Watcing Storage Wars Texas and Getting Annoyed!

I agree that what I've seen represented about Texas on TV lately doesn't give it a "good vibe" at all.

Seems like what I've seen lately about Texas makes it seem like everyone lives in a trailer or small shed-type home out in the open in the middle of nowhere,with dust swirling around, and a new pick-up truck parked out front....

That CAN'T be true!

I'm not in Texas and I know that Texans are not like they're portrayed on those TV shows. If I were you I'd stop watching them and find a way to put them in perspective. They're done that way because it gets people to watch them. I suggest that it's rare for anyone to assume that those people are what Texans are like. Those shows are just a form of entertainment. Not real life.

Oregon is not pronounced Or ee gone. It's Or re gun with the emphasis on Or. I do get tired of hearing it mispronounced.

I live in California and I have a friend who has been a real auctioneer for over 30 years in Orange County. The History Channel produced a ten episode series about his auction (forget the name of the show now) but my friend didn't look the part they wanted to they hired a bald, Southern guy to fill the part of auctioneer. This was so not the "reality" of the situation but that's the impression they wanted to make for television. It's just about trying to get ratings and make money.

It's the same for Georgia! We're all either trashy, Appalachian hillbillies with no education, racist redneck nightmares, gangsta thugs and their hoes or rich good 'ol boys and their vapid, Junior League garden party wives. Our accents are usually murdered in television shows and movies, and often they don't even bother to get details correct if something is actually set in Atlanta or the state. "Designing Women" in the 80s and 90s was one of the only shows that's ever shown a different side (and a true side for many) of us.

I am eager to go back and start watching "Walking Dead". It's filmed here, as are TONS of things, and it's supposedly really good. Yes, it's about zombies, but I think it skips the whole "all Southerners and Georgians are idiots" part. Yes, most of us are zombies, but the cast looks diverse and well-rounded, and that's what a lot of us here really are!

Interesting facts that don't fit the "Georgia" stereotype:

*We have one of the largest Hispanic populations east of the Mississippi and one of the largest Asian populations east of the Mississippi -in fact we're pretty high on the chart for the whole country. Both of these groups add a lot of culture and uniqueness to large and small cities and towns.

*Atlanta has one of the largest gay populations in the nation, and not only populations but the reputation of being gay friendly. My SIL's partner from San Francisco was amazed at how many rainbow flags are flying on homes throughout Atlanta's neighborhoods and how many kids at my boys' preschools and schools have two mommies or two daddies -more than their kids ever have.

While our racial history carries a lot of sadness and shame with it, too many people seem to forget that some of the greatest leaders in the Civil Rights Movement were born and raised here, are buried here or are still alive and working here! Martin Luther King Jr. was born and raised and is now buried about a mile down the street from my house. John Lewis is my Congressman. Andrew Young was my mayor and is still quite active in politics and social issues here.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say -we're A LOT more than rebel flags and uneducated hicks.

I'm from Portland, where we are all weird, only eat locally sourced food and shop at snobby bookshop collectives staffed by jerks. And we are all self-obsessed hipsters. Oh wait! That's Portlandia! OR we have fantastical beasts roaming Forest Park. Oh, wait, that's Grimm! :)

No one I regularly associate with matches those descriptions. The ones that do you can see coming loud and clear--and then back away from their Gauloise cigarettes. I'll bet, like your area, it's the show-off "anomalies" that get the most attention. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of hipsters wrapped in the security blanket of their own smugness, but my husband and I still laugh at how our town can support this many trendy coffee shops. (Last fad: the french press, current fad: pour-overs...what we used to call a "melita cone filter", ha ha.) Most people I know (my age, anyway) make their own coffee at home! Maybe when we stop reinventing the wheel of hipness, people will move away...who knows?

and @ Marda: Here here! Ory-gun!

The stereotypes used to annoy me, until I realized, I am not the norm, I'm the exception! It's not uncommon to pass someone riding a horse down i-20. I've seen it! Many of the people I know do own horses. They all own boots. We all know how to two-step. I am so much bigger than that, but, when it comes down to it, that's not that far fetched. I definately know some big hair Texas blondes with more money than brains. I've been to the Cowboy game and seen limo afet limo of rich blue hairs and cattle/oil barons pull up. I'm one of the rarest breeds - a Texas Democrat! I'm surrounded by people so conservative and hick they make Tea PArtiers look like intellectuals! That is the flavor of Texas. The only time I see someone that resembles me is when they are depicting Austin, but when I go to Austin, I'm the conservative one. lol A show about me would be pretty boring. Just like, if you go to New Jersey, not everybody is a Snookie - but there are enough Snookis to make it a recognizable stereotype.

I am not in TX, but I grew up in NJ and I am Italian (well half). I can't stand that people assume my family is like the Sopranos or Jersey Shore. I did have big hair in the 80's but that was the style then. I do not talk like most of them on these shows and I certainly do not look like them. I think at some point we all get stereotyped sooner or later.

That's how I feel about shows about the south . . .

Someday I hope to visit Texas - it sounds so cool!

I know how you feel, in particular the new series "g.c.b" bothers me( i dont know any women like this at all)I don't own a cowboy hat, have big hair,, wear belts with buckles and boots . I don't own cows or even eat them, lol. Just about the only stereotype I fill is the fact that I say "y'all "

"You guys", "you all "just sounds unnatural.

