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Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Dec 5, 2012 12:50 am
by evanrobinson1985
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Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Dec 5, 2012 12:59 am
by NZcaver
evanrobinson1985 wrote:I'm kind of disappointed that most of you would have nothing positive to think about a show like that. I personally think it would be a good thing for caves. It would be a show for channels like National Geographic, Discovery, or History. NOT channels such as MTV, ABC, ETC.... :grin: I would not go through with the show if it was going to make caving a circus.

I can understand where you're coming from. I also travel extensively, and have caved with many different groups in different states and countries. The similarities and differences in caves and cavers and equipment and techniques and group dynamics are interesting to me personally, but to a non-caver they may tend to blend together and blur into monotony after a while. Regardless of the best intentions, as others said even on NatGeo/History/Discovery many of these shows tend to take on a life of their own where it's all about sensationalism first. Did you take a look at this recent topic? One valid point was made that if a network was planning to make a caving show regardless, it would be better having cavers involved than not.

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Dec 22, 2012 11:29 am
by evanrobinson1985
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Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Dec 22, 2012 5:05 pm
by Tlaloc
How much are they going to pay you?

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Jan 1, 2013 7:44 pm
by evanrobinson1985
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Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 11, 2015 4:09 am
by rudibega
Now if it's done by Natl. Geo, Nature, etc. that would be one thing but if it's your typical for profit company, then they've got a lot of advertising to sell.


The National Geographic tv channel is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is a for profit TV Station, unlike the magazine, which is the worlds largest non-profit.

My two cents.

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 13, 2015 4:10 pm
by DawgsgoCaving
I can picture Jim Smith and Marion Smith yelling at each other in some TAG borehole passage for 60 minutes with overly dramatic music and editing to back everything up.

Ya know I might find that entertaining :) lol

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 13, 2015 8:35 pm
by trogman
LOL :laughing:

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 13, 2015 9:01 pm
by caver.adam
Most of the reality shows have clauses that you agree that they can use their footage in any way they want, and you aren't allowed any recourse even if they edit it or add slanderous content after the fact. People are afraid of caves...you don't really think they'll have a reality show that doesn't make caves scary do you?

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 13, 2015 10:00 pm
by DawgsgoCaving
I agree, Adam. Thinking about it makes me laugh to be honest. Now I want to make a parody caving reality television show next time I go underground. Maybe have a really serious voiceover on top of normal cave activity.

"He looks excited, but he's really afraid. Deathly afraid. He knows that water is putting him at risk for hypothermia. He leans out of the water to breathe air. But it isn't just any air, it's radon-contaminated air. The gas is slowly accumulating in his lungs. But he isn't the only one breathing the radon-contaminated air. The bats have been living in the air all along. The rabies-infested, radon-inhaling bats are waiting for the would-be hypothermic caver at every turn. Clearly, the cave is the most treacherous place known to man. Few make it out alive."

You could have someone narrate that nonsense in a serious tone over someone rappelling a waterfall and people might buy into it, regardless of how inaccurate it is. It's pretty amazing how words change the meaning of visual elements. Most producers and advertisers use this to their advantage.

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 14, 2015 11:00 am
by caver.adam
"He decides that the price of adventure is worth the risk and walks under this hundred ton boulder hanging from the ceiling by a bare sliver of rock just waiting to come crashing down. Listen as he recalls a story of cavers returning to find their camp demolished by a rock that fell from the ceiling."

"Outside today there is a thunderstorm approaching, and these cavers are fast running out of time. At any time the torrential flow of water can begin to flow in securing them in a watery tomb."

....hey, this would be fun if it wasn't likely they would really make up stuff like this.

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 14, 2015 9:48 pm
by DawgsgoCaving
caver.adam wrote:....hey, this would be fun if it wasn't likely they would really make up stuff like this.


haha I can't agree more

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 15, 2015 8:53 pm
by Cheryl Jones
The rabies-infested, radon-inhaling bats are waiting for the would-be hypothermic caver at every turn.

:rofl: :lmao: :bananabat: :clap:

Re: Caving tv reality show

PostPosted: Apr 24, 2015 11:04 am
by Jake McLeod
caver.adam wrote:...securing them in a watery tomb."

....hey, this would be fun if it wasn't likely they would really make up stuff like this.


I like where this is going! (the conversation that is)

"Not many dare to enter the world of nightmares that is a cave. Those who do are waking into a labyrinth filled with most extreme phobias known to humanity: darkness, heights, drowning, coldness, coffin-tight passage, creatures of the night, and the ever present knowledge of the thousand tons of rock that block your way to the surface. The cave does not know or care that you exist, and death may come at any moment, with no partiality. Only skill, a level head, luck, and most of all the shear will to live will carry the intrepid caver back to the sun-blessed world from whence they came."

This IS fun!

As for the idea of a TV show, I think a series of internet videos (Youtube, Vimeo, and the like) might be the more proper venue. Certainly, the profit potential is low and the risk is high. However, the initial capital is low and it allows you to get away with appealing to a much more targeted audience. TV shows have to appeal to a massive range to get funded by the major networks, and therefore usually resort to base drama to bring in views. The format I'm suggesting would allow someone to make something that documents the strange and diverse ways of caves and the caving community, without compromising their integrity. That's what's been nice about the internet so far, you can do something off-the-wall, with no promise at all of succeeding on paper, and no one to influence you in "evil" (not as sarcastic as it might seem) ways. If you were to put in the time and effort to do it right: get permissions, do the homework, and don't sacrifice authenticity for shock value (ex. editing conversations to cook drama), I'd be willing to bet you could put together quite the program. Caves are interesting places, and cavers are interesting people. Odds are against a person making bank doing this, but to someone who truly loves and respects caves and cavers, that isn't the point now, is it?