Car Shows Suck If You Love Cars

[ZephyrEFI]

http://jalopnik.com/heres-why-car-tv...ium=socialflow

Damn right. These shows are the worst. They just tease you with the cars. I couldn't possibly care less about the douchebags these shows feature or their manufactured conflict and drama.

[84StangSVT]

The last good one was.....

Attachment 102011

Everything else since has been a joke!

[JTurbo]

I agree with that article - Jay Leno's Garage FTW! No drama.

[TNT]

The last good one was.....

Attachment 102011

Everything else since has been a joke!

When that piece o' crap premiered my mom was the one to tell me about it. I think she was hinting about wanting to submit my car. I saw one episode and told her if I ever opened my door to see that host I'd kill him where he stood rather than let them touch my Stang.

[Fearnot]

Couldn't agree more with this. I hate how we car people are marketed to as a bunch of dumb***es! I hate all the wine and cheese but my favorites are Lenos' and Chasing Classic Cars. They definitely have the most "reality ".

I do think that Richard Rawlings is by far the biggest Tool in the box but I do give him props for being a Ford guy at heart. I know he'd pimp out his mom for a $ and now he's been bought by Dodge. I like the fact that they're ( Arron ) mostly, are not afraid of a unpopular build. Arron is the only dude on TV, that I know of, that built, owns and races a 63 Falcon! And he wears a t-shirt with a 64 Comet on it!

[Basin Motorsports]

The audience on any of them is probably 10% car people and 90% other people there for the drama. Street Outlaws is "maybe" more car people but probably not much. Having come from the MMA world and seeing the explosion of the UFC and The Ultimate Fighter, it definitely follows that (if not more non-martial arts people in it for the drama). Most real people couldn't care less about car shows or reality shows in general. Their entertainment is being out in the shop

I like Street Outlaws for the entertainment and picking up what they have done to thier cars. Some times it's a little lame on the manufactured drama, considering most of what is filmed is on the internet months earlier if it's juicy. How many people didn't know Justin wrecked his GTO the day after it happened and were the surprised when it aired months later?

On the other hand, I like Mountain Men too since I try to live in the sustainability lifestyle. Some of it is hyped drama also, but you can still learn from it while being entertained.

I think if you're really into cars, you should spend more time on YouTube finding those of us who try to really do something with the bandwidth. There are some good channels with knowledge and a little entertainment to boot.

[vintageracer]

Bitch and Complain all you want however you ALL still watch em!

[Droog]

I don't watch any of them.

[ZephyrEFI]

The car shows i watch are Gearz, Powerblock, Car Fix, and My Classic Car. And sometimes Motorweek (but i'm pretty tired of John Davis' hatin' on Ford). The first three can be annoying in that they are only doing what their sponsors want them to do, but with Gearz, especially there are techniques and tidbits you can pick up on that are helpful. My Classic Car is cool because there's plenty of passion. Dennis genuinely likes the cars he chooses to feature. And since I DVR it, i can skip the "shop" portion that's just another commercial.

I roll my eyes every time i see yet another one of those damned shop drama shows premier. There are a LOT of them.

[TNT]

I got to disagree on one argument being made. That the drama and BS we hate is drawing in other viewers.

I know a TON of people addicted to reality tv, my brother even works in editing the crap. My mom, aunts, cousins, etc all watch garbage like Housewives of some random city, Survivor, Voice, the other talent shows, Little people big world, little women of some city, etc. NONE of them watch ANY of the car shows no matter how much drama the idiot producers add to try and get that audience.

So adding the drama does NOT bring in any new audience imo. All it does is piss off the built in audience they have in car guys.

[webestang]

I like Wheeler Dealers, watching Edd China get a car back on the road inspires me to get out there and work on my 85.

[onetrackrider]

Roadkill for the win..

[roadkill]

Roadkill for the win..

This. Detroit Muscle is good, too. No drama, and how can one not like a show that's building an 1100hp '72 Marquis?

[Basin Motorsports]

Roadkill for the win..

I have started to lose interest in Roadkill with the last few episodes. It started out as good entertainment. Completely random, trying to make a junky car drive from A to B. Since Dodge has come on as the title sponsor, and F&F have become so popular, it's become less and less about the journey. It's like they are trying to do too much with all the sponsor requirements and meets everywhere that they take an easy road to get an episode made. I feel like it's more important to make money off it now with the On Demand portion and the spin-offs than put out quality entertainment.

[TNT]

I've recently watched a couple of episodes of Iron Resurrection, so far that looks like more cars than garbage. The sad part is that somewhere there's a producer or exec trying to change that.

[downtime!]

I just started watching Iron Resurrection and so far I think it is one I will stay with. The Martin Bros. have been on scene in my area for years building custom bikes and it's nice to see a transition over to the car world that doesn't involve Jesse James. They still have their fair share of tv induced drama, but overall, it seems like they all genuinely are having a good time with the show. I've added it to my "must-see" list, along with Wheeler Dealers (Edd makes every repair seem like childs play - even replacing an entire chassis).

Other than that, I'll do Roadkill every now and then (and agree that the earlier episodes, before sponsorship, were much better) and Powerblock, even though it's become a giant advertising medium, like most current magazines.

[JACook]

I always did like Dennis Gage's style, though I haven't seen My Classic Car lately. I mostly watch Jay Leno's
Garage, and Ray Evernham's Americarna. I did like Monster Garage, but otherwise I don't have much use for
shows in that genre, with their contrived drama and personality conflicts. The fact that ratings are boosted
by that kind of garbage paints a picture of American society than I don't care to be reminded about. With few
notable exceptions, the whole reality TV genre in general insults my intelligence, and just plain pisses me off.

The same can be said for shows like Powerblock, 'cause the whole thing is just one big infomercial, like the
magazines it's modeled after. Yawn.

