Ok every time a new show comes out on discovery, history, Nat Geo. about off grid or any "non traditional way of life" they find or turn into Crazy people. May be normal people that live this way tell them HELL NO ain't interested in doing a show. The production companies want drama and extremes in trivial matters. They fail to understand that a lot of viewers want to see true situations and hear the why's without making a stubbed toe a life and death event (ok a stubbed toe FEELS like life or death).
Last night was the Premier of the Boonies Billed as an Off The Grid way of life. All I saw was a cave dweller who may have cracked when his wife died, A man and wife that had a tree house in the Washington woods , A nomad who lived in a tee pee like in the 1880's. He left society due to lung problems but cooks on a wood fire. The last one is a family man that lives on an island in lake Michigan and bow fishes. This show may develop but what I saw last night was a bunch of crazy folks that had deserted society and technology to run around in the woods and be filmed.
Now here is my problem with all these show's. They show modern people in primitive situations trying to live without even 1800 level tools and few skills. When trappers, explorers and Settlers left for the Un known parts of this continent they carried the best known tools of the day. This held true of guns knives axes traps to plows. Even the horse packs and wagons were cutting edge designs for weight and load. In adittion to the tools they had skills learned over a lifetime in their field of work. If you are going to do a show about Off Grid life style give them the tools that are available today. Yea I know any idiot with a million to spend could make it but there has to be some that have carved out a life in the wild. The only show that comes close in my opinion is Life Below Zero.
If you had to move Off Grid due to whatever what 10 items of modern technology would you want.
I remember Cody Lundin being asked if the events on Dual Survival were real, and he laughed and said "it's television, man."
ReplyDeleteDiscovery Channel in particular is known for twisting people around to add "human interest." What they actually do is turn a serious subject into a clown show a lot of the time. But they have , once in awhile, come up with some good programs so I always check them out.
I also keep hoping and watching for a show that is believable. I hate that the clown show diminishes and ridicules those that undertake these lifestyles the proper way.
DeleteIt could have been one of the most important series on TV but I became turned off from NatGeo and Discovery with the Preppers series. They looked for the biggest nut cases to star in the episodes.
ReplyDeleteThen there are more commercials than programming, so much so you can forget what the story line was!
I agree 100%. Those making these shows just don't understand who should be their target audience.
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