Thursday 4 July 2013

Whodidit?

There's a new tv series out there called Whodunnit? Unfortunately, it's not that one. This one is a reality tv series... hold on, hold on... in which people are at a mansion in which one of them is a killer and each episode one of them is killed off. The people get to investigate one of the crime scene, the last known whereabouts and the morgue(/body). And there's a bit where they try to solve a riddle/hunt for a clue.

But where it really shows up as a reality series is that they are all conniving about how much they talk to each other. Do they reveal the information they found out? Do they lie? Do they form coalitions? People are liked, people are annoying, and... it's all very 'reality tv' in the most despairing sense of the term.

As for the actual murder investigations themselves... having done various role playing game murder investigations in which the GM was a hard ass about the details, and these people trample all over everything. If it isn't written (metaphorically) in huge neon letters, they aren't seeing it. It's all overly contrived...

Which is another point. This is fake. Seriously fake. No-one is seriously taking it as serious (to be honest, the one having the most fun is the chap playing the butler). And yet... the people are acting like they really are under threat of being killed. Immersion is one thing, but are these people all just actors playing the parts of bad investigators? The first death was a total plant, and each person 'acts' in their own death (not well, but they try). It's all just so... badly done.

One like this that I saw that I thought was done better was Murder in Small Town X. More thinking and investigating done better, the people didn't snipe each other (...as much...). At the moment I will keep watching... but I'm so close to dropping this and walking away...

[END]

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