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Show Time
by
Starvation & freezing temperatures aren't as deadly as profit-hungry producers and fellow competitors in this chilling and erotic depiction of the future of reality TV.
Future viewing audiences have become totally desensitized to violence and entirely dependent on sensation to escape their boring workaday lives - an addiction nurtured by the media with graphic ...more
Future viewing audiences have become totally desensitized to violence and entirely dependent on sensation to escape their boring workaday lives - an addiction nurtured by the media with graphic ...more
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Paperback, 241 pages
Published
May 15th 2012
by Lost Coast Press
(first published March 1st 2012)
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Start your review of Show Time
" Do you think they'll do it?" Janice McNeeley said. She was staring a the #12 monitor. Jimmy Asaki looked up. "Yes," he said. They're starving......."
Picture where our world is headed. We the viewing audience, spend an enormous amount of time watching reality television. Welcome to the future. Where money and high ratings are driving these television executives to come out with some ultimate adventure for the viewer.
Seven people are going to be left on Peshekee Island in the middle of Lake ...more
Picture where our world is headed. We the viewing audience, spend an enormous amount of time watching reality television. Welcome to the future. Where money and high ratings are driving these television executives to come out with some ultimate adventure for the viewer.
Seven people are going to be left on Peshekee Island in the middle of Lake ...more
This book is like Hunger Games meets Survivor (the reality TV series) meets The Truman Show (movie). This book even consists BTS (behind-the-scenes) to every plot, conspiracies, connivance and plans that the contestants formulated in order to stay vigilant, outwit opponents and even kill.
The people behind the camera are ruthless. They demand great yet unscripted performances from the competitors, and sky-high ratings from TV audiences. Somebody's gotta do it, so it better be good. 400,000 is at ...more
The people behind the camera are ruthless. They demand great yet unscripted performances from the competitors, and sky-high ratings from TV audiences. Somebody's gotta do it, so it better be good. 400,000 is at ...more
Oct 17, 2015
Kristine (The Writer's Inkwell)
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
2015-reading-challenge,
arc
Posted originally on my blog:
The Writer's Inkwell
What happens when you dangle the opportunity to earn $400,000 in front of someone? For those who are an average joe, that amount of money can be life changing. You can’t turn on today’s TV without being bombarded with reality television and Phil Harvey has perfectly demonstrated how far our fascination with “reality” may go in the future.
At first, I thought this book may be more of a Hunger Games scenario, only one victor could win the cash. And ...more
The Writer's Inkwell
What happens when you dangle the opportunity to earn $400,000 in front of someone? For those who are an average joe, that amount of money can be life changing. You can’t turn on today’s TV without being bombarded with reality television and Phil Harvey has perfectly demonstrated how far our fascination with “reality” may go in the future.
At first, I thought this book may be more of a Hunger Games scenario, only one victor could win the cash. And ...more
Have you seen that movie The Condemened (2007) with Steve Austin? Well, that is what this book wanted to be but failed. Ah! yes, the book also wanted to be like the Survivor show. The story even has the behind the cameras scenes like in the movie. Then I guess the book wanted to explore that cannibal instinct that we all have within (do we?) like in the movie Ravenous (1999) with Guy Pierce but it fell short at that too.
Seven people agree to survive for seven months on an island for $400,000...
...more
Seven people agree to survive for seven months on an island for $400,000...
...more
I'm a fan of "Survivor" so thought this book sounded interesting.
Seven people (three women and four men) are put on an island in the middle of Lake Superior for seven months (from August to March) with just three months of food each. Whoever lasts 'til the end wins $400,000. Two are given a rifle, another is given a map and another is given access to the others' backgrounds. With different backgrounds and issues, one has a gambling habit, another has a drug habit, another has left her husband ...more
Seven people (three women and four men) are put on an island in the middle of Lake Superior for seven months (from August to March) with just three months of food each. Whoever lasts 'til the end wins $400,000. Two are given a rifle, another is given a map and another is given access to the others' backgrounds. With different backgrounds and issues, one has a gambling habit, another has a drug habit, another has left her husband ...more
This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I couldn't get into this book at all. I picked it up and put it down so many times I lost count. I really wanted to finish it because I received it through NetGalley but it's just one of those books where the blurb sounds better than the actual story turns out to be.
