Evening,
I was involved in the Industry peripherally many years ago when I lived in So. Cal. I still have many friends that work on different shows and in fact a gaffer who does contract work on Pawn Stars and does a lot of local LA TV work was just here to go skiing in Colorado staying with me. We had a long discussion over many Beers about the state of the Reality TV Business today.
That show and 90% of the reality shows you see on TV are scripted crap, the exceptions being Dirty Jobs, Survivor (Most aspects, some of it is manipulated that as they say "Doesn't affect the Outcome") Most of American Pickers, although all of the interaction with the guys in the van is scripted, the girl at their shop, and some of the interactions with the people they Pick, but for the most part its above board.
All, and I mean all of these are total crap and to me borderline on being Illegal because they are decieving the public.
Pawn Stars
Whatever that redneck Pawn Stars show is called
The belligerent Detroit A$$hole Pawn Show
The House thing with the Super Pretty People
Most of the Bachleor/Date, Pretty People shows
Shark Tank according to another Buddy is all set up ahead of time and although the actual People pitching their ideas/products is real, the Sharks are provided with background info and research info ahead of time and have pretty much come to Gentlemen's agreements before the people ever walk into the room!
As far as Dave Hesters Lawsuit, that is just a diversion from the real action. His attorneys aren't after some piddly little $25K per episode, that's Chump Change in the big picture, or to embarass the Production Company. He's after more of the real money...The Residuals, he gets a check mailed to him every time one of those shows plays in re-runs for $500-$1K, and those things play Hundreds and Hundreds of times per week!! That's the REAL MONEY!!! I have friends who years later as Gaffers/Sound/Grips/Pre and Post Production Assistants get a large part of their income off Residuals!!!
So the real money and the real reason for My Yuuutz's lawsuit will be settled quietly for a rather large sum of money, because there are Millions of dollars still to made by the producers and that show hasn't run its course yet, still has 2-4 years to be dragged out!!!
I wouldn't waste one moment of time watching that crap if you paid me.....Well wait a minute..maybe for some Residual Checks !!!!
Neil