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Techtite's TV Reviews! |
"Amusing to a point and yet I'd say NBC has another one-season wonder on their hands...unless later jobs are much more than 'working outdoors until you're sweaty.' " ---from the review
------------------ Sidebar :: ------------- IF there WAS a second season... You want this show to succeed if it ever got a renewal? Eliminate the "boss" factor. Every boss had their favorites, determined not by strength or determination as much as "I'm a lonely lumberjack and that girl over there looked dang hot in those jeans." My advice: next season (presuming there is one) have the contestants compete based on work load, plain and simple. In the lumberjack challenge, the bottom two would be the two who cut the least amount of wood. Other challenges could be determined by how fast they worked, or conversely, how long they worked without a break. No free passes; no favorites of the bosses. That would be much more fair. The "Life Changing" Epilogues. Though it was hardly worth bringing up in the review: what is up with the little life-changing "epilogues" at the end of each show? Supposedly, this little reality show changed these people lives. Are you serious? Think about it. If you worked for a week as a lumberjack, would you suddenly quit your job and attempt to open your own gym? That's what this show implies one contestant did. Sure, this is an acceptable reality show, though it's a show with no emotional resonance. That alone negates any plausibility in it being an emotional transformation in these peoples lives. In any case: I'm not "buying" these epilogue stories. Sorry. I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar..."Pass." What really gets my goat about all of Sandy's free "passes" this season, is how hypocritical she is about them. She gets a leg boo-boo in the bull riding episode. The reaction: oh, that's okay, sweetie, we'll look at your SPRAINED ANKLE at the hospital, find out it's no big deal and will easily heal in a day (in other words: REALLY no big deal), though hey; we'll give you a free "pass" this episode and you don't have to work AT ALL. Jump ahead to when Rommel dislocates his whole shoulder. Does he get a "free pass"? Well, he's a guy, so...NO. Furthermore; he must work in the job anyway, is constantly berated for not working WITH A DISLOCATED SHOULDER, and what's worse; he's told to "tough it up." What arrogant jackass told him to tough it up after Sandy got a free day off of work for a LEG BOO-BOO? Why, of course we know what jackass told him that; SANDY. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Though what does Sandy care? All she has to do is flatter the bosses and she "wins" the whole game. Ugh. |
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America's Toughest Jobs
Here's an idea that is pretty brilliant, albeit with a few hiccups in execution. The idea: a gang of reality TV contestants who normally live "cushy" jobs are thrown into America's Toughest Jobs. In one of many brilliant twists: the contestants are not eliminated by a vote, and instead must compete to survive, fair and square. The concept sounds great, and for the most part, it actually is...if not for those hiccups.
To be fair, this show had a bit of a hurdle. As a TV show they have to set up camp somewhere for just a few days and move on to the next job right away. This means contestants only have time to be trained for just a few days, as they work one or two days on each job. So obviously these ladies and gentlemen are not going to be trained as nurses, police, or the like. However, doesn't that negate the whole "toughest jobs" formulae? Wouldn't a tough job, by definition, not be a job easily taught in a few hours? Sorry, though in this critic's opinion: if your job can be summarized in one business day of "training," then no, your job is not a "toughest" job. Yes, you're sweaty. It's a tough job...perhaps even a very tough job, though not the toughest job. Sorry. It just isn't. That's the first sign of many problems in America's Toughest Jobs: for every two steps forward, it takes one step back. While that's a step ahead to any optimist, it's a sign of why this show might be, in the end, just another one-season wonder. Take the eliminations as one example. Yes: contestants have no say, and that's cool. There are no alliances possible here; no cliques of Least Valuable Players eliminating the biggest "threat." Evaluations are made by the bosses. The bottom two (or three) then compete in a race against the clock, based on the job at hand. So, to a point, eliminations would seem to be fair and square. The problem is: this formula still depends on personal
opinion...and many bosses are terribly quasi-sexist. Look; I am no fan
of sexist bosses, though I'm equally against a man who sheepishly gives
a woman a free "pass" simply because she went to work with a smile, a
giggle, and a few kind words ("Oh gee your job is soooo cool
[tee-hee]"). The show cleverly edits footage to act like Michaela,
Rie, and Sandy "dominated" the game compared to the men. Seriously? So
why did Rie get eliminated for no other reason than she met a fair and
impartial boss, he put her in the bottom two, and frankly, she had her
backside handed to her? Michaela seems to weigh less than a gallon of
water, yet stayed in the game all the way to the "final 5."
So where does the show succeed? Simple: the jobs are entertaining to watch. Well, okay: most of them. No offense to the hard working truck drivers of America, though seeing a truck from a helicopter isn't terribly entertaining. Yet the majority of the jobs are high octane thrill rides: bull riding, oil drilling, and best of all so far: a precarious trek to the thin beams above a highway bridge, to replace street bulbs hundreds of feet in the air. That latter job might not sound exciting though seeing these Average Joes work high in the air was hardly boring! In the end, it's all a question of how entertaining the show is. Yes most of the bosses slobber over the ladies and give them free passes. Yes, these are the "toughest" jobs in America only if one day of training sounds tough to you. Yet there's something very entertaining about a bunch of desk-job folk suddenly asked to be outdoors and sweaty, with each acting like they did something they never did before. Good for them. Maybe the same can be said for the producers of this series. They did something never done before! The real question is: would they do it again? Maybe they would...though I doubt the viewers will.
Opinions? Speak your mind in Techtite's Letters Page!
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Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
Here's
the problem: what 
How
can video footage make this seem possible? Simple: barely any video
footage is shown of Michaela at all.
Then there's Sandy, the typical "I am Woman Hear Me Roar" gal,
which she continues to believe even after pulling down a ladder, next to
a busy highway bridge, straight into oncoming traffic.
In fact, on the same job that eliminated Rie, Sandy had a leg boo-boo
that prevented her for working on the job at all...yet supposedly, she
"did enough during training" to warrant a "pass." Excuse me? How does
someone do enough while training
to warrant a free pass? The answer is simple: the boss gave her a pass,
because she's a woman. How very un-sexist of him.