To me it's a double edged sword. I enjoy the show for what it is. They are awesome at what they do. They build tanks, some really nice and some to meet customer requests. Some tanks are just for short term. I was at their new warehouse and saw the Half car, the juke box, and the bubble gum machine tanks sitting there empty. They were never built to be able to be maintained. If a company builds 1 skimmer it cost $1000, a hundred skimmers cost $250 each and 10,000 cost $75 each. Bringing more people into the hobby (which TV does) lowers prices for everyone but it also inflicts more damage to the reefs and oceans which are already not sustainable. I've met Brett in person and I have seen his immaculately caired for eel tank. They are not bad people they are just making money making TV episodes of what they have been doing there entire lives. One thing I know is if you want to or can afford weekly 50% + water changes you can almost get by without any filtration and no cycling at all. If you have $100k to spend on a tank a few water changes to get your system stable is nothing. We do things the "right way" to keep costs down. These people don't care about 10 grand, they want pretty fish and they want them yesterday. It is sad to see life lost but in reality we kill millions of lives everyday for food and upwards of 25% of it goes to waste. I bet the aquatic industry waste is less than that, but who knows. From ocean to customers tanks I'm sure there is lots of loss.
