Holding Reality TV Accountable?

[MrsSpringsteen]

How dangerous are these shows, and do they even care? You take vulnerable people and put them in a situation like that, you are bound to have problems. But on the other hand people do this of their own free wills. However when people are committing suicide that could somehow be related to the show, well that is frightening.

This show though, when you are calling people "ugly" and hitting at the very core of something so sensitive to them..that is cruel. I think we were much better off without these shows, especially the shows that focus so much on looks.

I wonder what kind of legal waivers people sign before they do a show like that.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050920...Jt07tfK.nQA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

"The suit claims the "Extreme Makeover" crew manipulated Williams' sister, Kellie, into making cruel statements about Williams' looks.

The night before Williams was to begin her makeover, the show's producers told her it would take too long for work on her jaw to heal. They canceled her appearance and sent Williams home where Kellie, distraught over what she had said about her sister, eventually killed herself, according to the suit."

 

[Angela Harlem]

Reality television needs to stop. There is no good or valid reason to keep this up.

 

[For Honor]

Just another form of postmodernist brainwashing, in my opinion.

Reality TV sucks. I never liked anything about it.

Reality TV is sports, when they aren't rigged. (......)

I don't like reality TV.



For all you football guru's, reality TV is the media's (or, those who have the power to alter TV and make $$$ of of it) version of the WCO.... think about that!

 

[For Honor]

Reality TV is essentially a really bad immatation of a soap operea, put "live, raw, and real"



come on, people....... how can America, and elsewhere, even tolerate it?

get angry! lol

 

[Ellay]

Reality television needs to stop. There is no good or valid reason to keep this up.

Apart from the fact it's extremely popular and attracts thousands or millions of viewers depending on the programme?

 

[For Honor]

People need to grow up and stop getting into things that are overtly fake.

I mean, we have enough falsities around us as it is......
Why don't people watch PBS or the history channel, for those who have cable.

Or get of your fat asses and get outside?

Fat ass americans.....


the average size female in the US is a size 12
average modle is 2
I know a girl who is a size 0


Sorry, I'm ranting in this thread.

Oh, but I think guys just as bad. BUt I don't have and handy dandy crap stats for that.

lol.

 

[dandy]

the average size female in the US is a size 12
average modle is 2
I know a girl who is a size 0

i'm not sure if your post actually had a point, but if it did, it was completely lost right about here.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

have I told you lately that I you dandy?

have I told you there's no one else above you..ease my troubles that's what you do

 

[For Honor]

My post, which I'm sure you could understand, was about American's watching too much TV, all be it reality TV, even, perhaps, if it is very popular.

But sure, I went off on a tangent.

Sorry, I'm ranting in this thread.

It seems like I am more inclined to do things like this in your posts, MrsSpringsteen. Please don't take it personally, though. I'll try to be more mindful in the future..........

 

[melon]

Reality television is the sweatshop of Hollywood. It exists solely because it is cheap and non-unionized. And, like Wal-Mart, people seem to gravitate to "cheap" like insects to a light.

Melon

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It seems like I am more inclined to do things like this in your posts. Please don't take it personally, though. I'll try to be more mindful in the future..........

Yes it does seem like that, it's tough not to take it personally

Can we get back to the subject now?

 

[LadyRhia]

I dont like reality shows either,but its all about ratings,so if people didnt tune in then they would pull the plug on them.

 

[nbcrusader]

While this story touches on "reality" television (and Melon is correct, it is the same as regular programming, except unionized actors are replaced with wannabes who are paid with 15 minutes of fame).

The legal components to this case are interesting, though I question the likelihood of success.

First, what are the damages to Deleese Williams if she justifyably relied on the show's promise to give her a new look? Did she incur any expenses relying on this promise?

Second, who can bring a case for Kellie Williams' suicide? She was willing to call her sister ugly on tape. Did she kill herself because her sister didn't get the make over? Because she felt bad about making the statements? Or were there other factors?

 

[Ellay]

Did the show 'promise' to give her a new look?

I doubt it somehow.

Knowing the way litigation is thrown around in the US, I would think the television company had plenty of legal disclaimers for her to sign.

In regards to Kellie Williams suicide, it would be very difficult to prove that her death directly correllated with what she had said on television.

And to be quite honest, it was her own free will to go on there in the first place.

 

[Se7en]

that extreme makeover show really is the lowest of the low. i don't know how people can watch that.

 

[Bonochick]

Screw the debate on reality TV in this case...I think people are just lawsuit happy. They always want someone to point the blame at. $1 million won't bring her sister back.
Besides, I highly doubt you can blame the show for her suicide. There were obviously heavier underlying issues that drove her to such an act. I also think that placing blame on another person (or persons) for somebody committing suicide is absolutely cruel. Aside from some extreme situation, nobody should ever have the finger pointed at them for driving someone to suicide. That's just wrong

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Besides, I highly doubt you can blame the show for her suicide. There were obviously heavier underlying issues that drove her to such an act. I also think that placing blame on another person (or persons) for somebody committing suicide is absolutely cruel. Aside from some extreme situation, nobody should ever have the finger pointed at them for driving someone to suicide. That's just wrong

Yes that is all very true, but you just wonder if that was the final straw so to speak. There would have/could have been another final straw of course

I agree w/ everything you said though

 

[joyfulgirl]

Besides, I highly doubt you can blame the show for her suicide. There were obviously heavier underlying issues that drove her to such an act. I also think that placing blame on another person (or persons) for somebody committing suicide is absolutely cruel. Aside from some extreme situation, nobody should ever have the finger pointed at them for driving someone to suicide. That's just wrong

Suicide is much more an act of anger, revenge or control than it is an act of despair.

 

[deep]

Fat ass americans.....


the average size female in the US is a size 12
average modle is 2
I know a girl who is a size 0

well,

maybe we can get that size 12 on
"extreem makeover" and lypo her down to a size 6 or 8

or if she can go up to a 16-18 we could get her on: "the biggest loser"

the size 0 sounds perfect fot:
"America's next Top Model"


perhaps the family that had the suicide can get their Home Madeover. do they have any crippled children?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

here's some more info..apparently her sister may have had bipolar disorder

Williams said she returned to Texas devastated. Four months later, her sister killed herself.

"She knew that they could drop her at anytime, but she didn't believe they would," Williams' Houston-based lawyer, Wesley Cordova, said Tuesday.

The lawsuit said McGee suffered from bipolar disorder, but Cordova said the show drove Williams' sister to kill herself.

Williams is suing ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co., for alleged breach of contract, willful infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

"The most tragic part is that Deleese is now too ashamed to even go out in public," Cordova said.

ABC said Tuesday that all participants know in advance that their makeover may not happen.

"The ABC Television Network wishes to express its sincere condolences to Deleese Williams and her family for the loss of Kellie McGee," the company said in a statement.

"In regards to `Extreme Makeover,' all participants are made aware that if doctors or producers have any concerns about a procedure, the makeover will not go forward. ... The producers endeavor to handle each potential makeover participant with the utmost care."

Williams said she applied to "Extreme Makeover" in December 2003 and was selected to meet with producers in Los Angeles.

There, Williams was videotaped recounting the ridicule she suffered as a child and her years in an abusive marriage to an ex-husband. Her lawsuit alleges that her husband and sisters were also interviewed and encouraged to make disparaging comments about her looks.

Last month, five orphaned siblings who appeared on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" also sued ABC, accusing the network of fraud and breach of contract. The siblings said the family that took them in after their parents died later drove them out of the nine-bedroom mansion that was built for them. ABC and the family have declined to comment on that lawsuit.