I saw ( the Colony ) show lately and liked it alot. So my question is : are there any other ( urban survival ) shows like the Colony ?

I am mostly interested in improvising, making educated decisions, and using hands and tools.

Rambo-like movies and zombie-related shows are not my cup of tea.

There was something by the guy that ate at MickeyDees for a month. Morgan Spurlock?

Anyhow, they had a load of people, 10 I think, playing caveman. I had to turn it off when one young lady whined and sniveled that it was too hard and not fun. Maybe she expected caterers or something.

Big whinesnivelfest when they were deciding to move to be nearer the only available meat in the area, or to stay put and eat non-existant (to them anyhow) root, berries and weeds... rabbit food.
These clowns couldn't have found their sitons with two hand, a flashlight and a map.

Just saying it was out there, not saying to watch it.

Not "reality" shows, but the couple that have some urban scenarios I've seen (or at least seen advertised are) Surviving Disaster on Spike and Worst Case Scenario with Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. Spike has full episodes of Surviving Disaster online.

I haven't seen the Bear Grylls one yet, and I've only seen bits and pieces of the Spike one. From what I've seen they are focussed more on short-term survival (e.g., getting out of a burning hi-rise) as opposed to the more mid to long-term focus of The Colony.

As far as improvisation and building things go, I always liked Junkyard Wars but I haven't seen anything like it on TV lately.

More in the realm of fiction than not are the 2 I'm currently watching: Jeramiah (US) and Survivors (BBC). Interesring food for thought.

Pity Survivors was cancelled. I also liked Jericho.

I'd be interested in a reality series that took some housing-bust cul-de-sac and set up several households for a couple weeks of middle class American life before replicating an EMP scenario.

I'd rather be a spectator than participant.

Agreed. On all counts.

+1 Survivors was a great TV show. I can't believe they cancelled it after just one season!

And the countless police and CSI-type TV shows that depict every manner of murder and mayhem don't?

I think that is a great observation; that is exactly why I like watching Criminal Minds - they always get the bad guy .

My wife and I got into watching Stuck With Hackett on I believe Discovery earlier this year.

He's basically got a few engineering degrees and more than a few screws loose and makes comfort items out of junk, which he call Unobtainium. One episode he was in a house off the grid in the desert and he made a windmill for the roof and rigged a VW engine to be a generator to turn on a tv and vcr, coffee pot work and some christmas lights twinkle. Modern conveniences off grid.

Another one he was in an abandoned hospital and he made a massively bright portable klieg light for searching and then tiny tiny light and power source to run a movie projector.

He was pretty interesting and got you thinking.

This link below is for downloading full episodes, I did not try it.
http://one-tvshows.eu/tv/stuck-with-hackett/

The mark of a true survivor.

HJ

Physical Organic chemistry, actually.
They offered me $10,000 for ten weeks of my time on the second season of The Colony but I had to turn them down.

As for good shows:
Rough Science Imagine PBS doing "The Colony" using only scientists and engineers.
Scrapheap Challenge (aka Junkyard Wars)
-Blast

I am surprised that a major production such as "The Colony" would only offer $1000.00 per week. Not that I would ever apply for any show, however the pay rate would have to be well north of $1000.00 per week to cover my job salary to even make it worth my time.

The Colony (and most other shows) are developed by relatively small production companies and then they sell the show to Discovery. $10,000 was the top end fee. I believe some only got $6000 for the 10 weeks. I wanted to be on the show but my boss told me my real job wouldn't be there when I returned.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had done it...

-Blast

The survivors would have been eating a lot better.

& probably have no need for a "Defensive Perimeter" either,lol!

Awwwww, professor Blast !


You turned it down ??? You could have been a big help to professor John C in many of his investions.

It is not too late though for us ETS members to get some compensation. Could you please write a few points of what you would have added or done differently ?

Question to everyone who really know this "reality TV' stuff and especially the the Colony show. How muych of it is real ??

For example:

1 - They ate rats. Did they really do it or were the rats replaced by some chicken nuggets ?

