The petty exchanges between Josh, Sean, Reed and Joel are ruining the show for me. Yeah, I understand that everyone has a lot invested in this, but honestly, they all are making jerks out of themselves! I don't see where "science" is advanced by their bickering; in fact, their credibility is really diminished for me. I realize that perhaps America at large is more into personal drama than I am, but I'm genuinely embarrassed for these guys, airing their dirty laundry so publicly. Can't the producers have SOME influence on what portions of the endless hours of tape are included in the show? I think that if most of this contentious BS was cut out and the focus was shifted, that these guys might tend to change their focus too.

quote:

Originally posted by W0X0F:
The petty exchanges between Josh, Sean, Reed and Joel are ruining the show for me. Yeah, I understand that everyone has a lot invested in this, but honestly, they all are making jerks out of themselves! I don't see where "science" is advanced by their bickering; in fact, their credibility is really diminished for me. I realize that perhaps America at large is more into personal drama than I am, but I'm genuinely embarrassed for these guys, airing their dirty laundry so publicly. Can't the producers have SOME influence on what portions of the endless hours of tape are included in the show? I think that if most of this contentious BS was cut out and the focus was shifted, that these guys might tend to change their focus too.

I think they focused on the fighting more this year because the storm season turned out to be relatively weak compared to other years. So they didn't have as much sciency stuff to talk about. I will be interested to see the episode when they cover the Wyoming tornado. I'll hold off on this year till then.

quote:

I think they focused on the fighting more this year because the storm season turned out to be relatively weak compared to other years. So they didn't have as much sciency stuff to talk about. I will be interested to see the episode when they cover the Wyoming tornado. I'll hold off on this year till then.

This. They didn't have anything else to do, because the season (storm-wise) was pretty much a dud. Of course there were going to be conflicts with the few storms that did pop up- a case of "too many fleas, too little dog".

That said, I totally agree with the OP about the craptacular attitudes, arrogance and other BS shown on the show. Discovery Channel needs to lose the mTV "reality show" hype.

quote:

Originally posted by W0X0F:
Can't the producers have SOME influence on what portions of the endless hours of tape are included in the show? I think that if most of this contentious BS was cut out and the focus was shifted, that these guys might tend to change their focus too.

I think you're getting exactly what the producers wanted to show you. I'd bet the various chasers aren't any more hostile towards each other this season than any other. Last year it was probably mostly edited out. This year the editing seems to be focusing on it.

You can completely change the show's dynamic and viewers perceptions of the characters with only editing changes. On top of that, I'm confident there's other interference / instigation that we're not seeing. Like questions asked of Reed, Joel, Sean, & Josh by the Discovery camera crew.

Lets hypothetically say someone off camera asks Josh what he thinks of Reed. Josh could give a 5 minute detailed answer explaining that he loves Reed's passion, thinks he's a great chaser, respects him, etc, but mentions once that he isn't sure that Reed is committed to the science (perhaps even joking). After a little editing, it ends up looking to the viewer like Josh stopped the camera to throw Reed under the bus and accuse him not being committed to the science.

Basically in this sort of show that is so heavily time condensed via editing you basically can't believe that anything you see or hear is shown in an accurate context.

I don't think it's in the best interest of the show to make everyone look bad. There has to be some reality to all of this, but it is also a TV show. Drama makes people watch. Characters have to have something to come back from, an arch. This series has definitely matured into a real TV show, but that does not make it any less quality than in previous seasons. I would still insist that it is the best show of it's type.