I’m torn between a pitting of American society and simply starting a thread here… guess I’ll start here.
Here I am, flipping toward “The Alternative” on VH-1 Classic, when I encounter this… experiment. In its second season!
The premise is that twenty women are fighting for the affection and attention of one Mr. Flavor Flav, formerly of Public Enemy. The guy with the crazy grill, goofy glasses and the big assed clocks around his neck. You know, Chuck D’s comic foil? This dude.
As Mr. Flav is somewhat deficient in the appearance department (but is a classically trained pianist!) I can only presume that the women on this show are:
[ul]
[li]Truly attracted to Flavor Flav[/li][li]Want to exploit his connections in the industry[/li][li]Famewhoring.[/li][li]Trying to get attention of Hollywood types[/li][li]Famewhoring?[/li][li]Wanting to “fix” an obviously troubled man[/li][li]Famewhoring![/li][/ul]
My question is: is there any reasonable hope that any of these women can aspire to a career using this show as a stepping stone? It’s a more up-to-date variant of the “do porn first, then go mainstream” meme that some people seem to think is possible.
The only reality show that seems to have the possibility of setting one up for a career seems to be American Idol. Those folks have gone on to musical theatre, music, and TV. The first season of The Real World had Heather B and Kevin Powell who had careers after the show. My point is, the more exploitative and low-budget the show, the closer you are to the pornstar’s plight.
Some of the participants are obvious famewhores. Some actually look like they could do much, much better than this dreck. Yet I can’t turn away… drama, fighting, women acting like fratboys.
Years from now, they will mark this as the most significant decline in American popular culture.
This article tries to explain the attraction. My guess is that he is trying to extend his 15 minutes.
There are plenty of women out there for Flav. I find this show amusing for the very same reason I find Jerry Springer amusing. I am a bad bad man for not looking away.
Did they at least hit her on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper?
This seems extremely weird. There must be more here than meets the eye. They wouldn’t let her take a bathroom break? I think my sympathies are with this poor woman.
I’m SO glad someone else started this thread so I didn’t have to and in the process admit that I actually watch this show. And enjoy it for its sheer trashiness. Which is what I’m doing anyway by posting now…err, nevermind.
Well, now that reality tv has lowered the bar by showing someone shitting on the floor on-camera, I can’t imagine where the bar rests now. Somewhere between contestants being armed and allowed to shoot each other and an execution performed live on tv, I suppose.
Agreed, but to a point. That anyone would be made to suffer by withholding bathroom privilages for a television shoot is horrifying, and shame on the production staff if this be the case. However, I would have been out the door long before it got to the point of me having to shake one down my pants leg.
I’d definately rather be remembered as “They crazy dude who took off running and never came back to the show” than “The crazy dude who beamed down a shatner on Flavor Flav’s stairs” every time I walk into a resturant for the rest of my life. Sometimes you have to help yourself out.
I remember being at a grad. school party in mid- to late '96 where someone described a show he had seen on Japanese television: a seven year old girl was told that her mother had died, her grief was filmed, then she was given the “happy” news that her mother wasn’t dead after all. Some people just shook their heads about how depraved Japanese popular entertainment was. I said that they were only about five years ahead of us depravity-wise. Does anyone know if we’ve closed the depravity gap in the ten years since then? I’d like to think we’re number one (with a side order, apparently, of number two).
Absolutely. For some reason people think that dignity and self-respect are abstractions that disappear when the red light of a video camera comes on. I gotta take a shit/have diarrhea and I can’t hold it? Fuck you Producer Man, I am going to the lavvy. Now. To hell with your shot. It’s not like I have much in this world besides my dignity and self-respect… I’m not giving that away for some stupid show.
As Cluricaun notes, better to be ridiculed for a stinky loaf-pinchin’ BEHIND the bathroom door or running like a maniac than to be confirmed as the Nastiest Heifer Alive. Oh dear, oh dear.
