Alaska Reality Shows--FAKE???----Say it isn't so...

[ARtraveler]

This article was copied from a Yahoo "news" offering.

Is this mortifying era of northern overexposure ever going to end?Here in Alaska, TV crews have been everywhere the last few years, clutching scripts for “unscripted” shows and handing out confidentiality agreements, asking us to play along. A friend in my hometown who runs a cute bakery by the beach turned down six different producers in the last year. Not everyone is so selective. Several dozen of these “reality” shows have made it to cable — most of them populated by nutty eccentrics and paid for with state subsidies.
So much is exaggerated or flat made up. We see acquaintances exclaim about the indoor plumbing as they shop for houses that we know aren't really for sale.-

Out near my cabin in the remote Wrangell Mountains last summer, a friend and I counted four shows being filmed within a 60-mile radius of our conversation. As we spoke, a truck pulled up in front of his gift shop bearing the logo for a fifth one: “Slednecks,” an MTV production about booze-fueled hijinks in former Gov. Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla.
I get why it's popular: Uncouth behavior and flimflam have been part of the American frontier narrative since Davy Crockett's day. We Alaskans are happy to see our friends make easy money playing characters based on themselves. For example, the droll stage presence and lifelong improvisational habits of my neighbors, the Kilchers, come off well in “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” But why must the narrator pretend they are locked in some desperate struggle to survive, without ever mentioning the three supermarkets in town, to say nothing of that nice locavore bakery by the beach?


So much is exaggerated or flat made up. We see acquaintances exclaim about the indoor plumbing as they shop for houses that we know aren't really for sale. We watch them cry out in mock alarm as they fall into icy rivers with dry suits hidden under their Carhartts. Bristol Bay fishermen formally protest errors on Animal Planet's “Battle on the Bay.” Eskimos object to their portrayal on TLC's “Escaping Alaska.”

Nervous perhaps about dabbling in such a veracity-challenged business, the Alaska State Troopers finally pulled the plug on their eponymous series. The move came not long after a defense lawyer suggested that his client had been singled out for an investigation of hunting violations because his “Wild West Alaska” show aired on Animal Planet and the troopers' show was on National Geographic Channel.

What's strange is that this cringe-worthy montage has been subsidized by the state of Alaska. One-third or more of a production's costs can be refunded through a film incentive program launched under Palin in 2008. The idea was to attract feature films, create local jobs and publicize the state's charms. But there was a backlash — some legislators didn't like it when actor Ted Danson showed up on a film set to lecture them on the environment, while others complained about $360,000 paid to support Bristol Palin's short-lived show about being a single mom. The state responded by making everything confidential, so we don't even know how much this is costing. The state paid out $44 million up to 2013, and probably at least that much more since then. Officials say the majority has gone to TV, with 29 unscripted programs applying for subsidies last year.


The low point came last fall when cast members in “Alaskan Bush People” were charged in court with fraud. The defendants were known to TV viewers as a long-haired family of nine “discovered” by the Discovery Channel living so far from civilization that they would “go six to nine months of the year without seeing an outsider,” according to the series' website. Season one ended with the family abandoning an unfinished cabin, fleeing gunshots in green-lighted night scenes. Reporters asked questions. No vigilante gunfire had been reported to state troopers, but a fed-up neighbor in the rural subdivision passing for deep wilderness did admit he launched fireworks to scare off the helicopter dangling a Cineflex camera system over his backyard.
There's nothing illegal, of course, about making things up and calling it reality on television. If there were, Alaska's courts would be jammed with complaints about staged “accidents,” grizzly bears filmed in game parks and Safeway supermarkets airbrushed from the survivalist landscape.

The Alaskan Bush People, however, were accused of submitting fraudulent applications for Permanent Fund dividends, the oil-money checks that go to state residents every year. According to prosecutors, the “Alaskan Bush People” faked even being full-time Alaskans.
The lesson: Say what you want about us, but don't mess with our oil money. At least the dip in global oil prices may rescue our reputation. Alaska's newly elected independent governor, Bill Walker, says plummeting tax revenues will probably mean shutting down the state film subsidies. Like so much else in the non-fantasy state of Alaska, the public humiliation of our crab fishermen, gold miners and hippie homesteaders seems unlikely to survive the loss of government underwriting.

The article speaks for itself. Not all of us are hillbillies, bupkisses, or hippies. I have no problem with any of the above, but the image that these shows project are way out there. A lot of the "Alaskan" characters are brought in from "outside" just because they fit a particular show stereotype that they are looking for.

[Bob Denman]

The Missus has always felt that the Brown Family was about as real as the bustline of most Hollywood starlets...
Question: What about "Deadliest Catch"? That's the show that kind of started things rolling; isn't it?

[Cruzr Joe]

The article speaks for itself. Not all of us are hillbillies, bumpkises, or hippies. I have no problem with any of the above, but the image that these shows project are way out there. A lot of the "Alaskan" characters are brought in from "outside" just because they fit a particular show stereotype that they are looking for.




Next you will be telling me that wrestling is fixed.


