Well I don't think it's ethical. It's not the concept of the program.
Right here in Olanda everything is now done through tele voting.
"Dancing with the stars" "Dancing on ice" "X-factor" "Idols" "Big Brother" "Just the two of us" "So you wanna be a popstar" EVERYTHING!
It's enough to drive a person insane! The programmes are okay to watch, but it's way too commercial!

You don't have "Stars in the jungle" in the Netherlands? They were in Australia, it was a pretty expensive show, and they had to eat bugs and such and doing other disgusting things. And that were prominent people. I really wonder why someone would do something like that. Didn't watch it.

Don't know why I should watch something like "Big Brother" either. Did this arrive in America yet, Devon? If not, you don't miss anything important

I have heard of it yes. An ultimate test whether celebs would survive? I believe there's a show or there will be one....

Celebrity Shock?

Ugh, I absolutely loathe reality TV! I just thought I'd add that.

Kind of like "Survivor" in the US? It sounds like it only Survivor is not celebrities. Never got into Survivor or Big Brother. Can't stand folks eating bugs!

Worst of it all is: Big Brother is Dutch from origin! We came up with smut like that!!!

Yeah, Extreme Makeover Home Edition is a great family show. No swearing, no sex and violence, just doing something good for someone who needs it. I just saw a great one this week, where they built a huge, beautiful house for a woman and her four grandchildren. Up to that time, they had all been living in a tiny (and I mean tiny!) trailer. If that weren't enough, they also gave college scholarships to all four kids, AND had a benefit concert for the family and raised something like $200,000 for them, as a nest egg. On top of all that, they sent the family to Disney World while their new house was being built.

Oh, and bonus: the host, Ty Pennington, is a lot of fun to watch. Really cute, totally sweet with the families, and has more energy than ten little kids. It's a blast to watch him surprising the families and keeping the building crew motivated.

Kind of like "Survivor" in the US? It sounds like it only Survivor is not celebrities. Never got into Survivor or Big Brother. Can't stand folks eating bugs!

*Begins eating bugs.* They're crunchy.

Yeah, Extreme Makeover Home Edition is a great family show. No swearing, no sex and violence, just doing something good for someone who needs it. I just saw a great one this week, where they built a huge, beautiful house for a woman and her four grandchildren. Up to that time, they had all been living in a tiny (and I mean tiny!) trailer. If that weren't enough, they also gave college scholarships to all four kids, AND had a benefit concert for the family and raised something like $200,000 for them, as a nest egg. On top of all that, they sent the family to Disney World while their new house was being built.

Oh, and bonus: the host, Ty Pennington, is a lot of fun to watch. Really cute, totally sweet with the families, and has more energy than ten little kids. It's a blast to watch him surprising the families and keeping the building crew motivated.

I've often thought it would be interesting to see some of those places in a years time to see if they still looked the same, or even if the people are still living in them or had to sell up because they couldn't afford to maintain the house.


Some of those houses would be pretty expensive to keep especially ones with special equipment in them.

And full of protein!

And full of protein!

Hmmz... when I think of something that's full of protein I tend to think of something else.


But that's completely different TV I guess....


Off to wash my mouth now....

I've only seen this show a couple times and maybe they've mentioned something and I missed it, but, being a homeowner I've wondered the same thing.

The only thing I can figure is, if the house has been given to them, there's no rent and no mortgage. $600 - $1400 can to along way if it doesn't have to go to "housing".

*shrugs* Maybe.. I dunno. Hate to think, 2-4 years from now those people are going to be right back in the same situation.

From what I understand, any mortgage on the old house is taken care of and the new house is completely free.

Hey anyone ever heard of a show called Q.E.D. ?

It was made in 1982.. and here in New Zealand actually filled the time slot later taken by MacGyver.

It was basically about a guy who was very MacGyver-like in his scientific knowledge and applying it to situations he found himself in.

I found this description on IMDB

The tales of Quentin E. Deverill, an eccentric expatriate American professor who uses his unique skills to solve mysteries in Edwardian London

SHEEPY!!! *mock horror*But I'm really ing.

I haven't heard of Q.E.D...Do you ever wonder if show creators get the seeds of creation for their shows by watching other shows? Can somebody tell me the inspiration of how Lee David Zlotoff invented MacGyver?

Xtreme Home Makeover... Ya I've wondered if the show provides any stipend for property taxes, maintenance etc. It seems like they may as well, as long as they're doing the rest. The families all seem truly deserving. As far as what the home's condition would be a few years later, I would guess that the producers (or whoever) screen the applicants so carefully to ensure that the people are really ready, willing, and able to take care of the grand kind of homes the show gifts people with. (At least I hope! I like to think the best of people! ) Doesn't it seem like the kind of show MacGyver would get behind though? Charity and all? I think so.

All you bug eaters and bug crunchers - you're sick!

Kind of like "Survivor" in the US? It sounds like it only Survivor is not celebrities. Never got into Survivor or Big Brother. Can't stand folks eating bugs!

