Dave Meltzer stuff

[Marty]

Out of curiosity, Are there any reality shows that are real these days? Partly real?

Boston's Finest feels like the first thing to come to mind.

 

I wouldn't count on that. I know for a fact that The First 48 had a ton of staged stuff. Obviously, not stuff with the case. Just things like the guys shooting the show getting cops to say shit like, "Damn. I was just sitting down to dinner!" when they get a homicide call when really they were on the clock.

 

Oh, I have no doubt there is much staging (it IS television), but from a presentation standpoint, things feel less exposing than, say, Pawn Stars and all its spinoffs.

[WingedEagle]

Anyone want to bring me up to speed on General Hospital over the last 10-15 years? My babysitter got me hooked one year when I had the flu and stuck with it it for years afterwards, but fell off during college and grad school.

 

I still watch it most every day so I could probably help you out. They brought back a lot of the vets like Laura, Scotty, Anna, Kevin, Lucy etc. after Edward Quartermaine died. Most of the show was written about the Mob storyline with Sonny and Carly until a year ago when they fired the writing team. Then a bunch of people from One Life To Live came on the show but they had to be rewritten when OLTL became a web show. If One Life To Live and All My Children can last on Hulu, that's probably the future of Soap Operas, online only. I think they only post 2 episodes a week instead of daily.

 

Do Any of you guys watch Breaking Amish? That's my new favorite reality show now that Hoarders/Intervention/Jersey Shore have been canceled. It's pretty obvious that that show is scripted as hell but it's still entertaining.

 

Wow they really went old school. I remember hearing that they drew out the Sonny/Jason/Carly bit for years longer than seemed plausible even on a soap, with a variety of heels shuffling into the territory. I can't imagine how they'd integrate folks from OLTL & AMC but could be fun. What I can't deal with is when they decide that every child from the show needs to jump from about ages 5-8 to 16-20 overnight and become headline acts. Just doesn't cut it for me.

[El-P]

Hum... isn't it time to break up the "soap-opera" discussion elswhere ? Just sayin'...

[Matt D]

Actually, we should be talking about this reality show:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollergirls

[Guest Nell Santucci]

Hum... isn't it time to break up the "soap-opera" discussion elswhere ? Just sayin'...

I make a motion for a separate thread so that we can continue discussing things relevant to Meltzer.

[jackwebb]

There's no one on TV I like less than Mike (as presented on TV as a character) from American Pickers. He just has this smug, self-entitled, beady-eyed passive aggressiveness that reminds me of some people I know in real life.

Glad to see it isn't just my imagination as I have the same view. Whenever he calls someone friend it comes off as sleazy and insincere.

 

As for Meltzer I'm surprised he thinks they should be using guys with concussions since they can still do interviews. Flying and traveling with one isn't a good idea. Just better off resting.

[Guest Nell Santucci]

There's no one on TV I like less than Mike (as presented on TV as a character) from American Pickers. He just has this smug, self-entitled, beady-eyed passive aggressiveness that reminds me of some people I know in real life.

Glad to see it isn't just my imagination as I have the same view. Whenever he calls someone friend it comes off as sleazy and insincere.

 

As for Meltzer I'm surprised he thinks they should be using guys with concussions since they can still do interviews. Flying and traveling with one isn't a good idea. Just better off resting.

 

I'm sure Meltzer thinks this is a stark improvement from the past mentality, which is true. But Ziggler had his concussion almost a month ago. That should be sufficient time for recovery. Maybe he'll learn not to bump like a madman for every irrelevant TV shoot.

[tomk]

I think it's worth mentioning for the most part that wrestling is pretty poorly written and poorly acted. ( I have been complaining for years that they need to do more two camera soap opera taped segments where one camera is for the speaker and one is for the reaction shots of the other speaker in conversation...trying to get both guys in same shot often makes them do weird angles to create he look that the guy highest in hierarchy is tallest and most wrestlers don't know what to do while waiting for other guy to finish his lines). And a good chunk of wrestling is poorly worked. Most of us as fans are willing to sit through and ffwd past the bad to get to the good.

 

When people treat wrestling fandom as embarrassing, worth remembering that a good chunk of it is embarrassingly bad.

[tomk]

I haven't watched any reality shows since part of a season of Big Brother years ago. Out of curiosity, Are there any reality shows that are real these days? Partly real?

Maybe one or two of those Best Chef cooking shows, but probably not them either.

 

Refuse to believe that the two people from that recent Kitchen Nightmares USA are real. Possibly two of the most insane people ever to appear on television. It was sold to us as having been "news" over there, was it? "The show that has everyone in America talking about it".

 

 

Those two are real folks in Scottsdale, AZ who had rep for calling police on complaining customers and trying to sue internet reviewers. Producers clearly knew that they were working with folks who didn't respond well to criticism. When word got out that Kitchen Nightmares was going to tape there, people in AZ were giddy with excitement knowing how it would turn out.

 

QUOTE(Matt D @ Jun 10 2013, 08:12 AM) *

 

The Pawn Stars side stories don't bug me at all. Of course they're staged but how corny they are is half the fun. There are never any serious stakes involved or anything

Yeah the obvious "hey let's put on a show and do some cornpone humor" part of Cajun Pawn Stars is part of its charm.

