The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Music, Books, Film, Theatre, TV... => Topic started by: Scotsdumpy on July 20, 2016, 09:53:18 am
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Anyone seen this? Watched the first episode and wasn't too impressed..... basically its a group of youngish people living in the scottish highlands trying to make a new start without modern day technology. They have a vet, doctor, shepherd, life coach, chef, forager, adventurer, etc etc.... in this episode they killed a pig, lost half the flock of sheep, let a goat into the feedstore where it ate all the chicken pellets - suffice to say it died a very painful death while the vet watched on...
I think they are trying to emulate castaway but I'm not sure!
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yeah seems like castaway-reloaded.
I suppose it's on the back of the bear grylls stuff, as that's been pretty popular I think.
I Didn't rate the first episode too highly either.
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I was hopeful for this series because they have some supposedly useful skills in the mix (except perhaps a life coach, whatever that is ???) But it's just the same old same old. It's all about a total lack of organisation, having big long meetings to decide what to do, but all they do is arrange the next meeting. You've got the lazy one, the loner who hates everyone else, the one who has some oomph but no-one else does, the total lack of commitment - the veg garden starts off with choosing a (rather rubbish) site for the polytunnel, getting the hoops up but then no-one can be bothered to dig it, or get all the plants they've brought planted. They only have a year so they'd better pull their fingers out. Killing one of their pigs, which I think was a pregnant sow, is so short sighted as to be unbelievable: they could have given themselves meat from some of the kids, the fisherman could have done better than one fish in the month, and there should have been plenty of eggs.
As for the total idiocy of living on the beach and refusing to move inland - have they never watched the news and seen the size and height of the waves that come ashore along that coast?
But surely that's the whole point - you watch it so you can jump up and down, tell the TV just how dense and annoying these folk are, then feel superior because you would have done so much better :eyelashes: Doubtless I'll keep on watching it if for no other reason.
Someone on TAS mentioned this when it was at the planning stage, but I've forgotten who it was.
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I'm beginning to think I'm glad I missed it, recording another channel and I had to be outside.
Vet stood by while goat died a painful death? Surely there should be some comeback on that? Glad I didn't see that :-[
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At first I think they did well, chef got straight on with cooking, then they got the kitchen up and running, built a sleeping shack, dug a loo, built the meeting teepee, hot shower = well done for week 1!
There don't seem to have been meetings with the big questions asked, namely;
Where should we be planning on settling permanently? What should our dwelling/s be like?
What does each animal NEED for them to thrive?
What would make the best place/soil for poly tunnel?
Should hunter and fisherman (others) be out getting food every day?
What are our priorities?
I would have thought some of this stuff should have been on the list for big discussions. But it's all edited, so maybe they are super organised..?
They think they can get the place set up and thrive with a 6 hour working day... Good luck with that!
Everyone knew the goats needed shut away. They were peeing and pooing in the sleeping shed, eating food out of the kitchen. As well as hygiene it was a Matter of time before start eating stuff they shouldn't be and getting ill. The vet was keen enough to tell shepherdess to find the lost sheep for their welfare but didn't bother to tell group "we need to build goat pen/house ASAP."
I will be watching; I hope they can get away from the soppy watching sunsets and get some more building work and decisions done.
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I was hoping to watch, but OH said he couldn't bear to (sounds like he made the right decision) so I recorded to watch later this week purely out of interest, but shame it sounds like they are not doing a great job
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:rant:
It was the kind of show that makes you shout at the TV. I am surprised all the goats aren't dead. They let them run around and eat anything they want and theybarely had a 3 sided shelter.
The loner had the good idea of moving to a sheltered spot and make a home out of wood but his execution was poor and alienated himself.
I think there hay will end up getting ruined and their plants are going to grow poorly.
Just got to remember its for "entertainment" so they aren't going to get really serious people involved
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But should animals suffer in the name of Entertainment?
The company should be taken to task for not having someone responsibility for animal welfare.
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You have to wonder what the vet's background is? Surely not farm livestock - he didn't seem to have a clue with the poor goat. Anyway he seemed too busy getting p****d and having it off with the lazy life coach ::). Maybe of course all his efforts prior to the goats death were edited out??
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The shepherdess didnt look to clever either! little bo peep has lost her sheep and doesnt know where to find them! :roflanim: :roflanim:
As for the show and how the contestants are all behaving, its very reminicent of when I sailed with a group of strangers round the world. There are a few people who can see what is coming ahead and are prepared to put the work in, but the vast majority just want to down tools and have a holiday. Which I'm sure will be fine for a while, but I have sneaky suspicion mother nature is going to give them a very nasty wake up call/reality check. The outcast with his cabin in the woods might be very popular soon :)
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I have seen it advertised, but dismissed it am not very keen on reality TV shows like that.
