Murder Most Famous

Snowberry · Mar 2, 2008

Anyone think this is taking talent-show TV to ridiculous lengths:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk10/mon.shtml#mon_murder

Basically, a famous crime author is going to teach a bunch celebrities in the UK to write a mystery, and pick the best one at the end of a week...

Shara · Mar 3, 2008

I had heard about this. Don't get me started...

I loathe reality shows in general. Take a bunch of narcissistic, self-deluded annoying nobodies and give them their fifteen minutes of fame, because it's cheaper than making real TV shows....

This combines the above with the hugely annoying fiction that writing is all about fame and glamour rather than talent, but publishers encourage this by publishing any old rubbish written by anyone famous because the name will sell, whereas there are thousands of writers with genuine talent out there who can't get published because no one's ever heard of them.

Er, sorry, I seemed to have jumped on the soap box...I'll stop now.

Grrr!!

Shara

Expanding Ink · Mar 3, 2008

Ugh. No thanks. I'm generally not a fan of reality TV (though, I will admit, there are a few shows that I watch regularly), and I agree with pretty much everything Shara said.

I wonder why they chose to do the show with "celebrities," though. Why not get some real authors involved? I'm sure they'd be able to find a handful of reasonably-interesting, up-and-coming authors who would love the opportunities presented by the show. They might even be able to turn out some decent work, and I'm sure there'd still be plenty of drama. Just ask them all the correct way to pluralize a noun ending in s - with an s' or an s's - and they'll go on for days

.

Josie · Mar 3, 2008

Does this sound cynical..it makes sense though.

Perhaps the author approached celebrities not pulling in so much money and said for a certain amt of money he would help them make more?

Just my imagination ... :e2fairy:

Soccer Mom · Mar 3, 2008

Expanding Ink said:
Ugh. No thanks. I'm generally not a fan of reality TV (though, I will admit, there are a few shows that I watch regularly), and I agree with pretty much everything Shara said.

I wonder why they chose to do the show with "celebrities," though. Why not get some real authors involved? I'm sure they'd be able to find a handful of reasonably-interesting, up-and-coming authors who would love the opportunities presented by the show. They might even be able to turn out some decent work, and I'm sure there'd still be plenty of drama. Just ask them all the correct way to pluralize a noun ending in s - with an s' or an s's - and they'll go on for days .

Don't get them started on serial commas or you'll have a fist fight. Of course, that would mean good ratings.

unlikelyheroine · Mar 3, 2008

Josie said:
Does this sound cynical..it makes sense though.

Perhaps the author approached celebrities not pulling in so much money and said for a certain amt of money he would help them make more?

Just my imagination ...

The author is Minette Walters, one of Britain's best crime writers (though I think she has been off the boil the last few books) and it doesn't seem her style. The celebrities are all the usual British suspects who appear on any reality show going. I'll bet this was cooked up by some TV producer somewhere!

Expanding Ink · Mar 3, 2008

unlikelyheroine said:
I'll bet this was cooked up by some TV producer somewhere!

Definitely, and said TV producer has probably never written a thing.

Shara · Mar 4, 2008

Probably a strategic career move on the part of Minette Walters, especially if her last few books haven't been selling quite so well.

By doing this, she's guaranteed to increase sales on the next one!

Though as she is an excellent writer, I do feel she shouldn't have to stoop to this level.

HeronW · Mar 4, 2008

And the butler did it with a candlestick in the library?

Why are reality shows so lame? Why are they even called 'reality' when a group of people are stuck in an artifical situation to trample everyone else mentally or physically, making false friendships of convenience in order to vote someone off? I find the whole concept nauseating.

Antony B · Mar 20, 2008

Crime author Meg Gardiner wrote a live blog post for one episode here. It sounds pretty much as you expect. Minette Walters does what she can but for the most part it is stupid and possibly a little depressing:

"Ballroom dancer Brendan Cole says he doesn’t read books. He doesn’t enjoy it. He reads five pages and his brain switches off.

Did I mention that the winner of this competition gets a publishing contract?"

Personally, I'd have liked it to represent the real world of submissions a little more:

DWSTXS · Mar 20, 2008

All of the celebs involved will probably have ghost writers 'helping them' behind the scenes.

brokenfingers · Mar 20, 2008

What kind of country are you guys running over there?

No sex? No skin? No bimbos? No brainless dudes? No repudiation of morals? No glorifying of crass and vile behavior?!

What the hell kind of reality show is this anyway?!?!?!

Wow, you guys obviously have a lot to learn about how to do a proper reality show. Sheesh...

Murder Most Famous

Snowberry

Shara

Fix it in the Rewrite

Expanding Ink

and then Steve stabbed a guy

Josie

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist

unlikelyheroine

Expanding Ink

and then Steve stabbed a guy

Shara

Fix it in the Rewrite

HeronW

Down Under Fan

Antony B

Born to lurk

DWSTXS

Mr Mojo Risin...

brokenfingers

Walkin' That Road