Month: February 2013

Faux Reality – A Look at The Joe Schmo Show and Burning Love

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Police_issue_X26_TASER-black

The world of reality television is loaded with many shows that stretch the word “reality” to its very limits. But, what if you knew the show you were watching was staged?

The Joe Schmo Show is a “reality show” that is almost entirely staged and the audience is in on the ruse. A real person is cast as the “Joe” while all of the other contestants are actors. The show is meant to be ridiculous so as to always keep the “Joe” wondering if what they are seeing is real or fake. On this season of the show, the fake reality show that the producers have concocted is called The Full Bounty and is supposedly going to find the next great American bounty hunter. The premise is so insane and potentially grounds for so many lawsuits that you would have to be a bit nuts to buy it in the first place but no matter because television (more on that later). This season the show surrounds a guy named Chase who is clearly good-hearted but also isn’t above getting his hands dirty to do well on the show.

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Email Roundtable #17 – Smorgasbord

/ kwoloszyn / 1 Comment

This week I thought we’d attempt to discuss three questions that have been on my mind recently.

1.) What are your thoughts on the way Netflix rolled out the first 13 episodes of House of Cards, releasing them all at the same time? Do you think things like this will become the norm? 

netflix

Jane: I remember when first hearing about House of Cards, I thought the idea was kind of strange. I guess it makes sense though. Television seems so immediately available now, be it through streaming, PVR or downloading.

Katie: It’s what the people want, right? Getting a new show all at once must be like the first time Charles Dickens published a book all at one time. “Awesome! I don’t have to wait!!!!”

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Email Roundtable #16 – Family Time

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It was Louis Riel Day in Manitoba and Family Day in other parts of Canada on Monday. On that note, we thought we’d have a potluck-style Roundtable and discuss the shows we remember watching with our family.

Family and Car

Jane: Watching TV with my Grandparents created some of my favorite memories as a child and as a grownup. As a child there were strict TV rules. Bedtime was directly after Cheers and there was to be no talking during the final segment of Wheel of Fortune. My Grandpa had a thing for Vanna White and that was the only time she got to speak. Later in life my Grandpa’s favorite show was “the written news” aka The Weather Channel. My Grandma and I would patiently watch with him, until it was time for his nap, when we would flip to that crazy Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances. If I didn’t laugh at the funny parts my Grandma would explain them to me.

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Impressed by Derek

/ Katie Man / 6 Comments

Derek is a television show on Channel 4 about Derek Noakes, a man who works at a residential care home. The show was written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Ricky stars as Derek. As of writing this, 3 episodes of series 1 have aired.

Derek is compelling television. Before watching any of the episodes, I had a lot of expectations. For one thing, Ricky Gervais has been tweeting about the program daily, saying that it is his best work yet. For another, it stars Gervais as a man with a mental disability and Karl Pilkington as his best friend and janitor at the care home. Honestly, the premise sounds like someone is taking the piss (to use one of my favourite English phrases.) The promo photos all have Gervais with a greasy haircut and an underbite. Karl, too, looked ridiculous in the photos. Gervais has him dressed up in this long janitor-dress with the “ugliest haircut on the face of the planet” (to quote the character Derek).  To me, the show just looked silly and borderline offensive. It looked like a Ricky Gervais star vehicle and a good excuse to make Karl Pilkington look stupid.

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Leave Dana Brody Alone!

/ Jane Walker / 2 Comments

homeland-finale

Warning: Contains spoilers

According to many sources on the internet, Homeland’s Dana Brody is one of television’s most hated characters.  There are numerous Dana Brody “hate sites” out there exploring topics such as “If I were Dana Brody from Homeland, I would have every reason to decapitate myself” or “I think we can all agree that Dana Brody should be blown up.” There are sites dedicated to hating on everything from the characters “annoying face” to the fact that “she only wears one pair of boots”. Why so much hate for the moral centre of one of television’s most loved shows? I don’t get it. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable # 15 – Girls

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Norman Rockwell - Girl Missing ToothIn this installment of the Email Roundtable we attempt to discuss the new season of Girls and its most recent episodes.

Kerri: I want to start our Roundtable discussion by acknowledging something that, I think, we have all discussed over the last little while when talking about Girls. There seem to be two camps when it comes to the show. In one camp people dislike Girls an awful lot and sometimes this dislike verges on hate (and that isn’t even considering the outright sexism that is at the heart of some of this criticism). On the other side of things we have people who like the show quite a bit but have issues with it that range from the characters, to the writing, to the nudity, etc. I know few people who love the show outright and see nothing to be critical about. BUT I will say that the people who like the show seem to defend it – HARD.

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…But Nobody I Know Watches That…

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Written and conceived by Raphael Saray

I implore you for true tolerance. To strip away pre conceived notions. You may be offended when I say Fox News. Its very existence may cause you to shudder or “like” an anti-Fox Facebook page. Many people in my sphere of influence’s relationship with Fox News comes from Daily Show clips and Colbert Report skewering. But one show has never been touched by them and if you like Jon, Stephen, or even Bill Maher you may enjoy this particular “news” program. Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld has  probably been my consistent favorite tv show for the past few years. It’s on Fox News at 2 am. Continue reading →