I have watched a few episodes of Undercover Boss and I am very suspicious of the show. The basic premise of the show is that the CEO goes undercover as an entry-level worker on the front lines of the job to see how it is run.
Some people have expressed skepticism over how genuine it is since the undercover CEO walks around with camera crew, which would make workers suspicious. However, the show explains this by claiming that the workers are all told that the cameras are there because they are recording for a show about an entry-level worker.
The main issue that I have with this show is that every single worker you see happens to be a saint and they always seem to work hard and then right on cue they always tell a sob story about how tough their life is. Then predictably at the end these poor workers are rewarded for their hard work by the kind CEO. Is it just a coincidence that just about every single worker the CEO comes into contact with has a sob story? I think that many of the workers who come into contact with the undercover CEO actually know that he or she is the CEO and they pitch their sob story with the hope of striking it rich. Another explanation is that the show is rigged and the undercover CEO is led towards workers who are filtered initially to make sure they have an interesting sob story.
Further Reading: Undercover Boss is the Most Rigged Reality Show I Have Ever Seen (WrestleZone Forums)
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
23 August 2010
17 April 2010
Top Five TV Shows April 2010
A friend of mine asked me what my favorite shows on Melbourne TV are at the moment. Here they are.
5. Criminal Minds
A show about the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI, which, as the name suggests, deals with the psychology of killers. The shows gives good insight into the behavior of killers, but on the downside some of the behaviors exhibit seem unrealistic to me.
4. Top Gear
A very popular show about cars. I started watching this many years ago when I was shopping for cars and wanted to research potential cars. My research led me to Youtube where I watched some Jeremy Clarkson clips. Top Gear was appealing because it was different, but episodes nowadays seem to follow the same formula, and the friendly bander among the three hosts now seems fake.
3. Mythbusters
A very informative and entertaining show. It teaches very interesting facts. The downside of this show is that the younger ones on the show seem overly enthusiastic about explosions and blood. You'd think that over time they would tire of seeing the same thing over and over again, but they keep on carrying on whenever there is a large explosion or a dummy gets decapitated. It just looks like they are trying to play a character rather than be themselves. Top Gear suffers from the same problem.
2. Man vs Wild
I never tire of seeing Bear Grylls eat animals raw and sometimes still alive. It is so disgusting, but watching such a freak in action with the family tends to bond the family because we share the disgust as a group. Bear seems very knowledgeable about what is edible and what is not. His advice is potentially useful and the show is very entertaining. I also think the show teaches good values about self-reliance, simple living, and perseverance.
1. Survivor Heroes vs Villains
No surprise here. I talk about no other show more than Survivor. I absolutely love Survivor. I have watched every single season so far except maybe four. Survivor I believe clearly demonstrates the advantage that reality show have over scripted shows. The fact that there is no acting but pure and raw emotion allows you to better understand human behavior. Survivor is a small-scale representation of how society works. It demonstrates concepts in politics. It constantly reminds you to always be skeptical because it's so easy to the victim of a lie.
5. Criminal Minds
A show about the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI, which, as the name suggests, deals with the psychology of killers. The shows gives good insight into the behavior of killers, but on the downside some of the behaviors exhibit seem unrealistic to me.
4. Top Gear
A very popular show about cars. I started watching this many years ago when I was shopping for cars and wanted to research potential cars. My research led me to Youtube where I watched some Jeremy Clarkson clips. Top Gear was appealing because it was different, but episodes nowadays seem to follow the same formula, and the friendly bander among the three hosts now seems fake.
3. Mythbusters
A very informative and entertaining show. It teaches very interesting facts. The downside of this show is that the younger ones on the show seem overly enthusiastic about explosions and blood. You'd think that over time they would tire of seeing the same thing over and over again, but they keep on carrying on whenever there is a large explosion or a dummy gets decapitated. It just looks like they are trying to play a character rather than be themselves. Top Gear suffers from the same problem.
2. Man vs Wild
I never tire of seeing Bear Grylls eat animals raw and sometimes still alive. It is so disgusting, but watching such a freak in action with the family tends to bond the family because we share the disgust as a group. Bear seems very knowledgeable about what is edible and what is not. His advice is potentially useful and the show is very entertaining. I also think the show teaches good values about self-reliance, simple living, and perseverance.
1. Survivor Heroes vs Villains
No surprise here. I talk about no other show more than Survivor. I absolutely love Survivor. I have watched every single season so far except maybe four. Survivor I believe clearly demonstrates the advantage that reality show have over scripted shows. The fact that there is no acting but pure and raw emotion allows you to better understand human behavior. Survivor is a small-scale representation of how society works. It demonstrates concepts in politics. It constantly reminds you to always be skeptical because it's so easy to the victim of a lie.
17 June 2009
Million Dollar Traders
I have just finished watching Million Dollar Traders on TV. Million Dollars Traders is a reality TV show in which a rich hedge fund manager gives his own money to eight novices and tries to teach these novices to trade stocks to use his own money to make more money.
I have always dreamed of quitting my normal job and trading stocks at home for a living, so I watched this program hoping to get some pointers on how I can make this dream a reality. Million Dollar Traders, however, was very disappointing because it gave me no insight into how I can become a trader.
What I found annoying about the show is that the novices were simply given a computer, a telephone, and were told to buy and sell by themselves. There seemed to be no education about when they should buy and what they should buy. Most of the time it looked like the novices were just making guesses about which stocks they needed to buy or sell. Some traders made huge losses and in order to fix this problem, instead of teaching the traders economics, fundamental analysis, or technical analysis, they resorted to things like limiting how long their lunch or coffee breaks were. They even tried to improve stock trading performance by suggesting that the traders be rude to their stock brokers over the phone.
