigged/scripted" for votes? ~ Godforbid ~


But also pray tell, if you know ~ why does a program such as "Dual Survival" for one example, always and consistently portray their main charaters as being in 'emminent danger' for lack of food and water or usually all of the necessary elements for either making fire or suitable shelter or whatever ~ while just a few short feet/meters away is always the ever present camera and sound crew with candy bars ~ food and other cans of "life saving goodies" ready to jump in if and whenever the need arises for the 'refreshment' of these so-called TV "reality star" survivalists?

My good forum friend Ringo ~ you have touched upon perhaps one of the most flagrant and mis-used forms of "capitalism" our supposedly erudite American citicenzry has ever discovered ~ Television and the Internet and the absolute gullibilty of what today is a very young American public who have yet to find out for themselves the true meaning of what America REALLY use to stand for and what it really still "should be" all about.

I happened to have grown up in a time in American history when the sharing of "real personal sacrifice" not only meant the sustainablity of not just the family unit, but also the Country itself in which we all lived in . It was called WWII.

IMHO ~ All of these so-called present day "Reality" TV Shows are no more than just that ~ Television "Shows" ~ made for profit and geared toward nothing more than simply the "entertainment" of a small portion of a gullible population of young Americans today that expect nothing more from life than just to be "entertained".

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AMEN to that general :-)) Churchill and Reagan, couldnt have said it better :-))

Quote from alamo221

O Gawd-say it aint SO!

You forgot to add the word: Joe--to that fine saying. :-))

Oh and, I watched that antique militaria and firearms show again last night--and guess what? they did it again and many times over. That DORK--who seems to be the one and only who takes weapons out to the range just to ""make sure they fire"" took a B.A.R. out to make sure it ""worked"" which happened to belong to an Army Colonel) and guess what? it w-o-r-k-e-d. Surprise of surprises. What ticked me off was that the idiots said it was worth only a few thousand dollars. Heck--the semi-auto--repos--cost almost $4 grand!!! Original and in excellent condition and 1917 made BARs--sell in excess of $25,000!!!!!!!!!. This one fetched only about $3,500. Personally--and not to sound crude but--I would like to punch their firearms range tester--in the mouth.

Pawn Stars did "it" again too--calling in that moron craig gottlieb on a set of 18th Century French Carabiners armor. The moron said the set was worth only a few grand. How wrong that jerk is. A set in the condition of what these were in--is worth in excess of $25,000 and the set featured--was for an officer--which means its worth a lot more than $25,000. gottlieb is an idiot--and I cant believe that more idiots buy things from that over-priced seller.

Quote from oliver13

A friend of mine was on House Hunters looking for a home in Denver. The home they "chose" was purchased by them weeks earlier. They then had to go out and film two other houses to finish the show.

That is totally true too. I heard that from one of the guys from the American Pickers show. Also, once a show is a hit--the persons on ti average a nice check of about $750,000.

The ones I dont mind watching if nothing at all is on? is that Restaurant Impossible show-and the Restaurant Stakeout show. Stakeout lately is WAY too scripted for me--but the other still seems to have some substance to it. Other than that--ill watch: Bait Car, as well as that top 20 countdown videos show. The rest--I never liked and or now just cant stand.