The Gaming Den

Discovery channel has a new show called "The Colony" in which they put highly skilled people with various science degrees or handyman/machinist skills together with a two medical professionals and a fitness professional into what is deemed a post-apocalyptic setting.

premise: the world has been hit by a viral outbreak which has made it basically a postapocalyptic setting and these people mentioned above live in a 80,000 sqft. industrial warehouse while dealing with thugs and looters on motorcycles and pickup trucks mounted with guns.

Did I mention this is urban L.A?

the show is done nicely and often focuses on the various projects and stuff they do to survive such as making a sand/charcoal water filtration system or making up a generator made of a car engine and two alternators to power up twenty car batteries that have been parallel daisy chained.

They have no running water or power except what they can create from the LA river or from an ocassional rain storm.

Part of the show is scripted in that they throw motorcycle gangs or gun-toting traders at them. But supposedly the Colonists don't know that these people won't harm them.

I've seen the four episodes and it's a damned cool show.

Although, I completely wonder why these smart survivors don't do simple things like pick the leaves or the blossoms of the Orange tree while picking up oranges themselves. Their survival skills are good but I could totally help by teaching them good cooking tips.

Edit: let it be known that I really do hate reality shows but was pleasantly surprised by the awesome of this one.

So it really is what the previews showed....basically a reality version of Escape From LA/NY, but without Kurt Russel.

MacGuyver meets Mad Max if you will. I kind of place it like Living with the Wolfman, and Survivorman myself. Interesting premise, but don't care for reality TV.

Shows like these worry me, because you have to wonder what kind of people these are to do these things. Like Catch It Keep It.

But for the Colony, its premise is flawed. The first thing I would do cannot be done on a TV show, if it was really for survival. Like killing the gangs coming buy and taking their shit for myself.

They should have called it Urban Survivor. It might have more viewers that way. I might even watch it just to see what stupid shit the Survivors have to do.


I KNOW! They need to throw zombies at the colony! See how many could survive a zombie attack. That I would watch!

No.

It's in reality TV format. You have stupid interviews yakking constantly, interrupting the flow of work and things they're supposed to be doing and whining about things which have already happened.

I refuse to watch a program targeted at my interests when they use that really insulting completely-un-realistic-tv format.

-Crissa

Oh. The potty-cam type stuff from Survivor. Yeah, I will pass on that.

sounds ok, but the show would have been much more interesting if they took a bunch of lawyers, economists, communication people etc. and let them go wild.

Kobajagrande wrote:sounds ok, but the show would have been much more interesting if they took a bunch of lawyers, economists, communication people etc. and let them go wild.

That's called C-SPAN.

[/exit thread]

shadzar wrote:

Kobajagrande wrote:sounds ok, but the show would have been much more interesting if they took a bunch of lawyers, economists, communication people etc. and let them go wild.

That's called C-SPAN.

[/exit thread]

And do they go wild! I love that its the only channel on cable television that has cursing a lot without even being a premium channel.

The Colony lost it's luster when I realized: they lied to me. They contantly talk of this "Experiment" and what not, but it is still all staged. I honestly ceased to care when bikers attacked because the camera-man was right there! Seriously, call me non-pulsed when traders come rolling in with a fucking machine gun on national television. There is no danger, no suspense, only hype. I felt cheated and foolish for watching something so... fake. And I'm talking that it is more fake than Survivor. There is no money, no reward, no danger, and no drama. To be sure, there is melodrama, but if I wanted that I'd watch a damn soap opera.

Most of all, I am dissapointed in myself for getting excited about the series, and letting that excitement, for a time, blind me.

Hicks wrote:The Colony lost it's luster when I realized: they lied to me. They contantly talk of this "Experiment" and what not, but it is still all staged. I honestly ceased to care when bikers attacked because the camera-man was right there! Seriously, call me non-pulsed when traders come rolling in with a fucking machine gun on national television. There is no danger, no suspense, only hype. I felt cheated and foolish for watching something so... fake. And I'm talking that it is more fake than Survivor. There is no money, no reward, no danger, and no drama. To be sure, there is melodrama, but if I wanted that I'd watch a damn soap opera.

Most of all, I am dissapointed in myself for getting excited about the series, and letting that excitement, for a time, blind me.

This was basically my reaction to the preview I saw. I am not watching this unless someone can prove to me that there is a very real chance that the whole thing ends in cannibalism.

In a similar vein, I hear Mono is the best sexually transmitted disease.

-Username17

I ate a really good boot last night.

fine -- laugh -- but one day when the earth ends, I'll be the one with ALL the knowledge of how to survive because I watched this show...