Reality Shows and Superheros

rgormannospam.DeleteThis@telusplanet.net (David Johnston) abagooba zoink larblortch
news:40b8f704.16738048@news.telusplanet.net:

>> (ABC) Two teams of six superhumans must survive on a remote
>>island without using their superpowers. Who will come out on top when
>>the masks come off?
>
> I don't think that one would work. People would want to see
> superhumans use their powers and the superhumans wouldn't
> want to cut off from their powers.

That's why the producers will engineer "challenges", to tempt the
contestants. The show will recruit seventeenth-stringers, who will be
desperate to do anything for publicity. These are the "superheroes" you
would only call after the Justice Society, the Chicago Shoulder Boys, the
local cops, the Boy Scouts, your next door neighbor, and your worthless
brother-in-law all can't be got hold of.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

Bryan J. Maloney wrote:

> That's why the producers will engineer "challenges", to tempt the
> contestants. The show will recruit seventeenth-stringers, who will be
> desperate to do anything for publicity. These are the "superheroes" you
> would only call after the Justice Society, the Chicago Shoulder Boys, the
> local cops, the Boy Scouts, your next door neighbor, and your worthless
> brother-in-law all can't be got hold of.

Bingo. The real show this is inspired by used "celebrities" who were
famous only in the sense of "hey, whatever happened to whatisname?" The
superhumans involved would be the metahuman equivalent of MC Hammer and
Vanilla Ice...

Doctor TOC
--
The Reverend Doctor "The Other Chris"
Secret Elf, Jive Talkin' Choirboy, Kóri Wulfmangler
ICQ # 4814586
Argent Games - http://www.argentgames.com
alt.tv.sevendays FAQ - http://welcome.to/7-Days
The TOC Files - http://members.fortunecity.com/toc
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

In the super-universe I play in, there is "New York Justice". A
reality show about a super-team. Going out, fighting crime,
supervillians, what have you.

The first season resulted in one superhero's secret ID being totally
blown as the result of a cameraman deliberately violating the rules
and the producers deciding to run the footage, the ruining of a
superheroine's reputation by showing that she was not, as some people
thought, a virgin; the death of a supervillian when someone shot his
jet-backpack while he was flying, sending him \plummeting to his
death....

.....and they're making a second season. This time, though, one of the
big conflicts?

The original New York Justice team - who left the team and took the
name, claiming they were going to just keep working as a superteam
without corporate approval - vs. the new team assembled for the TV
show.

Ratings are expected to be high.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

"David Johnston" <rgormannospam RemoveThis @telusplanet.net> wrote in message
news:40b816d7.42310983@news.telusplanet.net...
> On Thu, 27 May 2004 21:22:39 -1000, "Warren Okuma" <wokuma RemoveThis @lava.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Hey! Wasn't that guy on "Supers?"
>
> The problem with the "Cops" format is that unlike cops, superheros
> have no real reason to cooperate with such a show. The cops
> do it for PR because that's important to get public cooperation
> and to get support for their funding. I dunno, maybe hero mutants
> would do it to combat anti-mutant prejudice.

I dunno, nobody has any real reason to go on Big Brother but they still find
a steady stream of people for it.


--
David Meadows
Heroes: www.heroes.force9.co.uk/scripts/
A comic book -- without the pictures
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

In article <40be1aa7$0$44288$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
David Meadows <david RemoveThis @no.spam.here.uk> wrote:
>
>I dunno, nobody has any real reason to go on Big Brother but they still find
>a steady stream of people for it.

They are offering total nobodys the chance to become Z list celebs.

