What TV Shows Are You Watching? Series VI - Programmes of Power

[Samson]

I had a bit of a Louis Theroux weekend:

• Mothers on the edge, interviews with various women at a mother and baby psychiatric unit. No real surprises, but we need more mother and baby psychiatric units.
• Ultra-Zionists, interviews mostly with Jewish settlers in the west bank and east Jerusalem. Terribly dangerous combination of religious zealots and othering.
• Selling sex, interviews with prostitutes. A lot of kind of broken people, who seem to be kind of taking control of their lives but at what cost I am not sure.
• My scientology movie. Interviews with ex scientologists. So messed up, I do not even know what is most messed up, but I am surprised that the squirrel busting is legal.

 

[Synobun]

Would a CBC produced show ever make it on anything Trump supporters watch en masse? It doesn't seem likely unless it's something from the 90s

Trump supporters might like Mr. D.

 

[El_Machinae]

Would a CBC produced show ever make it on anything Trump supporters watch en masse? It doesn't seem likely unless it's something from the 90s

My point is that if the exact same content was being produced on a different channel, it would be castigated. The humor is on such an edge that I can't actually perceive it, thus the messenger would be as important as the message

 

[warpus]

My point is that if the exact same content was being produced on a different channel, it would be castigated. The humor is on such an edge that I can't actually perceive it, thus the messenger would be as important as the message

But would a pro-Trump TV station ever include dynamics on a TV show that include regular gay characters and so on? Maybe I need to watch the show in question really to understand what you are saying better.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Moderator Action: Let's keep the discussion regarding political supporters out of this thread please.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I regularly think "how is this not super-racist mocking? It can't be, because it's on CBC". Various characters lean into tropes as a source of humour.

You know that the creator and executive producer is Korean, and the show is based on a play he wrote from his own experiences?

 

[El_Machinae]

Sure. But I'm not Asian. It really does feel like it's leaning in and mocking tropes. I'm on the outside.

It's one of those fine lines that's hard to understand. There are funny parts where it would be inappropriate for me to laugh, know what I mean?

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I actually don't really understand what you mean. It seems like you're ascribing a negative connotation to the show based on your own perception, rather than seeing it through the lens of the creator and his family's own experiences as a Korean in Canada. What is an example of a "mocking trope" that you find inappropriate?

 

[El_Machinae]

Okay, there are parts where it's inappropriate that *I* laugh, even if represented audience members laugh.

What I'm saying is that it's interesting, because its acceptableness is as dependent on the messenger as the message.

I'm not attacking the show or trying to start a debate. I'm saying that it's interestingly confusing.

 

[Synobun]

Okay, there are parts where it's inappropriate that *I* laugh, even if represented audience members laugh.

What I'm saying is that it's interesting, because its acceptableness is as dependent on the messenger as the message.

I'm not attacking the show or trying to start a debate. I'm saying that it's interestingly confusing.

I think the thing to unpack there is why you believe it's inappropriate for you to laugh.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I think the thing to unpack there is why you believe it's inappropriate for you to laugh.

It seemed pretty clear to me that the reason @El_Machinae felt it was inappropriate for him to laugh, was because he is not Asian.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I'm not attacking the show or trying to start a debate. I'm saying that it's interestingly confusing.

No worries, it's okay if you prefer not to answer. I was simply interested in what you particularly felt was racist mocking and inappropriate for you to laugh at. I spent several years in Korea and it was actually some of my Korean-American friends that recommended the show to me. Almost everything I've seen and heard has been very complimentary, and the show has been lauded by critics and viewers alike. Your comment was the first I'd seen that ascribed something negative towards the show as it relates to Koreans.

 

[Samson]

More Louis Theroux:

• Americas most dangerous pets. Little did I know that it stared that great celbraty Joe Exitic, and now I have to at least start Tiger king to get the back story. If it has as much about the animals as the one I have just watched I may enjoy it.

 

[Kyriakos]

While I liked the three seasons of The Sinner, which @Ferocitus suggested, and will likely watch a 4rth if it gets released, it does seem that the show has not benefited by shifting the focus to the one detective character.
I'd say that most of his negative/problematic side was already presented in S1, and by S3 he isn't really distinct from an archetypical "good-guy".
I also am not really seeing how what he was doing in S1 was very believable, in light of the relatively not that terrible trauma in his past. Although they haven't yet touched upon his father, so maybe that can be fixed in the next season.

 

[Ferocitus]

While I liked the three seasons of The Sinner, which @Ferocitus suggested, and will likely watch a 4rth if it gets released, it does seem that the show has not benefited by shifting the focus to the one detective character.
I'd say that most of his negative/problematic side was already presented in S1, and by S3 he isn't really distinct from an archetypical "good-guy".
I also am not really seeing how what he was doing in S1 was very believable, in light of the relatively not that terrible trauma in his past. Although they haven't yet touched upon his father, so maybe that can be fixed in the next season.

I'll watch S4 in a few days (once all are available). It certainly has many flaws but there's not much of quality around atm.
I stand by my 7.5/10, with S2 the best of the 3 so far.
It would be interesting to read what those who have read the novels think of the screen adaptation.

 

[The_J]

Lost In Space S3:1+2. Continues as it ended: Very good. Some of the stuff in there probably didn't needed to be said, given the timeline, but whatever. Obviously some unrealistic stuff, but gonna roll with it. Looking forward to the reset.

 

[Ferocitus]

Lost In Space S3:1+2. Continues as it ended: Very good. Some of the stuff in there probably didn't needed to be said, given the timeline, but whatever. Obviously some unrealistic stuff, but gonna roll with it. Looking forward to the reset.

Partner demanded we watch it from S1E1 before starting S3, so I got some work done.
We remember the original fondly because we were kids when it was first shown here, and there was almost no other sci-fi on TV. The performance of Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith was fantastic. Almost as big a ham as Brian Blessed.
One major gripe...

Spoiler :

The robots' primitive language learning abilities.

 

[The_J]

Yeah, that would seem out of place, but TBH hasn't bothered me yet.

Spoiler :

The return of Smith has. I realize they need the character as a plot device, but they really managed to make her really unlikable...

 

[El_Machinae]

It seemed pretty clear to me that the reason @El_Machinae felt it was inappropriate for him to laugh, was because he is not Asian.

There's later a scene where the white boss cannot laugh at the jokes that the Asians are telling about new immigrants, even!

 

[Berzerker]

I'm watching the Supernatural series on TNT...again. Apparently it was originally on the CW network and I missed it.
As the title says, it deals with the realm of the supernatural. No aliens like the X Files and the main characters hunt various malefactors from religion and mythology in a '67 black Chevy Impala.

and Seinfeld reruns on Comedy Central, yay...