Metal detecting tv show

[ramer]

Most of these shows are scripted. Like American Pickers, Storage Wars, Meteorite Men, Pawn Stars, Gold Fevor, etc. There are shoving matches, mouth battles, etc. It's a Hollywood production and we all know that Hollywood will do what ever it takes to make a profit. The show will have to be interesting enough to draw in an audience which means maybe staging fake hostilites and events that might not be too flattering. Planting gold coins, nuggets, old relics, etc to give the impression that you just buy a detector and start finding this stuff everyday by digging up parks and people's yards. In my opinion, the stealthier we are and the more we fly under the radar the better off we are. As you can tell, I am not one of Hollywood's biggest fans. Now all it needs is Alec Baldwin as the narrator.

[hawgdawg]

im sure the dealers would benefit , not sure what it would do for the rest of us

[ramer]

If the show is based on reality then it will show that people go detecting for 5hours every day for a week and come away with a few bucks in coins, all clad, worth nothing. This amounts to about 10 cents an hour. It will show people being told not to dig there or homeowners refusing permission. But none of this would be interesting enough to attract and keep an audience. The production will have to engage in embellishments, poetic license as they like to call it. All of a sudden it is no longer a reality show. It is a TV show with spin.

[SE-5]

Originally Posted by ramer

Most of these shows are scripted. Like American Pickers, Storage Wars, Meteorite Men, Pawn Stars, Gold Fevor, etc. There are shoving matches, mouth battles, etc. It's a Hollywood production and we all know that Hollywood will do what ever it takes to make a profit. The show will have to be interesting enough to draw in an audience which means maybe staging fake hostilites and events that might not be too flattering. Planting gold coins, nuggets, old relics, etc to give the impression that you just buy a detector and start finding this stuff everyday by digging up parks and people's yards. In my opinion, the stealthier we are and the more we fly under the radar the better off we are. As you can tell, I am not one of Hollywood's biggest fans. Now all it needs is Alec Baldwin as the narrator.

I agree 100%. also: Some of you guys are VERY good at making videos of your hunts. This would be a good time to start making some that highlight the reality of MDing, the more difficult side, the learning curve aspect, the reality of NOT finding gold rings and 1000 year old artifacts every time you go out. Load up Youtube with them now. Oh how I hate reality TV.

[CoiltoSoil]

One show I would have liked to have seen made would be based on Ed Fedory and his Cellar Hole hunts. I use to love reading his "The Relic Hunter" Articles in W&E. He made some awesome finds and I loved the early colonial and French and Indian War stuff he use to find by the dozens.

[DIGGER27]

Originally Posted by outwardjourney

It's NOT him hurting the hobby, it's the idea that comes across. Look at a movie, say, Fast and Furious... good movie in general, the public outcry came out because all the teenie boppers went and hot rodded their honda cars and started killing themselves. Before that it was an 'underground' type of thing and the media attention and under-informed went out and tried to mimic what they saw.

I work in TV/FILM and I will tell you that most people do not understand that a TON of the shows are staged, but people want to go try their hand at what they see on TV. There is no separation from reality in many viewers, which is what makes it entertaining. Look at the storage shows. How many people do you think watch those and think they can go buy a unit and make big bucks, tons. Reality is we shoot hundreds of storage units to find a few that might be TV worthy.

I still say we are all gonna be scr**ed once these types of shows get on the air.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=79154

[whitesmd]

Originally Posted by SE-5

NOTHING good could come out of this for the current users, period. Like Digger said before, the effects will last forever. In fact had I known this was in the works, I would not of even bothered to get into it..... I've seen first hand the damage TV shows can do.

This is the absolute truth.

[outwardjourney]

Originally Posted by HarveyH48

Got a hunch the show will be mostly a couple of guys walking, swinging their coils, chatting it up, then 'beep', dig, gold coin (or any number of awesome treasures). I'd expect the most unrealistically expensive equipment, the sponsors can supply. It's not going to be any sort of documentary, it'll be purely attention grabbing, wallet draining entertainment. It's going to focus on what sells the most, and the best. They'll make so effortless, and rewarding, to make feel stupid for not doing it all along. Doesn't really matter what the 'star' wants in the show, it's the producer's call, and he is going to want to gather a following, and sponsor bucks, fill a season on the tube, move on to the next project.