--
Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPC rights activist | Nameless Abominations are people too.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

Geoff Depew <m3phr0n.DeleteThis@0pt0nl1n3.n3t> wrote in message news:<uijlb0pjhl2mbn6dosthnjl8csvpnpgs6b.DeleteThis@4ax.com>...
> In the super-universe I play in, there is "New York Justice". A
> reality show about a super-team. Going out, fighting crime,
> supervillians, what have you.
>
snip
> the ruining of a
> superheroine's reputation by showing that she was not, as some people
> thought, a virgin;
>

Ok, in this day and age how would that revelation ruin someones
reputation? Was she an abstinance advocate exposed as a hipocrite or
what? I would think that, except in the aforementioned case, this
sort of revelation would end up increasing net popularity (it would
drop among some moral conservatives and rise among everyone else).
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

"Richard Brown" <rbrown RemoveThis @myriad.com> wrote in message
news:5634e595.0406031116.50982fd2@posting.google.com...
> Geoff Depew <m3phr0n RemoveThis @0pt0nl1n3.n3t> wrote in message
news:<uijlb0pjhl2mbn6dosthnjl8csvpnpgs6b RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
> > In the super-universe I play in, there is "New York Justice". A
> > reality show about a super-team. Going out, fighting crime,
> > supervillians, what have you.
> >
> snip
> > the ruining of a
> > superheroine's reputation by showing that she was not, as some people
> > thought, a virgin;
> >
>
> Ok, in this day and age how would that revelation ruin someones
> reputation? Was she an abstinance advocate exposed as a hipocrite or
> what? I would think that, except in the aforementioned case, this
> sort of revelation would end up increasing net popularity (it would
> drop among some moral conservatives and rise among everyone else).

Well, if I found out that about Wonder Woman I would stop buying her
comic[*]



*This is not true, of course. I would simply boycott the writer who did it.


--
David Meadows
Heroes: www.heroes.force9.co.uk/scripts/
A comic book -- without the pictures
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

Richard Brown wrote:

> I still don't buy it.

That's your prerogative, but none of the people you are talking about exude
the kind of moral superiority that superheroes routinely display. To me it
seems they'd be a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

--
Dennis F. Heffernan CoH: Venture (Virtue) hefferman.RemoveThis@comcast.net
#include <disclaim.h> MS Messenger: Venture

"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days
when Victoria reigned!" -- T.S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

rbrown.DeleteThis@myriad.com (Richard Brown) abagooba zoink larblortch
news:5634e595.0406071532.48721a9a@posting.google.com:

> Quite the oposite in fact, if someone in the public eye even apears to
> hold themselves to any kind of standard they are ganged up on by the
> press any flaws are looked for and when a flaw is found the media go
> after it like piranah.

You mean, like a moralizing superheroine who turns out not to actually be a
"virgin and proud of it", after all?
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

"Bryan J. Maloney" <cavaggione RemoveThis @sbcglobal.not> wrote in message news:<Xns9501CF35B508CYarblookie RemoveThis @207.115.63.158>...
> rbrown RemoveThis @myriad.com (Richard Brown) abagooba zoink larblortch
> news:5634e595.0406071532.48721a9a@posting.google.com:
>
> > Quite the oposite in fact, if someone in the public eye even apears to
> > hold themselves to any kind of standard they are ganged up on by the
> > press any flaws are looked for and when a flaw is found the media go
> > after it like piranah.
>
> You mean, like a moralizing superheroine who turns out not to actually be a
> "virgin and proud of it", after all?

If you read my earlyer post you will note that I mentioned that that
sort of person is the only one I expected to be negatively affected by
such a revelation. However in the original post the heroine was
someone some people but not all believed was a virgin, somehow that
didn't sound like a moralizing "virgin and proud of it" to me.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

Dennis Francis Heffernan <hefferman.DeleteThis@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<7cCdnUtJfc5Tiljd4p2dnA.DeleteThis@comcast.com>...
> Richard Brown wrote:
>
> > I still don't buy it.
>
> That's your prerogative, but none of the people you are talking about exude
> the kind of moral superiority that superheroes routinely display. To me it
> seems they'd be a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

