Just watched a Discovery show, Armageddon Preppers. While the first session was ok, the second guy shown was a complete and utter nutcase.

Not going to debate the alien threat (specifically mentioned as what this gentleman is prepping for), but I don't figure covering yourself with mud a'la Ahnold in Predator will protect you from IR cameras. Nor will drinking from the toilet BOWL, even using a filter. Nor will having two green lights on your helmet that aim 20 feet in front of your off road dirt bike do much for visibility - at what speed can you safely stop or turn after reacting to an obstacle 20 feet in front of you? Oh yeah, he thinks aloe vera makes your skin coagulate - even the wife caught that.

I'm was utterly amused by the antics of this person, after realizing his reality meter was broken. Personally, I would be loathe to have him represent any segment of the prepper community. Great TV, poor impression of what preppers are.

I realize that most of the preppers prefer to remain low-key. I do. I'm just saddened that a TV crew thought this guy was mainstream. Then again, maybe they figured he was a few fries or apple slices short of a Happy Meal and figured it would be good TV. I'm betting the latter.

The title Armageddon Preppers should be hint enough that it´s not about regular disaster preparation. I would tend to believe that the crew took it as good show to get a bigger audience.
Let´s face it, real life preparation is mostly unspectacular and boring. It may not even make it into the news in case of adverse circumstances. In the case of a natural disaster, the news show people fighting over the last cans of beans in the store. They don´t show the people who bought their supplies months ago.

WARNING: TV is for entertainment purposes only, any similarity between what you see on TV and the real world is purely coincidental, although the producers and directors do like that some people take it seriously, it boosts ratings!

I think these shows are created for the "train wreck" viewership. The further off the rails the better! The production crew doesn't feel this guy is "normal" they think he's a loon and THAT'S good for getting attention and ratings!

I've watched a couple episodes of Doomsday Preppers on Youtube. Made me feel pretty good about myself

I much prefer Science Fiction to Reality TeeVee. At least with good SF they try to get the Physics right. One recent exception being the movie Gravity -- from what I hear they did not get the physics right. Pretty bad when you can't even trust SciFi. Entertainment, don't watch it to learn how gravity works.

Hmmm, an Apocalypse Toilet I suspect would be more like more like The worst toilet in Scotland inside a bookies somewhere in Edinburgh.

" Entertainment, don't watch it to learn how gravity works."
Hollywood, don't watch it to learn how sci-fi works.

I dunno. Hard to beat the stall in the tavern in the movie "Desperado". What a great façade that would make.

Having said that, I can believe things could be pretty bad in Edinburgh. I saw the movie "Trainspotting", and was fairly astonished when Ewan MacGregor climbed out of the toilet.

"WARNING: TV is for entertainment purposes only, any similarity between what you see on TV and the real world is purely coincidental"

so very true.
Hollywood is "mirrors and lights". they convey an image. they use actors. its all trick photography - an illusion game. TV and Hollywood rarely, if ever, show how things are done in the real world. There are exceptions, such as when a few programs and documentaries (and I do mean few) take you inside the world of real people and you can see how they think, train, and act. but for the most part Hollywood sells an image and a story ... that is their game, and its all they've got.

Pete2

I think they look for loons to put on these reality TV shows. More likely people will watch them.

TV is Entertainment First, Useful Information will be in small bits and sometime only accidental if it does not slow down the drama or entertainment value. If you find 10% of a show useful and realistic it a keeper!

Where's the TV entertainment value in plain, common sense advice? As a TV producer, what would give the most rating? A loonie that says something incredible stupid about how camel urine could aid survival in the Gobi desert? Or a normal person speaking of why you really should leave a note of where you're going and when you'll be back?

So, although most "normal" people have much better use for their time than making reality shows -- they also make for incredible dull TV.

Straight advice doesn't always inevitably mean boring TV, but it does require more effort from the producing staff. Some years ago, PBS had a very informative show along these lines. It lasted about three seasons, IIRC

Do you recall the title? I remember seeing a show that was decent, but it doesn't sound as good as the one you're talking about.

The other day I tried to watch an episode of Doomsday Bunkers, and did it drive me bunkers. People probably file the "survival" shows under "maybe I'll have to do this when I crash a plane int he Andes." But these home-based prep shows will give people the wrong idea of what economically and socially viable emergency preparation is about. They'll make people think preparation means spending a million dollars on an underground compound in a secret location, with tons of guns and ammo. That will deter people from doing some basic things that could come in handy when the storm hits.

When is Martin doing a show?

Title? What title? I do recall that the host was John Viehman, then the editor of Backpacking magazine... He would do segments with various experts, so they were always shifting locales and activities, typically three or four segments per show. That did a lot to keep the interest up.

Is that it? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570073/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Trailside: Make Your Own Adventure (1994–2003)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailside)

By the way, just watched the Hours movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2094018/ - total (and also misleading ) nonsense survival wise.

Bingo! Yes, that's the show. Looks like it was on longer than I thought.

Definitely looks like a non-crazy show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o6YXlfXNnk

That reminds me: I've always wanted to do dog sledding!

I sometimes watch the Prepper shows just to see what whack job they put on TV this week.
Personally, going on TV would be the last thing I would do.
And in my book ...only and idiot preps for ONE scenario ....or even chooses ONE as his/her most likely disaster scenario as in my book there are several realistic threats to destabilizing your everyday life ....however ...none will be very exciting to watch on TV ....which gets us back to how these folks are chosen ....at least in my opinion....its who would have the greater shock value.
Does make for some entertaining discussions and a bit of laughter are home when one is on ... nothing like laughter to take the edge off every now and again.