I couldn't get into this book at all. I picked it up and put it down so many times I lost count. I really wanted to finish it because I received it through NetGalley but it's just one of those books where the blurb sounds better than the actual story turns out to be.
Phil Harvey presents a daring premise as he intertwines two rather unflattering human phenomena---our propensity for cruelty and media exploitation of a range of base instincts. The result is a story both fascinating and frightening.
Show Time takes place at some point in the near future, with the participants willingly subjecting themselves to a media portrayal of their jeopardy. The network drops seven contestants on a desolate island in the middle of Lake Superior with some necessities and minimal food. According to one of the agreements surrounding the games "it is recognized that entertainment involving genuine risks to real people is fundamentally necessary to the smooth functioning of a civilized society..." The
...more
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ugh, this book has issues. It also has some good ideas and could have been a really good book, but it has issues.
(view spoiler) ...more
Ugh, this book has issues. It also has some good ideas and could have been a really good book, but it has issues.
(view spoiler) ...more
“Show Time” is a powerfully interesting book. It describes the life of the contestants on a Survivor-like show. What makes is unlike Survivor is that there is a good chance that they won’t actually survive. Unlike reality TV in reality, the police, the Red Cross, everyone has agreed to let this play out for five months. The contestants, chosen, it seems, for the likelihood that they will fight with each other and/or have sex with each other, are dropped off on an uninhabited island in Lake
...more
Original Review Here
This book only took me a few days to read. I was glad of that. I think if it had dragged on for longer, I would have grown bored. As it was, I enjoyed what I read.
The plot was simply: seven people must survive on an island over winter with no outside help. Of course, there were a few twists along the way. Mainly that the outside world is not to be trusted. But while that threw a few curveballs to the characters, because the reader was privy to these actions, it didn’t work to ...more
This book only took me a few days to read. I was glad of that. I think if it had dragged on for longer, I would have grown bored. As it was, I enjoyed what I read.
The plot was simply: seven people must survive on an island over winter with no outside help. Of course, there were a few twists along the way. Mainly that the outside world is not to be trusted. But while that threw a few curveballs to the characters, because the reader was privy to these actions, it didn’t work to ...more
There's nothing special or particularly memorable about "Show Time". The "Survivors"-on-steroids plot is doomed by the rehashing of the same storyline (sex, insults, hunting, eating, arguments, freezing, etc.) ad nauseum in the book's 240 pages.
"Show Time" deals with seven average, everyday people who agree to attempt to survive a harsh, northern Lake Superior winter as shown over national TV. There's plenty of motivation for these intrepid campers because each survivor receives $400,000. ...more
"Show Time" deals with seven average, everyday people who agree to attempt to survive a harsh, northern Lake Superior winter as shown over national TV. There's plenty of motivation for these intrepid campers because each survivor receives $400,000. ...more
This debut novel by Phil Harvey is meant to be a tense psychological thriller. I say “meant to be” because in reality it is tedious most of the time and almost boring at others. Seven people are dropped on an island in the middle of Lake Superior and must survive the brutal winter. For this feat, they will each win $400,000. No one is allowed on or off the island; indeed, no one may help them, even if they are injured or starving. All this is done for the sake of realty television and the
...more
Oct 05, 2015
Eileen
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Readers of drama who enjoy reality shows
Recommended to Eileen by:
NetGalley
Shelves:
drama-suspense
***.6. 3.6/5
Show Time by Phil Harvey is unusual novel based on modern time, reality shows like Big Brother and I am a Celebrity. I am not a fan of these reality shows but the synopsis was intriguing.
Phil Harvey certainly captured the strengths and flaws of his characters: contestants who would give up seven months of their lives to brave the cold harsh winters around Lake Superior to the devious, immoral producers of the show.