That is exactly what is going to happen. Having worked "reality" shows before, most of the process is done in the editing. You may work a few days recording the show, and spit out a 45min show in editing those days together. It is strictly absurd. But media speaks volumes in the united states. People believe what they see on TV. As long as they believe, they will keep producing this kind of poop.

My current favorite show on TV is Gold Rush. For a few reasons. Sure it's fire came from the increase in gold prices, but it does show a bit of reality to it. Spend $10K of money in fuel costs, equipment breakdowns, parts, etc. Only to find a gold picker or less than an ounce of gold worth a fraction of the fuel costs spent. It's a good reality that people need to see. You can just dig it up and expect to find gold. It's a good one. So far it's been on for 2 seasons and no one's struck it rich.

Originally Posted by hawgdawg

im sure the dealers would benefit , not sure what it would do for the rest of us

True... it would help the dealers. BUT ultimately, if restrictions and laws are put more into place against metal detecting, it starts to hurt those dealers in the end. I have seen it before where laws have forced businesses to close up shop in their own states due to outlawing certain goods/services.

Originally Posted by ramer

If the show is based on reality then it will show that people go detecting for 5hours every day for a week and come away with a few bucks in coins, all clad, worth nothing. This amounts to about 10 cents an hour. It will show people being told not to dig there or homeowners refusing permission. But none of this would be interesting enough to attract and keep an audience. The production will have to engage in embellishments, poetic license as they like to call it. All of a sudden it is no longer a reality show. It is a TV show with spin.

We still call it reality in the business. With a spin, yes... but it is more of a Jerry Springer type of spin.

[Dirt Nuker]

Originally Posted by outwardjourney

That is exactly what is going to happen. Having worked "reality" shows before, most of the process is done in the editing.

You work in the TV biz too?

Sounds like a stupid series really. Drag out a has-been celebrity and throw him in front of a camera. I see that they ordered 13 episodes. Let's hope it's the only episodes they are doing. Can't find out where they're shooting the series or when production is happening.

If you want the show to go away, the best advice is to not watch it,talk about it, email about it, talk about it on facebook....just ignore it 100%. The fact it's on Spike TV is already strike one. That network has degraded into slime over the years.

[Jimb0]

More MD = less stuff for me. TV show bad!!

[Backwash]

Originally Posted by ramer

Most of these shows are scripted. Like American Pickers, Storage Wars, Meteorite Men, Pawn Stars, Gold Fevor, etc. There are shoving matches, mouth battles, etc. It's a Hollywood production and we all know that Hollywood will do what ever it takes to make a profit. The show will have to be interesting enough to draw in an audience which means maybe staging fake hostilites and events that might not be too flattering. Planting gold coins, nuggets, old relics, etc to give the impression that you just buy a detector and start finding this stuff everyday by digging up parks and people's yards. In my opinion, the stealthier we are and the more we fly under the radar the better off we are. As you can tell, I am not one of Hollywood's biggest fans. Now all it needs is Alec Baldwin as the narrator.

I'm holding to this guys thought! "In my opinion, the stealthier we are and the more we fly under the radar the better off we are."

[robby4570]

It's the part about him using a "VERY LARGE BULLDOZER" that bothers me!

But who knows, , maybe some greedy home owners who are too lazy to get an MD and learn it will call on some of us when they see us in the parks..... Might get us more access to property that we might never have gotten.

[FuzzyBBA]

Just throwing my two cents in, but does anyone remember their series 'Coal'? Don't get me wrong, there are hill billies here in West Virginia, but they made us look like pure hicks on that show... May not be a good thing...

[CoiltoSoil]

It reminds me of the "Hunt for Jesse James Treasure" show. The guys in matching military uniforms and guns searching for caches. They just happened to dig 2 signals all show and both turned out to be caches of silver and gold coins none of which where linked to Jesse James. So basically they walked into a huge field and just happened to walk right across the path of 2 random mason jar caches in seperate locations. How often does this happen in real life? Obviously it was staged, the chances of anything like that happening are slim to none.