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I must admit I watched some of it, but was tsking and shaking my head pretty early on. The premise is a good one, but oh dear some of the people, I cant see 2 or 3 of them not lasting long at all, attitude was terrible, " we only want to work 5 hrs a day" and "I dont need to work if I dont want to" were two absolute crackers.
The carpenter and the adventurer, best of the bunch, chef, hands on, good, but what happens if he falls ill, leaves. Shepherdess, Vet, hmm, but willing to put the effort in, the rest, most vocal, wanting to discuss everything, get them off their collective backsides and working, GofT phrase "Winter is coming" and they are no where near prepared.
You cannot run a situation like that without a leader and hierarchy, you want to rotate the roles, great, someone leaves, gets ill, another can step in.
I think they are going to fail abysmally, and very quickly if someone doesnt take charge.
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But should animals suffer in the name of Entertainment?
The company should be taken to task for not having someone responsibility for animal welfare.
The production company put a shepherdess and qualified vet in... I would have thought that would have ticked the box. There's something like 24 in lame ewes, 5 pregnant sows, 8 goats with kids, chickens and the shepherd's dog, doesn't sound too unmanageable :-\
On the one hand, if they can grow the young animals on, they'll have plenty of meat for the winter months.
Surely they should be thinking: animals safe, veg plot going well, fishing and hunting to keep our supplies going and some sort of log cabins that will stand up to a year's habitation through Scottish winter.
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I watched this and thought what a bunch of stupid people. Very little thought about looking after the animals that they will need for food. Building a winter home for them all that will stand up to gale force winds. A few getting off with each other, making booze. ( so important not. ) It came across that there would be little hope for our race if this sort were all that were left after a major event that was to wipe most of us out. A bunch of moaning wimps who have given themselves a 6 hour working day !
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But should animals suffer in the name of Entertainment?
The company should be taken to task for not having someone responsibility for animal welfare.
The production company put a shepherdess and qualified vet in... I would have thought that would have ticked the box. There's something like 24 in lame ewes, 5 pregnant sows, 8 goats with kids, chickens and the shepherd's dog, doesn't sound too unmanageable :-\
On the one hand, if they can grow the young animals on, they'll have plenty of meat for the winter months.
Surely they should be thinking: animals safe, veg plot going well, fishing and hunting to keep our supplies going and some sort of log cabins that will stand up to a year's habitation through Scottish winter.
Also I am guessing that they have vets on hand within the film crew, in case of emergency. This is reality Tv and although its called that it really isn't as good as if it were real life, it is for Tv after all, so they can't let anything terrible happen to the animals or they would be in serious trouble.
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It's the fact that folk watch his sort of tripe that keeps 'reality' TV shows going. I don't have a TV licence, wouldn't watch it anyway and will take a fair bet that it's a bunch of 20-somethings with qualifications and no experience. I'd also bet they have an endless supply of toothpaste, feminine hygeine products and nail varnish and probably a string of smart mobile homes parked just out of sight - and probably a better mobile phone signal and internet connection than I can get.
TV rating will depend on who bonks whom or manages to get themselves filmed with their pants down and the whole slew of players will have been carefully selected by psychologists looking for conflict and disunity.
<rant over>
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It is one up from that pgkevet, it is filmed by remote operated cameras and embedded crew - several camera people make up the 24 people living there; they don't see anyone from outside. I don't think there's any phones/laptops on site, but maybe they are sneaked in so no one falls behind on net flicks releases..? Don't think anyone's had makeup on. Im not surprised that many are 20's, they have to take a year out of their normal lives.
It's not a usual reality to program, aimed at big brother/only way is Essex viewers, rather all the people that dream about adventure and 'simple life'.
If I thought it was a fake as you describe, I wouldn't be watching it either! :huff:
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Recorded the repeat last night, came in (after last top up for goats), and their goat was obviously unwell, after reading on here what happened I couldn't bear it and switched off.
Not good enough, if they can't take care of the animals they shouldn't have them.
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I quite enjoyed it because it does what it says on the tin - what would things be like if a disparate group of people had to start from (relative) scratch. There will be mistakes, like the poor prioritisation of needs and the animal mishaps, but that's part of any group learning. Since we only see a tiny proportion of events we also can't know how some things occurred, for example why the sheep were lost for a few days.
I agree they also need leadership but unless you are already in a clear hierarchical situation it can be hard for one to emerge quickly.
Food, fire, shelter, water. The order depends on the location but so far at least two of these are inadequately covered. But it's probably only June (we won't have seen footage right up to date yet) and they started in March. There is time, the group has to settle down before it can really effectively perform.
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I agree, was hoping for something a bit more, but am sure it is heavily edited as is most reality TV and it wouldn't attract big audiences if it was done with no problems.
I was pleased they had been given a gun to kill the pig humanely though, that could have gone very wrong and that would indeed by cruelty.