I have always dreamed of quitting my normal job and trading stocks at home for a living, so I watched this program hoping to get some pointers on how I can make this dream a reality. Million Dollar Traders, however, was very disappointing because it gave me no insight into how I can become a trader.
What I found annoying about the show is that the novices were simply given a computer, a telephone, and were told to buy and sell by themselves. There seemed to be no education about when they should buy and what they should buy. Most of the time it looked like the novices were just making guesses about which stocks they needed to buy or sell. Some traders made huge losses and in order to fix this problem, instead of teaching the traders economics, fundamental analysis, or technical analysis, they resorted to things like limiting how long their lunch or coffee breaks were. They even tried to improve stock trading performance by suggesting that the traders be rude to their stock brokers over the phone.
15 September 2008
Underbelly
Last night I watched Underbelly on TV. Underbelly is a 13-part TV series that depicts the Melbourne Gangland Killings, which involved more than 30 people being murdered over a decade.
I never followed the killings with much interest, and with so many people killed, it's hard to make sense of everything you read in the news. But Underbelly very effectively put all the pieces together into a coherent story, which I appreciated even if elements of it were fictionalized.
Underbelly was due to come on TV many months before, but a court injunction at the last minute banned the show from airing in Victoria. Nevertheless, it became a hit in other states and many people traded DVDs or downloaded the series through the Internet.
According to Jim Schembri from The Age, the series was poor because the criminals were such dumb thugs that viewers do not care if they get murdered. The real-life Carl Williams claims that he was badly portrayed in the movie. (Underbelly portrayed Carl as a bumbling idiot.) I think it's important to emphasize that I don't think there is much correlation between morality and intelligence. You may hate someone because he is immoral but immoral people can be highly intelligent.
Something else that I found interesting is how these criminals were able to collect girlfriends and wives so easily. It's a cliche to say that women love bad men, but I suspect that most women actually know that their boyfriends or husbands have a dark side but rationalize it away because they are so attracted to the dominant personality or maybe the cash.
I watched the edited version of Underbelly. One of the characters in the show had a pixellated face.
21 June 2008
SBS's The Nest
At 28th June 2008 there will be a reality documentary on SBS called The Nest, which is about kids who live with their parents until adulthood. This is an issue of interest for me because I am 24 and still live with my parents. Most Australians who are my age do this as well mainly because property prices and interest rates are high.
Demographer Bernard Salt has the following to say:
I suspect that Salt is saying that if kids live with their parents all the time they will not develop the ability to look after themselves.
One of the problems of living with parents is that you sometimes have to share the house with people you may not like. I like all my family members but often siblings bring in friends who get on my nerves. If I owned the house in which I lives, I could legally prohibit anyone I don't like from coming into my house because they would otherwise be trespassing. When I live with my parents I don't have that freedom because my parents run the house, not me.
One reason why I don't want to move out is because I have read OECD and IMF reports that claim that Melbourne property is 25 per cent overvalued. Why would I buy a house that's too expensive? Couple this with the sky-high interest rates and it makes little sense for me to move out.
Some say that living with parents makes you less able to handle the shock of the outside world. I think it's the opposite. If you live in the outside world, you have to pay for your own food, your own electricity, your own laundry, etc. You have less money to save up. Therefore, if something happens to you, e.g. you have a medical emergency, then you're in a lot of trouble. The best way to deal with the shock of the outside world is to have a stash of money saved up to get you through the tough times. This stash of money cannot be saved up if you are not living at home with your parents, or at least it is harder to save up.
Another reason why living with parents is a good idea is because it reduces carbon emissions. This proves that adults who live with parents are not selfish. If you live in a house with Mom and Dad then three people living in a house share things like TV and heating is going to create less carbon emission per person than one person living in one house of the same size. Three people watching one TV is more environmentally friendly than three people watching three TVs.
Living with parents is an economically responsible and environmentally responsible lifestyle choice.
Demographer Bernard Salt has the following to say:
[A] longer lasting co-dependence between parents and their children will leave both parties emotionally and financially unprepared for their future. In his book ‘The Big Picture’ Bernard says “The social contract being applied here is that adult children are allowed to continue their kiddish ways so that boomer mums and dads may continue as practicing parents.”
I suspect that Salt is saying that if kids live with their parents all the time they will not develop the ability to look after themselves.
One of the problems of living with parents is that you sometimes have to share the house with people you may not like. I like all my family members but often siblings bring in friends who get on my nerves. If I owned the house in which I lives, I could legally prohibit anyone I don't like from coming into my house because they would otherwise be trespassing. When I live with my parents I don't have that freedom because my parents run the house, not me.
One reason why I don't want to move out is because I have read OECD and IMF reports that claim that Melbourne property is 25 per cent overvalued. Why would I buy a house that's too expensive? Couple this with the sky-high interest rates and it makes little sense for me to move out.
Some say that living with parents makes you less able to handle the shock of the outside world. I think it's the opposite. If you live in the outside world, you have to pay for your own food, your own electricity, your own laundry, etc. You have less money to save up. Therefore, if something happens to you, e.g. you have a medical emergency, then you're in a lot of trouble. The best way to deal with the shock of the outside world is to have a stash of money saved up to get you through the tough times. This stash of money cannot be saved up if you are not living at home with your parents, or at least it is harder to save up.
Another reason why living with parents is a good idea is because it reduces carbon emissions. This proves that adults who live with parents are not selfish. If you live in a house with Mom and Dad then three people living in a house share things like TV and heating is going to create less carbon emission per person than one person living in one house of the same size. Three people watching one TV is more environmentally friendly than three people watching three TVs.
Living with parents is an economically responsible and environmentally responsible lifestyle choice.
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