Datadog wrote:Watching Gene Simmons sign over a multi-million dollar business deal and then complain about the price of snowboarding lessons absolutely baffles me. If this isn't scripted comedy, Gene Simmons needs professional help - not a TV show.
I actually like Gene Simmons' show (
Family Jewels) and I've always hated so-called reality shows. Sure, the show is scripted to some extent, but the main difference between GSFJ and other reality programs like
Survivor or
The Apprentice is that there's no contest to win and no melodramatic inner-group politics.
Look at most reality shows and you'll see the same format: people of all races and backgrounds gather together to compete for a prize. During the process, cliques are tentatively formed and some people get hostile towards one another. There's usually one "bad guy" on the show, as well.
That's why I like GSFJ. He and his family actually act like people (whether or not that's scripted is irrelevant) and each show is more or less a silly adventure. More often than not, the point of the show is to poke fun at Gene himself.
Datadog wrote:On that note, I kind of want to see an end to sitcoms without laugh-tracks. Laugh-tracks set the mood. Without them, I just see the characters' wacky lives as a sad and disappointing series of events. For a while, I thought "The Office" was a really creepy drama.
You're joking, right? The laugh track (i.e. "canned laughter") was a horrid invention, designed to tell the viewing audience when it's okay to laugh. If I want to laugh, I will. I don't need the show to tell me.
Of course... I rarely watch sitcoms. I suppose the most recent "sitcom" I've watched is
Family Guy, although I don't know if that really counts.