Anyone watch the cable show "SCARE TACTICS"? What do you think of it?

Oh this is a question I’ve waited for someone to ask for, oh, forever.

I do NOT approve. If a friend of mine set me up for Scare Tactics, it would probably end the friendship. Perhaps I do not have a good sense of humor, but I’ve seen an episode or two and in both of them, the victims (and they are definitely victims) were scared witless. Terrified and crying. And there is a line between “funny joke” and “cruel and heartless”. I think Scare Tactics crosses that line in basically every episode.

Honestly, if you want to put yourself on reality TV and make a fool of yourself, that’s one thing. But signing your friends and family up for it is completely over the line. When it’s just getting your sister a makeover, again, that’s one thing. But purposefully scaring the ba-jesus out of someone is low. And horrifying.

I’m not surprised the show has been sued!

Geesh! And I LOVE the show. I wish someone would put ME on it. I don’t think the scare is long enough!

Tell me what you know about it being sued!

Well here’s a link to one of the suits: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/karablanc1.html

I believe there were more. In that one she sued for the after effects of being terrified out of her mind.

Interesting. There’s always a friend who sets the victim up. I’m surprised the show’s producers don’t make that friend the only one who can be sued? Make the friend signed papers saying “I take full responsibility”.

In the skit that person is suing for, apparently there was an alien killing the other people in the car. And she thought THAT was real???

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/216103/scare_tactics_vampire_bikers/

Like EmpressPixie, I too am not a fan of most practical jokes. It doesn’t meet my humor threshold to put someone into an artificial situation and then point and laugh at how stupid/scared they become.

Practical jokes are NOT for everybody. But in every episode I’ve seen, the victim LIKES the experience afterwards. I would love the experience.

Maybe it’s like a thrill ride??

I love it—I’d love to get my sister on there and scare the crap outta her. I think it’s good fun and something we need more of. People are too ‘sue crazy’ and need to relax and let loose a bit.

While I generally agree that people are suit crazy and certainly don’t know what happens before they scare the crap out of you… there would be some very hard feelings if that happened to me. And that is the standard I try to apply to a show before watching it for enjoyment if it is happening to “real people”.

Then you would NOT be someone to play that joke on. It’s not for everybody. Neither was Candid Camera.

Exactly. Let those of us that like to scare have our fun and enjoy the show.
BTW, I’d be more mortified if someone put me on What Not to Wear.
To each, his own!

Similarly, some people choose to go in those Halloween “haunted houses” and some don’t. Why do I get a feeling, EP, that you would also NOT want to be brought into one of those “haunted houses”?

Depends on the “haunted house”. If by that you mean Hell Houses then absolutely not. I would be a terror. I would call the cops on them if they even pretended to try to prevent me from leaving. If you mean a in good fun Haunted House, I’m all for them. Because I know what I’m getting into. It’s the ambush I dislike more than the scare.

Similarly, I would be very cranky if my friends set me up for What Not to Wear (and offended!).

Last—I kind of love Candid Camera, but more as a psychology student that anything else. At this point they are classic psych 101 videos to demonstrate our reaction to perceived authority. (And some day Scare Tactics might be a classic psych 101 thing too, but Candid Camera usually set up a situation and let flies fall into their trap, they didn’t target a specific individual.)

It’s probably A LOT safer to set up an individual with the help of their friend like Scare Tactics does. This way you eliminate the possibility of heart attacks, or the victim pulling any sort of a weapon, AND you can put the liability on the friend.

Not sure what a Hell House is. Never been to one that wouldn’t let me leave…

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@strat Do you really?

@strat, listen, if you like Scare Tactics just come right out and say it. Don’t beat around the bush!

@EP, are you SURE your friend didn’t just have an “out-of-body” experience with that Hell House that wanted to keep her, i.e., maybe she was REALLY there for awhile? That’s why they didn’t want her to leave??? Or else she wasn’t in a fake haunted house at all and just stumbled into a random house full of cannibalistic crazies? That’s happened to me SO MANY times.

I like Scare Tactics. The best one is the one where the PETA guy had to go into the lab where scientists were “experimenting on animals” and that little rat man ran out. I laughed so damn hard. My friend records the episodes and we watch them together. It’s hilarious.

There’s also two episodes that I’ve seen that involve the victim thinking he’s in on the joke until they turn it back on him. One takes place in a barber shop. Has anyone seen these?

If that’s the one where the guy fakes a heart attack, I have.

Ever notice how the victim usually wears a vest? I figure that’s where the microphone stuff is hidden.