I’ve been impressed with FX’s programming*, so I’ll give this one a try. Looks interesting: a Black family and White family go trans-racial with the help of make-up experts. I don’t know exactly what the deal will be-- do you get voted out of the “race” if you screw up? 
I suppose the camera follows them around as they try out their new skin tones.
Could be interesting, and the buzz is pretty good about it.
*The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Over There
Alias wants to watch it, so I imagine I’ll get dragged into it as well. The premise certainly looks interesting enough. I just tend to get a little :dubious: when it comes to reality television.
Two of the participants were interviewed yesterday on NPR. From their comments, it sounded like the experiment didn’t give them much insight. Might be one of those things that viewers get more out of than the participants though.
I’m curious about the physical transformations, how they were done.
Other than “Survivor”, of which I’m a big fan, I haven’t been able to get hooked on any Reality Shows. In fact, I usually get turned off in the first 5 minutes. (Well, I did have to watch a few episodes of “Flavor of Love”, but man that was one helluva trainwreck!!)
My girlfirend asked me to Tivo it, so i will probably end up watching it. Personally, however, I am not that interested.
The thing that made me want to give it a try was the photo shots of the transformation. They look pretty damn good! I’ll probably give it 2 nights and if it doesn’t hook me, fuhgetuboutit.
Just from the pictures I’ve seen, in my opinion…
The only transformaton that looked good was the mom.
Everyone else looked like either Light skin blacks or Indians.
Etiquette school? The hell? SpouseO and I were watching it, and we were like, “Great. This is what African Americans are going to see and think that whites do in their free time.” However, I do have more faith in people’s general intelligence than that.
I thought Bruno (the white dad) was an ass. He totally doesn’t get it. However, I did think he had a point in the whole “you see what you want to see/you don’t see what you don’t want to see” exchange.
I’m not certain that they did a good job choosing the white family. Apparently it takes place in L.A., but it seems like the white family is totally clueless, like they came from rural Iowa. Hell, I’m from a whitebread rural Midwestern town and I’m more sensitive and aware than that family. But I’m aware that conflict and disagreement is what makes people tune in, not realism.
I think that the kids are the ones that are the most open to the experience, and they give me hope. Other than that, it’s entertaining enough, but probably not as full of groundbreaking social commentary as the producers had hoped.
The family is from Santa Monica. Considering this is television, they probably did a perfect job choosing the white family. The father has a chip on his shoulder being the son of an immigrant and thinking that success comes from hard work and the lack of success comes from the lack of hard work. The mother thinks she has some insight into African American culture because of her parents’ civil rights work.
Neither are racist per se, but both have enough misconceptions and stereotypical views of blacks and black culture to create conflict and have the potential for real growth. Since some of the producers of the show have said that it doesn’t have a nice, happy ending, this demonstrates the power of misconceptions and stereotypes that are built up over a lifetime.
Funny, from what little bit I saw I thought the black guy was an ass, totally dismissive of the actual experience of Bruno. I also thought Bruno was a presumptious prick. I won’t be watching again, it was pretty boring actually.
I watched bits and pieces. I didn’t like Bruno or his wife, but I liked their daughter. She managed to avoid rolling her eyes at her parents – that’s a good sign in a teenager.
I thought the makeup worked except for Bruno and Renee. They both just look strange. Renee’s wig was too obviously a wig.