The Real Good Life...

[shiney]

No we didn't go to Weston Super Mud, as we like to call it. We hit Weymouth for the day. Luckily, we had pretty good weather, not like today.

[Andy Hamilton]

No we didn't go to Weston Super Mud, as we like to call it. We hit Weymouth for the day. Luckily, we had pretty good weather, not like today.

Yep it called Weston Super Mud around these parts too

[shiney]

It's okay there, but for sand and diggin' holes you need Weymouth. That's all the boys did (and the biggest boy who is 41) ALL day. What is it with kids and digging a big hole?

[alcina]

Personally I was APPALLED by this show. For a start clearly all the "contestants" have been specially selected to make "interesting" (read: sensational) television, yet they're trying to sell the programme as "Can you be self-sufficient in an urban back garden?". I mean not a single one of them has *ever* so much as planted a bought plant yet alone grown anything from seed. This is not a programme about self-sufficiency, this is yet another Big Brother in their own homes.

How many times did they all say "I don't know what to do, I've never planted seeds before" yet did any of them ever seem to refer to a basic gardening book of any sort? Most of the viewing time is spent listening to them arguing with each other and avoiding doing any physical work - like what did they *think* growing your own food involved?

I was forced to ask, from the word go, why most of them had applied to do this (other than 15 minutes of fame). One family in particular are obviously there purely for sensationalism. I can't believe how awful this family is, what selfish, lazy, rude, arrogant....expletive deleted...they are!!! The have no respect for each other yet alone anyone else in the world - they are in *desperate* need of family therapy.

They guy with the long hair, I have to confess, I started the programme thinking that he's going to be a complete waste of space, but he and the 14 year-old son in the third family are the only people involved that actually seem to be trying to do what the programme allegedly sets out to do, rather than simply having themselves appear on tv in all their selfish goriness.

I really don't want to watch the awfulness that is this programme any more. I wish the long haired guy and the 14 year old boy well, but the rest of them are clearly doing this for the fame and for no other reason whatsoever.

Sorry....but I was truly horrified and I really don't think it's going to have a positive effect on selfsufficiency at all.

Alcina

[Muddypause]

I didn't watch any telly last night, but I did spend a few minuets surfing the channels. There were a couple of reality shows, football, a drama, and something else, and every one of those programmes seemed to revolve around people having an argument. This seems to be the way of much TV these days, especially the reality shows, which are obviously contrived or edited to produce this result.

I'm afraid I find it dreadfully off-putting.

[Wombat]

What a bummer..............a good idea stuffed up by sensationalisation (if there is such a word).

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

I think the word is sensationalism!

Yup, it's a shame because I thought it was going to be far more serious and interesting from what I had read on another website, but it's still good TV entertainment. Anything that has me howling with laughter is good TV!

[shiney]

I missed the second edition, just as well really cos I just got an email from Chas. He was so appalled by the second programme in the series, he has asked his name to be taken off the credits. He thought that they were going to make something decent. But the media are a load of tarts.

It is a shame that TV hypes everything up, which could have been a good programme if the personalities had been chosen carefully.

It seems that reality TV is just not real. They choose completely bonkers people to deliberately balls it all up.

TUT!!

[Andy Hamilton]

I saw the second and was not as anoyed as I thought I would be. Although I do feel that we are being subject to watching a divorce in action rather than the real tom and barbara.

[shiney]

The producers needed to get people who are genuinely interested in living a selfsuffientish life. I think they just want a load of argumentitive people who have problems in their everyday lives without a TV company watching them!

Do you shout at the telly Andy when you get cross with programmes? We do!

[Andy Hamilton]

Do you shout at the telly Andy when you get cross with programmes? We do!

I think most people do! You should hear my girlfriend when question time is on

[Chickenlady]

I watched the first 2 programmes and tried to tape the third, only to find it had been scrapped due to low viewing figures.

Shame really. Although it could have been so much better, I was interested to know if any of them made it, or if some of the odd attitudes changed. It's true, they should have chosen people with a genuine interest, who perhaps had grown a few veggies before but yearned for so much more.

They obviously chose one particular family for the strife that the lifestyle would cause. (The ones who went skiiing right at the beginning of the project with the horrible teenage boys and the selfish stepdad who perferred to ride his motorbike round the garden than rotorvate it!! Duh!)

I think if they had done it as a serious project (like some of the No Going Back programmes, where people changed their lives and went to live abroad), people would have watched it. Or they could have given some useful info for people like us - I would have loved to have seen more of the self sufficient Welsh community in the first programme; how they lived, their attitudes, the difficulties they faced, etc. A missed opportunity.

[Millymollymandy]

If you go onto ACountryLife.com forum you'll see a huge thread about this programme, including the blonde lady Vanessa joining in and telling it how it really was (which wasn't at all like we saw on TV).

The programme is coming back on again from the beginning some time this month on Sunday evenings.

[matty]

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." -Groucho Marx
i have always managed to relate to that...found the quote on a forum with a high US content (including peopel who seem to think that Irish peat moss depletion and global warming is nonsense...ARGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......yanks....)
just thought u might all b able to relate to it a little bit after discovering that a hyped up show was in fact.....a hype....put your TV in the Friday-Ad and buy some seeds....it's better for you...really.

[Millymollymandy]

Yes Matty, but when we've spent all day in the garden and come in knackered, it's nice to slump in front of the telly! Though I certainly watch a lot less of it than I used to (or is it the light evenings?).