The contestants soon realise that in order to survive and win ...more
Show Time by Phil Harvey is unusual novel based on modern time, reality shows like Big Brother and I am a Celebrity. I am not a fan of these reality shows but the synopsis was intriguing.
Phil Harvey certainly captured the strengths and flaws of his characters: contestants who would give up seven months of their lives to brave the cold harsh winters around Lake Superior to the devious, immoral producers of the show.
The contestants soon realise that in order to survive and win ...more
Would you be willing to participate in a reality TV show with six other people you did not know, and agree to spend seven months on an island with them where you would be tested physically, emotionally, and your very survival was in question? This is what Phil Harvey writes about in his fictional account called Show Time! The characters in this work are complex, flawed and all too real. For that I applaud his efforts. People will do almost anything for money, it seems, and the network is
...more
Show Time by Phil Harvey
Seven people (three women, four men) are offered $400,000 to try to survive on an island for seven months, in the middle of Lake Superior. They are given bare necessities, and risk the dangers of the wild, cold and starvation.
Each person has a reason for needing the money, this is what motivates them to attempt to carry out this dangerous adventure. While this is being filmed as a reality show, the participants begin to wonder if they are not being set up (in some ...more
Seven people (three women, four men) are offered $400,000 to try to survive on an island for seven months, in the middle of Lake Superior. They are given bare necessities, and risk the dangers of the wild, cold and starvation.
Each person has a reason for needing the money, this is what motivates them to attempt to carry out this dangerous adventure. While this is being filmed as a reality show, the participants begin to wonder if they are not being set up (in some ...more
In the near future, reality TV has taken on a whole new level of reality. Cameras are trained on contestants 24/7, which viewers can tap into at any time for an enhanced experience. Nothing is scripted - any hint of producer interference would cause the ratings to drop. 7 rather broken individuals are chosen to live on an island in the great lakes for several months, extending through the bitter winter season. Given minimal provisions, they are told to survive, and promised $400,000 if they do,
...more
Well....this was one of the most weirdly depressing yet enthralling books I've picked up in a long time.
I didn't like that the first chapter led in with the big "finish" so to speak. I would have liked for that to be a surprise so I could be horrified with the rest of the "viewers."
The characters were a bit flat but it makes sense in the context of it being reality TV. Would reality shows go that far in the future for ratings? Are we constantly upping the ante?
As a frequent viewer of reality ...more
I didn't like that the first chapter led in with the big "finish" so to speak. I would have liked for that to be a surprise so I could be horrified with the rest of the "viewers."
The characters were a bit flat but it makes sense in the context of it being reality TV. Would reality shows go that far in the future for ratings? Are we constantly upping the ante?
As a frequent viewer of reality ...more
I read this book because it sounded like a unique plot. And it was. While I enjoyed the book for the most part I was not familiar with the author. I'm guessing a much older man wrote this. There are songs, references, etc., that only an older person would know. In addition, he didn't know how to write for the female characters. They lacked depth and most women would not behave, act or say things that we're written. They were like men in female bodies. Having said that, it's a good story and a
...more
This was an interesting read I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about this book cos he'll you can just imagine in the future something like this happening and people would watch I'm sure . I found myself wondering how anyone would react in any of these peoples place and everyone will have their own answers to that question . I did enjoy this book I though t it was well written and entertaining some characters I grew to like and others not so much but it did make me think and it did make me
...more
I found this one a hard book to rate. I found that I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened. At the same time I found it difficult to really like anyone all that much and found the events pretty hard to read about. It was certainly worth reading and thanks to Netgallery for giving me the opportunity.
I was interested in Show Time as I live only 5 minutes from Lake Superior and I know full well how harsh the winters can be in this area. Phil Harvey is showing us reality TV at it's worse. Think Survivor without any camera crew or nearby help, just cameras and mikes. No voting off the island. For better or worse you are staying in the game. Excellent story.
...more
I won my copy thru Library Thing and I felt like this book missed the mark for me. Some of the content and language really put me off, I thought this book was going to be a lot better. If the language & content was a little different, I might have given it more stars.
