I'm not saying it is an ideal situation or that it wouldn't be incredibly difficult at times, but there's something very appealing in that isolation.
I have had and still do have the chance to go and live in remote areas, both very cold and very hot, with or without company. It does get very boring after some time when the novelty wears off. Remember, an hour long episode may condense a month's excitement/activities into that hour, making the lives of the participants/actors appear a lot more interesting that they really are. A lot of these shows show people that are genuinely weird/antisocial/ill/know nothing better etc. but then you also see that they tend to have a lot of modern conveniences, modern equipment, people visiting them/communities AND seem to be more than happy to have cameras follow them around, which makes you wonder whether they actually are as alone or antisocial as they claim to be, whether they are just sad and seek any human company.You also wonder if what they are doing is real or whether they just act for the camera, possibly even following a script to make them appear more interesting - if you are that isolated and hard to get to, then how does a full camera manage to come to you and follow you around (how tough is the road/path/snow, if a cameraman, carrying a camera etc. can follow you around).Most seem to be self promoters, who love attention and money (which they claim to despise, but they DO get money for the show and many seem to be well-off) that just talk tough in front of the camera about what they will do to anybody that dares to come close to them or in their land, family values etc.....I do watch some of them, e.g. Alaskan bush people, mountain men etc on the various cable channels, but consider them to be purely entertainment, rather than of survival, educational, historical value.
There is a show called the "The Last Alaskans" that follows some families that live like this.http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-last-alaskans/http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/the-last-alaskans/bios/
The only Alaskan show I've watched is deadliest catch. I may need to watch some of these shows. I feel like I'm missing out...