Shipping Wars is a show on A&E that follows several truck owners as they bid and transport loads of weird and unusual stuff.

Season 4 episodes 1&2...

They are not bright. They drive trucks and they mouth off and they truly, spectacularly screw up.

One of the young and inexperienced drivers got two capuchin monkeys to ship.

This fool is cheap and sleeps on a hammock in his truck.

He didn't know that Capuchin Monkeys are active at night. Screamers really. So he got a hotel room.

think of that -- Just try to book pets in a hotel room. Then think again. Try to book a hotel room with two monkeys.

well, $300 in cleaning fees (yes they had cages but for some stupid reason he let them out without diapers and without leashes thinking that they might be quiet. Ever heard of a quiet jungle?) Those little guys are fast and can really jump and hang on everything.

Another pair of bright lights converted their truck to run on used oil. They almost got arrest trying to suck used oil out of the oil trap in the back of a restaurant. 2000 miles later they discover it helps to call ahead to restaurants and ask them if they have the right consistency of waste oil and ask them if you can take it off their hands.

Well, some nights it is better than politics or "Murder She Wrote" repeats.

You know TV land stopped making shows about 10 years ago when they discovered they can get people to do stupid things it cost less they don't need to pay writers and this is why the best stuff comes out of the UK not the USA. I will not watch reality shows, they are neither.

River

well, Graham Norton comes out of the UK and so did Benny Hill.

I'll leave those shows floating in the air like fugitive emissions without comment.

It's one thing to put together shows like MYTHBUSTERS and DIRTY JOBS which are silly but have some sort of redeeming quality.

SO I am not completely down on reality shows.

It's entirely another to put out shows like SHIPPING WARS (which is porn for stupid people) and DUCKS INC (which is the white-form of southern minstrel show and porn for {censored}...) Or the ongoing horrific trash of CUPCAKE WARS which is a true atrocity.

I might crap all over REVOLUTION and ARROW and CONTINUUM and WAREHOUSE 13 -- but at least they try to write scripts and try to make their stories literate in some way. The shows might be awful IMHO but they try.

That's why a SPARTACUS or a GAME OF THRONES or a BREAKING BAD or a SOPRANOS and other shows succeed and get large audiences. Or those vampire shows set in the south or TREME or GLADES ... I might say they are trashy writing but at least they aren't simply putting people on the air to act stupid and be laughed at.

That's what's wrong with "Reality TV"

It replaces even mediocre writing and acting with nothing but edited buffoonery that should only appeal to the bullies in us.

{The soapbox is going food shopping so he can eat.}

Shipping wars, what a joke. I can say this having worked for the biggest mover in the world, United Van Lines/Mayflower, I worked for a section that did nothing but logistics, which is what this show is about, and believe me we did it with little fan fare and made lots of money.

River

One "reality show" (notice the quote marks!!!) I've been watching has been "Breaking Amish". I can relate to it on several levels, I suppose: rustic charm vs urban, 17thC language vs modern English, community vs independent living, wanting to get back to the old ways but knowing you must embrace the new, making your way in this strange world where you just don't seem to belong. I suppose sometimes those reality shows can kind of find their place into your heart. The one thing do not understand about it though is how in the world could they ever be making it on their own financial wise? Oh! But it must be from their stipend from being filmed.

Of course. If you want something shipped without fuss you go to a company with a reputation.

The producers of these shows pick people and pay them to be stupid.

This show is a prime example of pennywise and pound-foolish.