Cruzr Joe

[ARtraveler]

The article speaks for itself. Not all of us are hillbillies, bumpkises, or hippies. I have no problem with any of the above, but the image that these shows project are way out there. A lot of the "Alaskan" characters are brought in from "outside" just because they fit a particular show stereotype that they are looking for.




Next you will be telling me that wrestling is fixed.


Cruzr Joe

No way can that be. Your just kidding aren't you?

[ARtraveler]

The Missus has always felt that the Brown Family was about as real as the bustline of most Hollywood starlets...
Question: What about "Deadliest Catch"? That's the show that kind of started things rolling; isn't it?

There is a lot of "drama" that pops up to make the show interesting. I would say, take some or most with a grain of salt. The show started out pretty interesting but gets a little more far out each season.

Some observations about Ultimate Survivor from another thread.

"And lately, they have not even been out in the "wilderness." A couple weeks ago they were going down a river to the ocean. The river follows a road that is less than 50 ft. from the river. A ride that I do at least twice a year on the . The ocean shot was Turnagain Arm, right next to the Seward Highway and full of tourists. They filmed the south side where you cannot see the road because of the tree line. The pick up area was in a wetlands right next to the Seward Highway--which was not shown of course.

One of my scheduled rides with the North to Alaska bunch will cover the Ultimate Survival route. I bet we won't even get wet--unless it rains.


"If anyone watched Ultimate Survival Alaska last night, the bear BS and bear lore was running rampant when they were on Kodiak Island amongst the Kodiak bears. Did anyone catch the fake stuffed bears at least twice in the program? "

And...don't forget the "ever popular?" Gold Rush. I hope they put that one out of its misery after this season. "

[Cruzr Joe]

No way can that be. Your just kidding aren't you?

Let me call HULK Hogan and ask him


Cruzr Joe

[cuznjohn]

i like a few of the shows, i like the state trooper show, but this is the last season. i also like Yukon men, Alaska the last frontier, and i can't remember the name of the one where people live off the grid. the show wild west guns is a farce but if you look them up, they have a really big shop in Alaska and Vegas.

[ARtraveler]

i like a few of the shows, i like the state trooper show, but this is the last season. i also like Yukon men, Alaska the last frontier, and i can't remember the name of the one where people live off the grid. the show wild west guns is a farce but if you look them up, they have a really big shop in Alaska and Vegas.

I also like and watch a few of the shows. I have my hip waders on for what I have mentioned above. The scenery is for real and some of it is much closer than you are led to think it is. I have some prime Alaska Wilderness in my back yard. I just would have to watch the photographic angles to not show the neighbors house or the road.

This is a great place to live in or visit.

[mowin]

What??....wait....reality shows aren't real?. I watch them for the scenery! But mostly to pick apart the BS.... I've never even been to Alaska, and I know there fake.
Not sure if part of Ax Men is filmed in Alaska, but that show is a joke...

[cuznjohn]

I also like and watch a few of the shows. I have my hip waders on for what I have mentioned above. The scenery is for real and some of it is much closer than you are lead to think it is. I have some prime Alaska Wilderness in my back yard. I just would have to watch the photographic angles to not show the neighbors house or the road.

This is a great place to live in or visit.

i would love to go see Alaska, but i am not really a traveler

[bruiser]

I like Railroad Alaska. But even that is pretty much "scripted." Some of the scenes are even recycled. And the folks that live off the grid are something to say the least. Hate to see Alaska State Troopers go. Edge of Alaska is another of those "unscripted" shows. I seriously doubt McCarthy is a town where people "don't want to be found". And I suspect it's bigger than the producers let on.

I guess we could say that reality shows in general, are not.

[PrairieSpyder]

We watch Gold Rush. I used to watch Alaska: Last Frontier, but I got tired of all the "have to get the cows home and kill something or we won't survive the winter" stuff.

[ARtraveler]

I like Railroad Alaska. But even that is pretty much "scripted." Some of the scenes are even recycled. And the folks that live off the grid are something to say the least. Hate to see Alaska State Troopers go. Edge of Alaska is another of those "unscripted" shows. I seriously doubt McCarthy is a town where people "don't want to be found". And I suspect it's bigger than the producers let on.

I guess we could say that reality shows in general, are not.

Also hate to see Alaska State Troopers go. I have not seen to much BS in that one.

Edge of Alaska is all about the "characters." McCarthy draws a few tourists in, but the drive is a bit daunting to some. The Milepost shows a current population of 51. The Main St. section is as small as the program implies, but that is probably the most "reality" you will find on the show. They did not show the Kennicott Glacier Lodge which is a fine tourist place. www.KennicottLodge.com About 10 miles further down the McCarthy Road.

Very good information about McCarthy on the link.

[ARtraveler]

What??....wait....reality shows aren't real?. I watch them for the scenery! But mostly to pick apart the BS.... I've never even been to Alaska, and I know there fake.
Not sure if part of Ax Men is filmed in Alaska, but that show is a joke...

They were doing a segment that was supposed to be in the Tongass Forest (near Juneau). It is possible it was filmed somewhere more "convenient." The movie "The Edge" was supposed to take place in Alaska, but was not filmed here either. A very good movie though. I like to show it to visiting guests.