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television and mostly harmless deceptions
Saturday, December 31st, 2022 09:04 pmThere are nostalgic TV shows which discuss cultural things from the past. For instance, The Top Ten Revealed, which talks about old songs chosen based on various categories, like songs from a certain year, or songs named after women. Another one is on in the background right now, The 80s: Top Ten, about various things from the 1980s like boomboxes, the Sony Walkman, and McDonalds Happy Meals.
The shows are light-hearted and enjoyable to watch. Some of the things they mention I remember from when I was growing up, other things not so much or not at all.
The format of the shows involves switching between several people as they say various things about the songs or items under discussion. It is made to sound like these are personal reminiscences of those people.
It occurred to me that the speakers are probably paid actors, even the ones who are celebrities. The things they say were probably written by the shows' writers. Sure, it is possible the show producers chose the celebrities first and then asked them about their own memories of the items and incorporated that into the show. But it would be easier to write the show's script first, and then find people to speak the parts. So if the latter is how it is done, I guess it's ok and mostly harmless. It's a more entertaining way of presenting the information. But the shows now seem slightly deceptive to me, similar to what I mentioned about music competition shows in this post.
But the above IMDB pages don't list any "Series Writing Credits" under the "Full Cast & Crew", like they do for scripted fiction shows like Resident Alien. So maybe those shows aren't scripted after all and maybe those really are personal reminiscences. Who knows.
The shows are light-hearted and enjoyable to watch. Some of the things they mention I remember from when I was growing up, other things not so much or not at all.
The format of the shows involves switching between several people as they say various things about the songs or items under discussion. It is made to sound like these are personal reminiscences of those people.
It occurred to me that the speakers are probably paid actors, even the ones who are celebrities. The things they say were probably written by the shows' writers. Sure, it is possible the show producers chose the celebrities first and then asked them about their own memories of the items and incorporated that into the show. But it would be easier to write the show's script first, and then find people to speak the parts. So if the latter is how it is done, I guess it's ok and mostly harmless. It's a more entertaining way of presenting the information. But the shows now seem slightly deceptive to me, similar to what I mentioned about music competition shows in this post.
But the above IMDB pages don't list any "Series Writing Credits" under the "Full Cast & Crew", like they do for scripted fiction shows like Resident Alien. So maybe those shows aren't scripted after all and maybe those really are personal reminiscences. Who knows.