Well, actually it was more like "Big brother in the jungle". Not much about surviving stuff there. Most of the day the celebrities were sitting around in their camp and fighting about who had to clean the toilet and who had to cook the meals.

The audience had fun in hearing them talking about the others when they thought nobody else could hear it. And once in a day someone had to make a nasty test, and people could call in and vote who had to do it today and they also could vote who had to leave the camp and in the end there was one jungle king or queen.

That's why I mentioned it John de Mol is to blame.

But I think, the really worst is, that the TV-stations keep arguing: "We only show what the audience wants to watch, and as long as the ratings are high we don't see any reason to change."

But I know a lot of people that doesn't want to watch that crap.

Unfortunately the sad truth is that TV shows live and die by ratings. The fact that these shows are still running means there are more people watching than not.

The problem with any system based on ratings or votes like this is that it will always cater to the lowest common denominator, so instead of setting high standards and ideals, we end up with smut and stupidity all over our TV screens because the biggest percentage of TV viewers are made up of hormone stupefied teenagers with nothing other than smut on their minds.

You start about seeds after my last post?!?!?!

I guess we agree on the fact we all like MacGyver better than present TV shows

He probably figured that it might be interesting to have a non-violent action hero and his name would be MacGyver!!
But I indeed wanna know he came up with the name 'MacGyver' just like how they came up with the name 'Magnum'.

Sheepy, did I Freudian slip or what?!

Ya MGod, that's what I want to know too... The origin of the name, also what was the inspiration of the show, like did Zlotoff let something from another show percolate in his brain, or did he really just think out of the blue that there was a market for a non-violent action hero?

Does anyone agree with me that "Fear Factor" is the dumbest show EVER? (No offense if anyone likes it.)

As I understand it, the idea for the show was actually conceived by Henry Winkler and John Rice.

They wanted to try a show which had a (somewhat) normal human-being as the hero, instead of pumped up Rambo types that just use a gun to solve problems.

I would assume Rice and Winkler handed the idea over to Zlotoff to come up with the actual details of the show.

It would be interesting to see/read/hear an interview with any (or all) of these 3 men to answer some of the questions we've raised.

Yes, very...Do you imagine there's anything like that out there? And by "out there" I guess I mean the internet...I wouldn't even begin to know where to look.

I really think it's very interesting, since "Rambo" types were the prevailing hero medium of the day. Arnold Shwarzenegger's "Terminator" etc. I remember thinking as a little kid that MacGyver was so cool because he COULD be real...

Maybe a dumb question...Is Henry Winkler the same one from that old show "Happy Days"?

The one and only true Fonz. And it had to be his idea because Happy Days lasted till 1984 and one year later MacGyver was born.
And Winkler's most recent appearance in a movie was Click with Adam Sandler as his father. In a flashback they show him with black hair and looks exactly like the Fonz.

Oh yeah…

That definitely proves that MacGyver was his idea.

Yep.. no doubt about it.

With that I mean there could be a good possibility.

OK Well thanks for your "help" boys... *teasing*

Just googled up Henry Winkler, who, it appears, was indeed The Fonze. Learned some interesting things...that he has dyslexia, and also that his parents were holocaust survivors. He's obviously overcome some challenges, and seems to be a very down to earth individual.

So it lists him as the producer and director of MacGyver, and also of the two MacGyver movies, but not as the creator of MacGyver...So am I correct in thinking that Zlotoff was the only creator of MacGyver? And that Winkler had nothing to do with the show's early conception?

Interesting to imagine how Winkler's parents experience must have given him very personal feelings and ideas for the 10% solution...

Does anyone remember a show from around the maybe mid-80's called "The Love Boat"? Apparently RDA was in it and even though my babysitter watched this show constantly, I have no memory of seeing him specifically, just other characters on the show, like Captain Stuebing and Isaac.

Also anyone watch "Family Ties", "The Walton's", or "Dukes of Hazzard"? I think all these shows are 80's or were on re-runs in the mid 80's.

I find I'm like really nostalgic lately for shows I used to watch in kindergarden. Everything was just simpler then...Does anyone ever unplug the phone, scoop up some strawberry ice cream, and just veg out with an old fashioned show from a simpler time? I do this with MacGyver too. Am I deranged? I can't tell if it's that TV was cleaner, or was the world really simpler, or was my life as a kid just simpler?

If anyone remembers an obscure show called "Punky Brewster" I will seriously die.

I just figured out what is happening to me. I am becoming an elderly person. THIS is exactly why elderly people always want to talk about "The good old days" and watch boring TV shows and listen to big band music. I'm so scared rite now.

I know exactly what you're talking about! To me, nothing that's on TV now compares to the shows I grew up with--they're so much more entertaining and seem to have more depth to them than a lot of current shows. "Back then," you couldn't get away with half of the garbage they show on TV now, which resulted in richer and more inventive storylines.

I don't think the world was simpler back then, though. Communism was a real threat, and there has always been violence. I just think these shows bring us back to our childhoods and times we enjoyed before the "real world" set in and made us more cynical.

It is scary to talk about "the good old days," and I'm only 27! Yeesh!