[Al]

Let me air one grievence with soap operas, and I think it ties in with professional wrestling. Particularly Vince Russo. Thanks to my wife I got stuck watching Days of Our Lives, and they ran a bit where Stefano Dimura was murdered. Except he wasn't dead after all. Apparently his death has been teased nearly a dozen times in the last 30 years. When you create a scenario and world where you can essentially take back anything you aired, it kills your ability to emotionally invest in a show.

[J.Q. Murder]

Yeah Storage Wars really fell off when Dave left, the other guy they got in wasn't much of a character. I mean whenever Dave and Jarrod faced off, it was an automatic three star auction. The way Dave killed the hope spots with the yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup, flawless work. There was money to be made with a Brandi heel turn too.

 

Anyway, this Meltzer fella.

[ohtani's jacket]

I think it's worth mentioning for the most part that wrestling is pretty poorly written and poorly acted. ( I have been complaining for years that they need to do more two camera soap opera taped segments where one camera is for the speaker and one is for the reaction shots of the other speaker in conversation...trying to get both guys in same shot often makes them do weird angles to create he look that the guy highest in hierarchy is tallest and most wrestlers don't know what to do while waiting for other guy to finish his lines). And a good chunk of wrestling is poorly worked. Most of us as fans are willing to sit through and ffwd past the bad to get to the good.

 

When people treat wrestling fandom as embarrassing, worth remembering that a good chunk of it is embarrassingly bad.

Shot reverse shot is done with a single camera. You shoot the dialogue from one side then move the camera to the reverse shot set-up and shoot the other person's dialogue. What you're suggesting would require the wrestlers to do multiple takes where they'd need to produce as close to the same performance as possible for continuity purposes, which would be even more demanding for non-actors. The two shot set-up they commonly use saves time and money and they can put it in the "can" so to speak as soon as they get a usable take. If you started using shot reverse shot it would look too much like a movie or television drama. It would be kind of weird.

[cm funk]

There's no one on TV I like less than Mike (as presented on TV as a character) from American Pickers. He just has this smug, self-entitled, beady-eyed passive aggressiveness that reminds me of some people I know in real life.

Glad to see it isn't just my imagination as I have the same view. Whenever he calls someone friend it comes off as sleazy and insincere.

 

As for Meltzer I'm surprised he thinks they should be using guys with concussions since they can still do interviews. Flying and traveling with one isn't a good idea. Just better off resting.

 

I'm sure Meltzer thinks this is a stark improvement from the past mentality, which is true. But Ziggler had his concussion almost a month ago. That should be sufficient time for recovery. Maybe he'll learn not to bump like a madman for every irrelevant TV shoot.

 

He was talking about Fandango. Fandango apparently passed his IMPACT test already, but not the rest of the battery of tests they run guys through before they put them back in the ring. Not sure where that puts him in terms of travel, but it's probably just a good idea to leave him at home. That was a strange comment by Meltzer, as was his wondering if dancing could aggravate a concussion. Bryan didn't seem to know what to make of any of that.

 

As far as Ziggler goes, he seems to have either had a particularly nasty concussion or they were just being extra cautious. I'm really worried about him getting back in the ring and bumping the way he does.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Let me air one grievence with soap operas, and I think it ties in with professional wrestling. Particularly Vince Russo. Thanks to my wife I got stuck watching Days of Our Lives, and they ran a bit where Stefano Dimura was murdered. Except he wasn't dead after all. Apparently his death has been teased nearly a dozen times in the last 30 years. When you create a scenario and world where you can essentially take back anything you aired, it kills your ability to emotionally invest in a show.

Except that people remain emotionally invested in Days Of Our Lives like crazy. Super Villain coming back from the dead all the time is a classic story telling bit. In the comics Dr. Doom was always coming back from certain death and no one stopped buying Fantastic Four.

[goc]

Comic books, much like soaps, aren't exactly doing huge business. There are only 2 comic books that even sold over 100,000 copies last month. That's the kind of storytelling that keeps the old fans and kills any new ones.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Comics not selling like they used to has less to do with story tropes then the fact that they cost too fucking much.* Whatever problems comics or Soaps are having aren't due to story telling styles that have been successful for decades.

 

 

 

* (Speaking as a guy who collected comics from 1975-2006.)

[KrisZ]

Meltz did Colt Cabana's podcast

 

[cm funk]

~!

[Johnny Guitar]

Meltz did Colt Cabana's podcast

 

*****

[Johnny Sorrow]

I just listened to Dave on Colts show and it was a lot of fun. He even made fun of Alverez being scared to go to Mexico.

[flyonthewall2983]

Has Dave ever explained why he hasn't brought his own podcast to iTunes?

[evilclown]

Has Dave ever explained why he hasn't brought his own podcast to iTunes?

What's to explain? Marks will pay him for it. Why make it for free?

[Cox]

Do people really subscribe to the Observer site for the podcasts, though? I've been an Observer site subscriber pretty much since the merger, and I don't think I've listened to more than ten podcasts in the time I've been a subscriber, and rarely in full. I understand the idea of making the podcasts seem like a value add vs. ordering the print subscription, but I don't think they are pushing subscriber numbers for the site THAT much, whereas being on iTunes would lead to more exposure for the site and might get them a bigger listenership.

[Bix]

I'm pretty sure they have a feed for the free show on iTunes. If not, there is a RSS feed of the free shows and Bryan should submit it to iTunes.

 

Personally, while I'd subscribe just for the Observers, I do listen to most episodes of WOR. F4D...varies.

 

Meanwhile, it only took a day:

 

[Log]

Did Meltzer blade a lot? His forehead looks like Carlos Colon's.