[vintageracer]

All the successful (lot's of viewership) shows follow the same model created YEARS AGO in the 1950's when the 30 minute TV show was NEW!

Find an Engaging Host who may or not know much about the show's subject material, get a GREAT a Village Idiot (Chumlee, Don Knott's) and a supporting cast of characters.

Is this a New concept?

Not at all!

This formula worked well in the 50's and 60's for Andy Griffith, the Skipper, "Oliva", Uncle Jed and many more TV shows that many of us grew up with. The only difference is instead of having a already recognized "Star" in the starring role you NOW have "Joe Blow" who IF he is "Engaging" to the audience becomes a TV Star in their own right!!! It's a WHOLE LOT CHEAPER to film "Reality TV" so all you have to do is produce a BUNCH of this new type of "Reality TV" shows and in our case "Automotive Related Reality TV" throw it out there and like "Crap on the Wall" see what sticks!

Rawlin's is an EXCELLENT example of the new "Reality TV" star who happens to be an automotive guy. He's got the looks, the swagger and many of the things Women like and men hate to make him "Engaging" to his audience. That's what it takes to be successful in today's TV Land from a promotional, marketing and product sales standpoint! People watch the show and therefore sponsor's want to advertise (It's money that drives TV viewership) all the while assuming the viewer's will BUY their advertised products because of the engaging host!

Like it or not this type of television continues on all the different TV channels from automotive, cooking, home remodeling, animals, crooks and thieves and on and on. People LIKE watching other people do what they really WANT to do or DREAM they could do.

It really sucks that the other guy or gal on that TV show just "stole" your idea for a great TV show beat you to that concept!!!

Time to get off your own ars and quit watching other people do what you want to do and spend you time developing your own persona to become a real live "Reality TV Star"!!!

[grabbergreen84]

I always did like Dennis Gage's style, though I haven't seen My Classic Car lately. I mostly watch Jay Leno's
Garage, and Ray Evernham's Americarna.

Haven't seen Evernham's show, but Gage and Leno are truly passionate, and that translates into the quality of their shows. Many of the rest of the stars on all of the various car shows have to keep telling us that cars are their passion.

I watch Leno on Youtube, which I'm sure beats watching on pMSNBC. But I don't receive whatever channel carries My Classic Car anymore. I'll have to look and see if I can get Americarna though.

I also really miss Shadetree Mechanic. Sam and Dave did their share of hawking various automotive products, but the wrenching part of that show was great. It was true reality TV before hollyweird et al destroyed the concept by making it better for pretty much just themselves.
Even though he touted Interdynamics products, I still look at Sam Memmolo as a role model.

[ZephyrEFI]

Sam Memmelo has a show called Sam's Garage. I just added it to the DVR list the other day. I can't wait to see some!

I don't hate reality TV stars because they're more successful than me, i hate them because they are total self-centered idiots and are rewarded for it with fortune and fame. Fast & Loud is no different from The Bachelor or any of that other crap.

[homer302]

I work on computers all day long. When my turn comes up I am on call for two weeks and I might have to get up and work on a server at 2AM. Therefore, I don't watch the youtube channel for Wheeler Dealers. I see enough computers during the day. I wait until it comes on TV and I happen to have nothing better to do.
So that being said, I guess I am the last to see the new season premiere and I am totally fine with that. It was not the Foxbody show, it was a '68 Corvette. You can tell some new producer has control and is trying to make his mark. They changed the theme music even. And now, MIKE works on the cars. My first clue something was wrong was when the theme was now lame. My second one was when Mike was wearing a "Mike Brewer Motors" shirt. Hmmm....that is odd. Then Ed is barely in the show at all. I suspect there were some contract negotiations and Mike decided he didn't like not having as many minutes ON AIR as Ed did. He supposedly repaired the rear brakes and then did a fiberglass repair on the fender. It is so obviously fake. Mike will be the undoing of that show. It is just a matter of time. He clearly has no idea how to work on a car but doesn't shy away from telling us how HE did all this work. GREED is the root of all evil.
I can't believe I am the only one to notice it. I haven't seen anyone else comment on it and I am sure most people watch the youtube channel and have seen the whole season by now.

[Haystack]

I don't like the whole roadkill sponsored by dodge junk, or the whole motor trend on demand junk (which I subscribed to for a few months btw), but for what roadkill was and currently is, I think that they have still remained more or less true to form. Dodge gives them a hellcat and a viper, so the invite fans to come down from all around the country and beat on them.

They have always kinda shy'd away from ford's on the show, but I wouldn't even say they have a partiality to dodge or that dodge sponsoring has changed them much, outside of budget of course. They still meet up with fans, they still drive junk cars, and they still put way more money into speed parts then they should and they still have fun doing it.

They did screw up by hellcat swapping the general mayhem though. What made the mayhem good was the fact that it was two guys wrenching on a car and doing what they could with what they had. Little bits here and there, and motor home parts. But hey, let's say ford gave me money to put a 700hp motor in one of my cars, I'd have a hard time turning them down too.

[JACook]

Haven't seen Evernham's show, but Gage and Leno are truly passionate, and that translates into the quality of their shows.

I was a little leery at first, 'cause I swore off NASCAR several years ago, but it's not just another NASCAR
themed show. Ray is likewise passionate about the preservation of a broad range of automotive history,
and about the people connected with that history. They have done shows on a range of subjects, from Joe
Bonamassa restoring a GTX for his parents, to Board Track racers, a feature on Ardun-equipped Flatheads,
to hunting down a Gurney-Weslake engine for a Gurney Eagle Indy Car restoration.

There are no village idiots, and nobody hollers at each other, or throws stuff.

[75coug]

I watch most of them, stupid or not. At least they are about cars.