I am from Seattle.
I HATE coffee. BLECH! I am also not a fan of grunge music. I am left leaning, but certainly not a fanatic left winger! Yes, it is quite expensive to live in AREAS of Seattle, but certainly not all of the WA. I get awfully tired of people thinking that just because I live in this area that we are rich or that it rains money. Speaking of rain....while it does rain here a LOT it is BEAUTIFUL here during the summer.

Hell yeah! says this jam-band lovin' liberal yippie Phishhead from Plano (Dallas area).

I live in Kansas. People on the coasts usually think we're all farmers and someone always asks about Dorothy and Toto!

I've been in DFW for years, but am originally from Mississippi. MS is most often depicted as someone described Georgia earlier - only 10 times worse!

My favorite MS quirk in movies and dramas is that no one has air conditioning. They're all sitting around on their front porches with a glass of ice tea, mopping sweat from their brows and lazily fanning themselves or in a Courthouse with the ubiquitous screen shot of the slowly moving ceiling fan and sweat pouring off of people. Y'all, during high summer it's 100 degrees in the shade with 99% humidity, A/C is an absolute must!!!

I haven't seen that Storage Wars show. But I am in Texas. I think that new show GCB is TRASH! I think the network would say it stands for "Good Christian Belles" but really... it stands for "Good Christian Bitches." Makes Texans AND Christians look like trash.

Those outfits that the Longhorn band wears on tv (football games) - tassles and hats ..... that bugs me, as it screams "Look - this is what we are like in Texas!"

Ha Amanda - I say "y'all" ALL the time. I type it and text it as well. My inlaws from California tease me.

Another Kansas girl weighing in. I'm highly educated (graduate degree), I have traveled nationally and internationally, I dress well and have a great career.

When I am out of state and people find out where I am from, it's like... well... they start speaking to me like I am some sort of country bumpkin. And yes, the references to the Wizard of Oz are sooooooo tiresome.

I love it here. I love that I can travel anywhere I want, but there is no place like home... (oops- see what I mean??) :)

Anyway, I've been to Texas many, many times and I completely understand what you mean! Don't worry, most of know better!! Great post!!

Yes ma'am! I have never rode a horse, hate being outside, livestock?? Umm no! My relatives are from the country but im not!! We are not inbreeding, I have all my teeth and I do not and never have listened to country music! I do think our Texas people (southern ) are more polite and respectful but its how your raised. I like hip hop/ alternative music and I drive a car ( not a horse!) I am guilty of one Texas thing though....big hair!!

The articles you find in the National Inquirer or star are not real or the truth. The stuff you see on "reality shows" aren't reality.

If I really felt strongly about it I would watch the commercials and then write/e-mail the sponsors and tell them that as long as they advertise on such crappy shows I wasn't going to buy any of their products.

If enough of the "audience" did that, and boycotted the products, those shows would soon go off the air.

Good luck to you and yours.

I'm just outside Washington, D.C. I get what you are saying.

I'm originally from California - an 80's California girl - and I'm NOT a Valley Girl!!

I LOVE Storage Wars - but I can't stand Storage Wars, Texas.

I've never seen the show, but you can't put much stock in reality tv. I have lots of friends from Lousianna, not one of them says "choot em!".

However - what's wrong with saying yee-haw, going to rodeos, riding horses, listening to country music, being conservative, etc etc? I do all those things, and have a masters degree, and work, and raise my kids, and love going into the city, and listen to many kinds of music. If we had the land we would have horses, and probably chickens or other livestock too. Why does it have to be either/or? You are stereotyping just as badly as the show you accuse of stereotyping you.

Thank you! I haven't watched that show (I don't like reality shows), but in general, I hate the way Texans are portrayed on TV and in movies. I've never been on a horse OR a tractor, I don't listen to country music, and no one in our family owns boots, a cowboy hat, or a gun. And I actually grew up in a small town and managed to avoid all of those things! Most of the people in my social circle are much more similar to me than they are to anyone you ever see on TV that's depicted as Texan. Oh, and I'm liberal and have never voted Republican, but I'll admit that that particular trait makes me stick out like a sore thumb around here. :-)

Im from Iowa... need I say more? j/k

We have alot more to offer than just corn fields....

I was born and raised in Ohio, spent summers in Indiana with my dad, lived in the "greater los angeles area" (we were in orange county and then riverside county then back to orange county LOL) for 4 years, moved to the city of San Francisco for 3 years, moved to Kansas for 4 years, moved to Sonoma county california (up by Napa valley) for 7 years, and have now lived in "The greater Washington DC area" (we're actually about 30 miles south in MD but we kinda get classified as part of the DC area).

Add to that I'm a military wife and there isn't a stereotype I haven't heard/had to deal with. I don't let it bother me though. I know who I am, the people who are important to me know who I am, the rest ... I just ignore. They aren't worth my time in the first place.

The thing about stereotypes though ... while they don't apply to EVERY person, they apply to enough of them. I've met PLENTY of people who DO fit into the stereotypes portrayed on TV. Thankfully that's the minority and not the majority :)

Hollywood doesn't make shows about real people because normal is boring. That's why the genre is called "reality", not "real" TV.

I feel the same way you do about that show! I sometimes enjoy the storage wars with Barry and Dave, but can't stand to watch the Texas edition. It's sooo phoney!

You know what's so ironic, I NEVER see people like that. I have lived in Texas for 27 years of my life, and I have seen maybe a few people like that in the Dallas area. MAYBE.

Goodness, Josh and I were just talking about this the other day. I HATE that show! And yeah it seems like every single show about Texas depicts Texans this way.

Having grown up in Illinois, I know first-hand that this is most definitely the impression that people have of Texas! I hate that!!!