Actually, the sponsors pay ALL of the bills, be it through team sponsorship, NASCAR sponsorship, track sponsorship, driver endorsements or TV/radio commercials.

 

I personally don't like or get along well with Brad, but the statement about him not being able to get out of own way is far far from fact.

 

Well said!!

About the only reality show I've watched all the way through or more than once even is "American Restoration". Yes, you can tell a lot of it is staged, but they seem to get away without having to add tons of drama.

Bobby

 

A little off topic but in my opinon, if they want reality TV they should have showed up at Truckstock 2012, filmed and kept their mouths shut, that my friends would have been reality TV at it's best, normal people doing normal things that make this country great, not this **** they call reality shows.

 

If you don't think NASCAR is staged, read Smokey Yunik's autobiography.
The more money that's involved the more likely "the fix is in", especially when 1 person or family has all the control. Gee it just happened the Hendrick cars all had this trick moving rear axle that allowed Jr to win, then when BK publicly complained, NASCAR says "Oh yah, we knew it was in their cars and the rest of the teams could have used it too."
No, I don't think that reality TV isn't rigged, and yes the "characters" are well paid: Chumley drives a Bently, OCC builds a 16M headquarters building and supports about 50 people building 1M motorcycles in the middle of a recession, while Senior amasses a huge collection of muscle cars. Jr sued senior because he wanted a bigger share of the money and control rather than dump it into buildings, starting a division in Germany, and restaurants. If it wasn't for American Chopper Senior would still be making porch railings.
Jesse James is the biggest d-bag of the bunch. Yes he has mad fabricating skills, but he learned them from Boyd Coddington and Chip Foose when he worked for Boyd. He's back to building crap for TV after he lost both his meal tickets.
Excuse me now while I go watch Iron chef make stuff from the "secret" ingredient they knew nothing about but are completely prepared for (gee, wasn't it fortuitous for Morimoto that there happened to be a carved ice block cold smoker just sitting around the kitchen, when he didn't even know which IC was going to selected to battle or that cod was going to be the secret ingredient ... ) and their assistants immediately know exactly what they are going to prepare and have all the ingredients right at hand, not to mention where these assistants suddenly appeared from.

 

When the chopper shows and car rebuild shows first started,they where pretty good .I liked seeing things built and fabricated.To bad there isn't a show like the Yankee workshop and woodworking programs for car restorers.

 

I liked in one of the Pawn Stars shows, a guy brought in an old Coke machine. They bought the machine, took it to Rick's to be restored where he happened to have all the expensive missing parts to restore it. Oh, the guy who sold the machine to the pawn shop was Rick's brother who works in the shop. If that wasn't staged, nothing ever was. Or how about the Pawn stars guy calling the American Pickers to find an old chevy and then having The Count, restore it. Really??? The three shows just 'happened' to be involved in one car.

 

When I was younger I wanted to become a famous wrestler with the World Wrestling Federation WWF...my grandma was all for it, my mom laughed at me.
I tried jumping from the third rope and nearly killed myself....now I just play in the garage...
My sisters wanted to be famous "Roller Derby" participants...
Where did Wiley Coyote go?
I was hot for Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island..why did the professor never take up interest in those girls? How did they make razors last so long?
So many more, questions about what I learned on TV....
But I will stop for now...

 

These shows are 'entertainment" and not reality. Some are more entertaining than others but nothing that even approaches reality.

 

I have a 15 yr old step daughter and a 15 yr old biological daughter.
They will argue your statement...

Anyone else have that problem?

 

Seriously though, I watch some of these, and yes, they are nothing more than brain "junkfood" I even ask myself sometimes, why am i watching this garbage!
and i switch the channel to another episode of "lizard lick towing"

I hate what captures my attention sometimes....part of the reason my truck project is slow...

 

I have to admit, I watch storage wars, but I watch looking for a vehicle of Barry's....

 

Yeah, that's what unfortunate about some of these shows. The younger generation thinks that's what life is really about and mom & dad just don't get it.

 

We haven't had commercial TV for 5 or 6 years. I was in the proses of getting Direct TV installed just now. But after reading this thread I have remembered why I don't have TV. So DVD, Blue Ray and Netflix will stay for now. Thanks guys. But I don't think the boy's at 11 and 13 years of age will agree.

 

say what ya want but duck dynasty makes me laugh