Maybe some of you who are more into the industry can explain this obsession with faked Repo shows that seems to be attacking my television as of late.
It started with Operation Repo, which, until a certain season finale where a car gets destroyed because of someone's "need to pee," was believed by many to at least sorta be real; slight amounts of skepticism leaked through on occasion but I believe it was generally considered to be mostly legit with some peppering from production staff to boost ratings, until it started going completely unbelievable every other episode.
And now, we've got "Lizard Lick Towing" and "Bear Swamp Recovery" fouling up TruTV with the same BS, and they're not even trying to hold off for a few episodes before starting into the unbelievability. "Oh, yeah, that camera guy just so happened to be there at the RIGHT second 16 times last episode." or "Yeah, we promised we wouldn't mess up this van we borrowed, and it so happens we left it parked behind a rock truck, and this British Fellow dumped the load on it..." and for us logic users, if the kid Lives in Jersey and supposedly owns the vehicle being repossessed why does it have PA plates and an "Enterprise Rent-a-car" sticker on it. For that matter if they're operating the repo business in New Jersey why do a couple of their trucks have PA Plates and the others NJ?
Seriously, what is it about the Repossession Business that its become the favorite fodder for faux television? I used to work for a crew that did repo's every now and then, and its not even close to how these scripted dramas go. But that's not my real bitch...
I remember when TruTV was CourtTV, and the schedule was: 3am-7am; Infomercials, 7am-3pm; Live from some court Battle next to no one gave a crap about, 3pm-7pm; Cops, 7pm-3am: Cops/Detective Something/Whatever they needed to fill the over night slot. Now it's 24/7 BS with an hour of "Police P.O.V." thrown in for an hour, which so far is real footage, but how long before that blows over?
I like fiction, but if I'm turning on my TV to watch a "Reality show" thats billing its self as being real, I'd like it to actually be real. Film isn't strictly the art of deception, not to mention the completely skewed view the Repo business is getting from all the fake hype. Not to mention there's an actual "Bear Swamp Recovery" company in the NJ area, while I cannot say for certain its not the company involved with the show, however it does not appear to be.
It started with Operation Repo, which, until a certain season finale where a car gets destroyed because of someone's "need to pee," was believed by many to at least sorta be real; slight amounts of skepticism leaked through on occasion but I believe it was generally considered to be mostly legit with some peppering from production staff to boost ratings, until it started going completely unbelievable every other episode.
And now, we've got "Lizard Lick Towing" and "Bear Swamp Recovery" fouling up TruTV with the same BS, and they're not even trying to hold off for a few episodes before starting into the unbelievability. "Oh, yeah, that camera guy just so happened to be there at the RIGHT second 16 times last episode." or "Yeah, we promised we wouldn't mess up this van we borrowed, and it so happens we left it parked behind a rock truck, and this British Fellow dumped the load on it..." and for us logic users, if the kid Lives in Jersey and supposedly owns the vehicle being repossessed why does it have PA plates and an "Enterprise Rent-a-car" sticker on it. For that matter if they're operating the repo business in New Jersey why do a couple of their trucks have PA Plates and the others NJ?
Seriously, what is it about the Repossession Business that its become the favorite fodder for faux television? I used to work for a crew that did repo's every now and then, and its not even close to how these scripted dramas go. But that's not my real bitch...
I remember when TruTV was CourtTV, and the schedule was: 3am-7am; Infomercials, 7am-3pm; Live from some court Battle next to no one gave a crap about, 3pm-7pm; Cops, 7pm-3am: Cops/Detective Something/Whatever they needed to fill the over night slot. Now it's 24/7 BS with an hour of "Police P.O.V." thrown in for an hour, which so far is real footage, but how long before that blows over?
I like fiction, but if I'm turning on my TV to watch a "Reality show" thats billing its self as being real, I'd like it to actually be real. Film isn't strictly the art of deception, not to mention the completely skewed view the Repo business is getting from all the fake hype. Not to mention there's an actual "Bear Swamp Recovery" company in the NJ area, while I cannot say for certain its not the company involved with the show, however it does not appear to be.
