The last few posts are really evident about another shit show in the way Fishtank is run
Realistically, they either need to have a system where the Fish can understand they are being communicated to outside the bounds of the contest, or you don't have Fish able to lose by following the instructions of staff.
i think they just need a more structured format, they need some way of starting a challenge, and defining strict rules, letting fish ask questions and also letting them know what rules might get changed as the challenge is developing, y
Sam's exasperation and anger at their incompetence is what keeps me tuning in.
Aside from the horrible casting of participants, lack of sharks and the constant staff self inserts are what ruins it the most imo
I agree with the criticism above. These are my suggestions
1. Fishtank needs more structure
• It's indictive of the lack of structure that it took production several weeks to realize the obvious - that they needed to get the fish on a regular sleep schedule, as no one with a job is gonna be watching at 4:30am.
• There's a reason successful TV reality shows have some structure like specific rules, event sequences, and elimination ceremonies. It's to guide the viewer and the contestants on a journey. It's not good to have people get eliminated only to come back later - it totally kills any 'stakes' if eliminations aren't final, or if people can return at any time.
• Sam casually yelling upstairs from the basement to tell Octavius to pack his stuff ... Nifty leaving without any announcement from production ... kicking Cole out without explaining anything to the audience or the other fish leaving everyone to speculate - this makes everything feel haphazard and unplanned.
• There needs to be certain times of day for games and challenges. There needs to be fixed rules or points or whatever so people can follow along.
• Remember when you were little, and some retard on the playground made up a game, and constantly changed and altered the rules, often for no discernable reason?
Everyone quit playing the game, because a game without rules is no fun. Fishtank feels like a game in need of rules.
2. The 'rules of the game' shouldn't constantly change
• When there are fixed rules that everyone follows, contestants (and the audience) feel like the competition is somewhat fair and not totally arbitrary. It encourages everyone to stay invested.
• When the 'rules of the game' are constantly changing, it communicates to contestants that everything is rigged and there is no point in trying. This is the opposite of what you want.
• For example, Trish (and arguably Jimmy and Shinji) all quit the cell competition because they thought it was rigged. Jimmy left because he couldn't get his medicine (this should be a rule that everyone can always get their meds). Shinji left the cell because he didn't know his own point total (!), and besides, thought the points that were awarded were meaningless anyway.
• Even Tay wondered out loud to Jet why some games in the cell had points - but other games did not. Why? Who knows! Even if this is by design, the lack of rules make it appear that production forgot to award points for some games. It's really stupid to have this level of inconsistency.
• Another example: why did the gay for a day challenge suddenly have no reward, with no explanation? It just makes it seem impulsive and poorly conceived. It seems as if there was going to be a reward, but the production team didn't like how 'gay for a day' turned out, and cancelled the reward at the last minute. This isn't cool - it's stupid and makes everything feel cringe and thoughtless
• Make the basic rules of fishtank written down or communicated and available to both the audience and the fish. This will make it much easier to follow along. Is there a point system? Or not? Who decides if a fish goes home? Production or the audience or other fish? Or does it depend? On what does it ''depend'? What exactly are the freeloaders? What is their role in 'the game '? Can freeloaders win prizes? Which prizes? Do freeloaders participate in challenges? Or not? Is it up to the freeloader? Who in production changes the rules of the game? Sam? Jet? Ben? How do the fish and audience know the rules have changed? etc
3. Lack of workshopping
• Many of the games and challenges feel like they were made up at the last minute. It gives the impression that the staff forgot to do their homework and are trying to finish it before class starts.
• Games and challenges need to be tested out in the off season. Just because a challenge sounded good on paper, or while high, doesn't mean it will translate to the screen. It's fine to make some stuff experimental, but overall the games and challenges need to have the problems worked out before hand. It sucks to watch a poorly thought out challenge fail into cringe.
4. Gaslighting to infinite stupidity
• Gaslighting works best when it creates comedy situations. Or when it creates dramatic irony (when the audience knows something the contestants do not). But when gaslighting happens at every! single! minute! it becomes meaningless.
• The worst part is it creates paralysis and indecision in the contestants. The fish can't tell when the staff are serious or are fucking around. You saw this with Duanye when Jet told him to leave the cell. Duanye had no idea if Jet was serious or if it was a bit. This is a bad thing! It's stupid and frustrating to watch. It makes the whole production look inept and confused. It makes the audience feel like the joke is on them for caring what happens
• There needs to be some sort of code word for production or contestants to indicate that the conversation is taking place outside of 'the game'. So Jimmy could say he needs his meds, or someone to say they are sick or injured, for someone to ask to clarify the rules, etc
• Another obvious solution is to just tone down the gaslighting. It's stupid anyway if you overuse it because no contestant trusts anything the staff says. It's like the fable 'the boy who cried wolf'.
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There's plenty more but I think that's a good start.
I know I can't be the only one who thinks this.