Anybody watch The Colony?

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I just finished watching the first season on Netflix.
The premise of the show is that society has collapsed in the wake of an epidemic that has killed most of the global population. Ten survivors “squat” in an old factory near Los Angeles and attempt to rebuild society while fending off hostile “raiders.”

The show itself is an interesting mix of improvised fabrication (think Mythbusters or Junkyard Wars) and reality show (think Survivor). The participants in the show/experiment are a mix of engineers (computer science, mechanical, aerospace) a couple of blue collar construction types, a biologist and a trauma nurse, etc…

The show is pretty interesting even if some of the elements (the confrontations between the colonists and raiders) are clearly staged for entertainment value.

I really liked the examination of moral/ethical issues—the colonists are often forced to decide whether to share food and water with other survivors or even whether or not to allow new people into the colony.

As a “fabrication geek” I loved watching the group attempt to build their own power systems, water purification/sanitation systems, and find alternative fuel sources (the wood gasifier is really interesting). And, as someone interested in post apocalyptic scenarios, it was interesting to see these people cope in general…

As I said before, there were a few times that I had to call BS on some clearly staged-for-TV events, but otherwise I found the show to be interesting, entertaining.

If you haven’t seen the show you should check it out. If you have seen the show, share your thoughts below!

at first I liked it but then the contestants forgot it's just a reality show and were looking to do some serious harm to the extras - the raiders..

^^^ I can understand a bit of genuine hostility against the raiders since they were actually stealing food and water....

But, all that nonsense with the molotov cocktails and flame throwers had to be faked for the camera.

I mean, there's noway the producers would let the participants use deadly weapons against the raiders no matter how carried away they got.

However, confrontations and improvised weapons would be necessary in a real situation...

I really don't know how they should/could have handled that part better.

I thought it was neat, some of the stuff was a bit unrealistic or I just thought they went way out of the way to make completely pointless things (ie, they could have just made a shotgun and used the shotgun shells that way but instead decide to make a crazy flamethrower) but overall I liked the idea of it. I mean, kinda silly in execution, not entirely realistic, but fun. That sort of stuff I have thought experiments about for hours at a time thinking of what I would do, so it's fun there's a show about it.

It's about as realistic as television can get about a scenario like that, though, so gotta give props for that.

^^^ Yeah, I spend lots of time thinking about what I'd do in that sort of situation too.

I'd "scavenge" an RV and take it out to an old farm a friend of mine owns... The property has good visibility for defense, a well and a septic system. All I'd need to do is get power.

I'd scavenge all the batteries I could find, scavenge solar panels, rip the UPS out of the office building I work in (it's huge), get a few generators and build a wood gassifier...

Then, I just need to find some goats and chickens and I'd be set.

Actually, that's my long term plan even if society doesn't collapse.


PS
I'd also raid the university library and a few book stores for reference material... Frankly, the only thing I'd miss after the apocalypse would be the internet.