I think people are more and more aware that documentary-style “reality” shows are often anything but. Some are obviously staged and manipulated, but even the more realistic-seeming ones can be manipulated through editing to create a dramatic narrative. And even if none of that were true, the presence of cameras around the clock can’t help but influence the behavior of the participants. That’s one reason I have little interest in this type of show; if I want to watch fiction, I want to watch real fiction.

Tonight, I decided to see what was on Food Network and stumbled across something called “Family Style,” about brother-and-sister restaurateurs working on their own separate projects. The brother is just about to open the new company-owned flagship for his chain of franchise barbecue restaurants; the sister in early in the planning stages for her stand-alone restaurant and claims to have no interest in creating an empire.

At first, I was intrigued — but the more I watched, the more implausible and obviously-manipulated the show became:

• The sister ends up having an awkward misunderstanding about whether one of her would-be executive chefs, who asks her to lunch, is interested only in the job, or whether he’s interested in her as well.
• The sister and her sister-in-law, the brother’s wife, talk early in the show about what good friends they are and then end up having a meltdown, top-of-the-lungs argument during the brother’s surprise birthday party.
• On the eve of the brother’s big opening day, his father and mentor — who operates a restaurant in a different state — forgets that the son is about to open his own restaurant and implores him to fly home and help out in a crisis.
• She ends up not hiring the would-be executive chef but agreeing that they would still like to see each other socially.

Any one of these might be a coincidence. All of them, in the space of just a few minutes, are melodrama that would make a daytime soap opera star blush.
Parts of it were mildly entertaining, but woe be unto anyone who would dare confuse it with reality.
I can’t find anything about the show at the Food Network web site, and I haven’t seen any advance publicity, so I have no idea whether this is actually supposed to be a series or not. Obviously, that was their intent, but perhaps Food Network looked at the pilot episode and passed.