My point was that they all used to exude that sort of moral
superiority. Profesional atheletes, politicians and other celebreties
used to be held up as examples to young people, they aren't any more,
quite the oposite in fact. If your game world is modled on the real
one then wouldn't the moral superiority of superheroes have eroded
right along with everyone else? A great deal of the erosion of moral
superiority has been a change in the media from being willing to cover
up unfavorable things (from FDR being in a wheelchair to Kenedy's
infidelity) to a paparatzi that delights in digging up the dirt on
celebrities. The modern press doesn't alow anyone to exude moral
superiority, draging people through the mud brings better ratings.
The only escape a superhero would have from this would be in a secred
identity, and someone with a secret ID wouldn't be going on the sort
of reality show that started this discussion. Actualy I would imagine
maintaining a secred ID while being in the public eye should be
virtualy impossible for any hero, leaving secret ID's the province of
shadowy characters who shun the media spotlight and will as a
consiquence be labled criminal vigilantee's at best and suspected mob
enforcers at worst.
Quite frankly the best I would expect in a coupling of real
superheroes and a realistic modern media would be heroes who could put
a postive spin on the foibles in their personal lives. Maintaining a
moral superiority however I don't find believable. Of course if you
wish them to do so in your game world you can, just don't be surprised
when people don't buy it.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

Richard Brown wrote:

> My point was that they all used to exude that sort of moral
> superiority.

Really. How many of them took to the streets as self-appointed defenders of
Truth, Justice and the American Way? By simply doing what they do,
superheores declare themselves better than other people.

> Profesional atheletes, politicians and other celebreties
> used to be held up as examples to young people, they aren't any more,
> quite the oposite in fact.

For the most part, they never asked to be.

A current exception would be Bush 2.0, who makes a big deal out of his faith
(which I'm sure is a PR act, but that's another rant). Imagine, though, the
public outcry if he were caught getting it on the side.

> If your game world is modled on the real
> one then wouldn't the moral superiority of superheroes have eroded
> right along with everyone else?

No, because it can't. Superheroes without moral superiority are costumed
vigilantes, and a Clear And Present Danger To The Community.

> Actualy I would imagine
> maintaining a secred ID while being in the public eye should be
> virtualy impossible for any hero,

You can remove the "virtually" in any universe with demonstratable psychic
and/or magical powers.

> leaving secret ID's the province of
> shadowy characters who shun the media spotlight and will as a
> consiquence be labled criminal vigilantee's at best and suspected mob
> enforcers at worst.

You're making my point.

> Maintaining a
> moral superiority however I don't find believable. Of course if you
> wish them to do so in your game world you can, just don't be surprised
> when people don't buy it.

Whether or not a super could live up to the image is problematic, of course,
but I certainly think it would be expected of them.

--
Dennis F. Heffernan CoH: Venture (Virtue) hefferman.TakeThisOut@comcast.net
#include <disclaim.h> MS Messenger: Venture

"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days
when Victoria reigned!" -- T.S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros 

On 8 Jun 2004 12:07:31 -0700, rbrown.TakeThisOut@myriad.com (Richard Brown) wrote:

>celebrities. The modern press doesn't alow anyone to exude moral
>superiority, draging people through the mud brings better ratings.

At the same time however, Brittany Spears' "sexy virgin" image
was a real asset to her career and said career took a hit once
she was officially unvirgined. She had to reinvent herself into
Madonna Jr to keep going and she seems less comfortable in
that public role.

>The only escape a superhero would have from this would be in a secred
>identity, and someone with a secret ID wouldn't be going on the sort
>of reality show that started this discussion. Actualy I would imagine
>maintaining a secred ID while being in the public eye should be
>virtualy impossible for any hero,

Any hero who doesn't possess a physical transformation power.
It is quite believeable that Willy Wallis, a ten year old with the
power to turn into a mountain of adult muscle named
Captain Crusader will remain undetected in his secret I.D. by
anything short of telepathy. And since there will be a flood
of self-proclaimed psychics selling imaginary information to
tabloids, that won't even be the most plausible tip to the media.
 >> Stay informed about: Reality Shows and Superheros