Sorry to say this but I just could not get into this book the blurb sounded good and I tried a few times to read it but found the book just wasn't for me.
Thanks to the Author and Netgalley for a chance to try this book
Thanks to the Author and Netgalley for a chance to try this book
You can find my review here on my blog: https://clareholmanhobbs.wordpress.co...
Show Time is set in the near future where violence has nearly been eliminated from the world. So how do people get their fill of the dark side? They watch reality TV shows.
Show Time is a mixture of "Survivor" and "Big Brother". Seven contestants are left on an island (in the middle of Lake Michigan) for seven months. They have to endure nature, weather, hunger, and each other. Each contestant brings his or her personal baggage to the island, and we discover more about each one as the book ...more
Show Time is a mixture of "Survivor" and "Big Brother". Seven contestants are left on an island (in the middle of Lake Michigan) for seven months. They have to endure nature, weather, hunger, and each other. Each contestant brings his or her personal baggage to the island, and we discover more about each one as the book ...more
I was gracioulsy provided a copy of this book through Netgalley.
To be honest I was very hesitant to read this book. When I see the name P. Harvey, I automatically think about the radio commentator, Paul Harvey. So I wondered if Phil Harvey might be Paul Harvey's son and was worried it would be a political sattire or just a book about his personal ideas.
Well, I was very happy I took the plunge. I had a very hard time putting this book down.
It's a story of the future. A future where the population ...more
To be honest I was very hesitant to read this book. When I see the name P. Harvey, I automatically think about the radio commentator, Paul Harvey. So I wondered if Phil Harvey might be Paul Harvey's son and was worried it would be a political sattire or just a book about his personal ideas.
Well, I was very happy I took the plunge. I had a very hard time putting this book down.
It's a story of the future. A future where the population ...more
SHOW TIME by Phil Harvey is paints a picture of the next evolution of reality TV. Seven strangers, chosen specifically for their volatile nature and moral failings, are placed on an island in the Great Lakes near Michigan and are left there to survive for about seven months, through a harsh winter, and whoever survives wins $400,000. I think the author, Phil Harvey, has created this story to contemplate our society's voyeurism, the need to escape our own life, and also the need to feel wanted,
...more
First off I must confess that one of my guilty pleasures is the TV reality show "Survivor". I have been watching it since the very first season. That being said, you can imagine how excited I was when I read the book description for Show Time by Phil Harvey which taunted an appeal for fans of survival reality shows.
I loved the idea of seven people being dropped off on an island with minimal supplies. Each must survive seven brutal months, relying on each other and their own survival skills, in ...more
I loved the idea of seven people being dropped off on an island with minimal supplies. Each must survive seven brutal months, relying on each other and their own survival skills, in ...more
Thank you Net Gallery for an opportunity to read Show Time. TV's ultimate survival show will now give audiences the chance to watch 7 people try to live (barely) for seven months and the prize is $400,000. Can they possibly survive with minimal supplies in a very isolated area? The audience will see everything, and if you pay more, well you can see more. This is the ultimate money maker for tv executives. The players are promised bonuses for more exciting tv episodes, so they fake a murder.
This ...more
This ...more
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Phil Harvey’s fiction has appeared in twenty-two literary magazines, including Phantasmagoria, which nominated one of his stories for a Pushcart Prize, and Antietam Review, which named another the winner of its annual contest. Most recently his work has appeared in The MacGuffin, Natural Bridge, and the Dos Passos Review.
Harvey’ nonfiction includes: Let Every Child Be Wanted, which drew praise ...more
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“He’s too reasonable,” Janice said.
“I agree. But the president’s campaign advisors understand controlled violence. They realize that war unites us, brings us together. Yellow ribbons, Support Our Troops, all that. Little wars help win elections, provided they’re short.”
—
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“I agree. But the president’s campaign advisors understand controlled violence. They realize that war unites us, brings us together. Yellow ribbons, Support Our Troops, all that. Little wars help win elections, provided they’re short.”
