Truth vs Reality
Mystery Diners has completely lost my respect as a show with any reality to it. That had been one of my favorite shows for months and I made others watch it too, but now I change the channel and I've started telling others also.
Having employees of a service company to test staff under something like controlled conditions would be necessary, but I regarded the accusations of staging like that of those people who deny moon landings. There's enough stupid and incompetent people out in real shops that I've run into there should be no need for staging. The show brags about the number and location of the hidden cameras for captures.
We watched the MD episode "All In the Family," Episode YM0305H when it was first on. As as intended we were outraged when "After a firm apology and promise never to pull stunts like that again, Dee Dee has returned to work." This is insane, as anything that could shut a family business down, threatens the whole family for one spoiled brat. We watched it this week on re-air and the epilogue changed to (apologized and is working somewhere else). We watched the ending a second time to confirm what we heard. Looking for confirmation online, I found comments about the actress, the imdb listing for her, and comments from actual regulars that she didn't work there.
That makes this a cheesy marketing thing and NOT any kind of reality. The root of that word is 'real' not fiction. Fireworks and tainted food are not what people want long term, so this stunt makes the restaurant look like a Dive in the worst meaning; no owner should want that or be arm-wrestled to allow that by producers. When Unsolved Mysteries or other good shows have actors, they are credited and the enactment is noted on screen. This is fiction and meaningless as shown, as dramas don't pretend to be real.
This load of crap has also decreased my respect and trust for the other shows like Restaurant Impossible and Restaurant Stakeout. If I wanted scripted shows, there are much better ones out there, like Home Shopping Network.
Having employees of a service company to test staff under something like controlled conditions would be necessary, but I regarded the accusations of staging like that of those people who deny moon landings. There's enough stupid and incompetent people out in real shops that I've run into there should be no need for staging. The show brags about the number and location of the hidden cameras for captures.
We watched the MD episode "All In the Family," Episode YM0305H when it was first on. As as intended we were outraged when "After a firm apology and promise never to pull stunts like that again, Dee Dee has returned to work." This is insane, as anything that could shut a family business down, threatens the whole family for one spoiled brat. We watched it this week on re-air and the epilogue changed to (apologized and is working somewhere else). We watched the ending a second time to confirm what we heard. Looking for confirmation online, I found comments about the actress, the imdb listing for her, and comments from actual regulars that she didn't work there.
That makes this a cheesy marketing thing and NOT any kind of reality. The root of that word is 'real' not fiction. Fireworks and tainted food are not what people want long term, so this stunt makes the restaurant look like a Dive in the worst meaning; no owner should want that or be arm-wrestled to allow that by producers. When Unsolved Mysteries or other good shows have actors, they are credited and the enactment is noted on screen. This is fiction and meaningless as shown, as dramas don't pretend to be real.
This load of crap has also decreased my respect and trust for the other shows like Restaurant Impossible and Restaurant Stakeout. If I wanted scripted shows, there are much better ones out there, like Home Shopping Network.