2 - Professor John C .. I got senmtimental when he talked about his deceased son. Was that real ? I like to think so .

As a matter of fact I liked John C; a guy with a big brain and a big heart.

3 - The gasifier in the truck !!! The lower barrel which contains the fire that should heat the coal in the internal barrel .. that outer barrel had no holes for ventillation !! So , how real was that gasifier ??

I watched The Colony season 1 and most of season 2 ... well, I think season 1 group was better organized and handled it better. While group 2 did a great job of establishing a power source ( the windmill) and some like Sally the mechanic and Reno did a few nice projects, but overall they were not lucky enough or roganized enough to achive more. I am starting to feel releived that Blast didn't join the 2nd season. Maybe he would have helped them catch and cook more cocordiles.

Through You-tube, I started downloading and watching some of the others you have suggested ( thanks ), like ( I shouldn't be alive ). I remember seeing that show before but totally forgot about it . Very nice to watch it again.

I have also been watching (Dual Survival) and (Man, Woman, and Wild). I like the Dual Survival show ( Cody Lundin & Dave Canterbury) but didn't like MWW because it doesn't look serious enough.

I am now downloading episodes of BBC-Survivors and they seem to be in three seasons. I hope they will be what I am looking for because most the quick scenes I have seen so far are indoor and not in the wilderness. That is exactly what I am loking for.

Thanks everyone.

Chisel,if you get the chance,watch the episode of Man,Woman,Wild where they are in the Sonoran Desert,that one is Real!It is not a Desert like you are accustomed to but,it is a forbidding place no less.Cheers!

ummm
There is an episode with the title ( Botswana ) on the MWW show, but haven't seem an episode titled " sonoran desert". And frankly I didn't like the show in general. The guy looks like an apprentice comedian , rather than "special forces expert". Just my humble opinion.

In any case, I am a city guy and only have a small interest in wildreness (desert) survival for the off chance that I find myself in a bad situation on long highways. It is many years since I have gone out to desert on our work. I have left that stuff for younger guys, and stuck myself to indoors type work.

These days, I am more focused on urban preparedness and dealing with in-house or in-door type survival situations. So, I have gone through CPR training ..etc.

I have started watching ( Survivors ) but will be some time before I have an opinion.

I don't know if we are talking about the same show but in You tube, there are 3 seasons, each season is 12 or 13 episodes.

I hope you're right Chisel. I just watched the end of Season 2 on Netflicks. They don't have a Season 3 but I'm in withdrawal so will seek it out. Thanks!

The BBC made two series called Survivors. One made 1975-77 and another in 2008 with its second season airing in 2010. The details of both are on wikipedia if you want to check for yourself, though from the length of the seasons I wought say you had the 1975-77 series.

Actually, my mistake. I'm talking about the modern version--this one.

The American DVD set that I have of this BBC TV show includes Series 1 and 2, so in my mind, it's just like one TV season in length. Again, such a shame it was cancelled, especially with a cliff hanger of an ending.

1975-77 ?? This explains the oooold nature of the show. So, then , I will skip to season 2 which seems to be seaon 1 of the modern version.

One point - irony - caught my attention although it maybe very insignificant to others here in the forum, and to this thread.

In episode 1 or 2 of survivors, most people have died and only a few survivors are left with all the stores open for them to take whatever they wanted.. One guy goes in a Rolls Royce showroom and drives off in a shopping spree. Funny thing is that in Britian where gas is very expensive, he took a new car and started driving around. In my country you will expect to get a new car with a FULL gas tank, however I always got a new car with less than half a liter of gas !!!! In 1979, I bought my first new car , drove it to the nearest gas station, and we had to push it the last 10 meters of the trip.

This year (2011), I bought a new car and had to ask my son to drive the other car ahead of me to make sure there is no obstacles to the gas station. I was driving the brand new car on gas fumes !!! So, I didn't envy that guy for driving a Rolls Royce, but rather for getting a new car and it has some gas in the tank !!!

Sorry for the subject detour , but I couldn't help notice that point.