[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

It was all a hoax. oh how we laughed.

[S4B]

Was it really? What was the point of it?

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

To highlight the shortage of donors I believe. The woman was an actress but the other three were genuine but aware of the hoax.

[kendra k]

i just saw a law & order about that last night. i watch too much tv.

[foot-loose]

To highlight the shortage of donors I believe. The woman was an actress but the other three were genuine but aware of the hoax.

Is that not sick?

[Nicola_Red]

To highlight the shortage of donors I believe. The woman was an actress but the other three were genuine but aware of the hoax.

Is that not sick?

In what way? if they were all willing participants.

I think as well as the lack of donors thing it really highlights what reality TV has become - that we (as a society) were perfectly willing to believe it was real.

[S4B]

It's good that it highlighted the lack of donors but I doubt it'll stop the wave of appalling TV that seems to be the staple diet of so many people. I'm absolutely sick to the back teeth of reality TV shows now, are our own lives not real enough that we have to watch other peoples "Real Lives"?

We're also obsessed as a nation with reading and watching about the misery of other people. It now seems that we can no longer be happy with our own lives without first gorging ourselves on the abuse, sickness and torment of others in any media available.

I've been criticised for being over cheerful on many occasion but I'm just glad my happiness is because I'm genuinely happy and not because I'm proud that my life is better than people less fortunate.

[Nicola_Red]

It would be nice if it made people stop and think about the nature of reality TV, but unfortunately most people who watch those sort of programmes aren't of a disposition to look that deeply into why they watch what they watch.

But that sounds awfully snobbish, and in a way I am a TV snob, but I watch crap as much as anyone - who's to say Lost, my viewing of choice, has more intrinsic value than Big Brother.

[kendra k]

at least lost has better acting.

[S4B]

I love Lost and 24 but at least neither of those is a true story and it's an opportunity to lose yourself in a story not exploiting other people's misery.

[Yudster]

I wonder if its a coincidence that this latest Endemol marketing stunt has happened just at the beginning of Big Brother? I think the stated aim of the Dutch show, to increase awareness of the need for kidney donors, is laudable - but if that actually happens, it will be an afterthought. The real aim is to raise the profile of Endemol. After all, they know better than anyone any publicity, even really really bad publicity, is ultimately good for them.

[S4B]

OOH great point honey, having no interest in BB I hadn't thought of that angle

[Nicola_Red]

There's an interesting interview with Davina McCall in today's Guardian magazine. She defends BB and Endemol to the hilt and seems very blinkered about what the show and reality TV as a whole have become. I think the journalist is biased against her, but she doesn't come across well at all. She looks terrible in the photo, too - old and gaunt.

[Yudster]

I suppose you can't fault her for toeing the company line - they have made her a very rich woman, and if she wants to contiune to be part of that, she will have to say the right things.

[S4B]

Surely there comes a point where your conscience should take over, she'll never be short of a job now and even more so if she stood up for morality. She's just gone down in my estimation

[Yudster]

I'm not sure that values and prinicples have any part in television, or the lives of those who make it. Well, most of them anyway.

[S4B]

I'm ashamed to be human sometimes.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

who's to say Lost, my viewing of choice, has more intrinsic value than Big Brother.

me. in your face other peopleerreerreres.

[Nicola_Red]

who's to say Lost, my viewing of choice, has more intrinsic value than Big Brother.

me. in your face other peopleerreerreres.

well course I think that too...I was just trying to be less of a middle-class snob...on the same day as booking a ticket for the "The Guardian 'Is TV Good For Society' debate". Ha.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

im a working class slob.

burp.

[Nicola_Red]

Me too really. But they say going to university makes you middle-class by default. Not sure whether I believe that or not.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

what if you go to salford uni?

meh im happy who I am whatever class i am in. generally i feel i am top class.

ahem.

[Nicola_Red]

I dunno. We hold their graduations here in my theatre, and they're a right pain in the arse. I went to the University of Central Lancashire, so that probably says it all. But my MA is from Manchester Met.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

I went to the Lowry? It was quite dull. I dunno who shook my hands but I walked quickly and left...

[S4B]

Me too really. But they say going to university makes you middle-class by default. Not sure whether I believe that or not.

Used to make you upper class by default, just sows how the value of degrees has fallen!