DISQUS

Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago

Television, as we have known it, is dying. (Have you seen the new Netflix Roku box ...you can downstream movies now in seconds...it's new and not great yet in terms of selections but it is the future.) Cable is getting as desperate as broadcast for viewers. Educated people are watching less and less television whether for news or entertainment...a lot is now on the net. So what audience is left to sell to?

WHITE TRAILER TRASH AND OLD FARTS...

Gay bashing will get ratings. Just look at the ads surrounding shows like this. Budweiser, Ford 150 trucks, crap like that.

Expect more of this shit. The corporate media are getting scared.

unclemike · 1 year ago

I haven't seen the episode yet (it's still on my dvr), but is it possible the producers/FX felt that the outrageous claims were automatically proven false just by showing how loving and healthy and normal the gay family was?

John Aravosis · 1 year ago

I think you're right. But I fear that the nuance would be lost on most viewers. What they'd remember is "you know, I heard on TV that gays are more likely to abuse kids..."

Mark · 1 year ago

The problem with that is that you could watch the episode and say, "Well, the couple we saw seemed fine, but that expert said that gays are more likely to abuse children. The four kids I saw might be safe, but the expert is talking about the broader impact."

He was interviewed as an expert. He was sitting in front of a bookshelf, to give the impression that he's, perhaps, a researcher. Without a balancing opinion from another expert, his bigotry hung over the rest of the episode.

FatRat · 1 year ago

I watched 30 Days and I was surprised that there was no rebuttal of any sort. I don't know where she got those statistics; but as well all know, there are three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics.

Watching her made me a bit sad. You could see that she had hate in her heart but she also wanted to fit it. That is a hard combo to live with. You can't practice that "we are all of God's children" and then relegate some to the back of the bus. You either have to reject blind hatred or embrace it.

decotodd · 1 year ago

I saw the episode last night, and thought that the couple and the support groups came across enlightened and loving. The bigot (and frankly the woman who came to live with the couple) bury themselves with their own ignorance and intolerance. Maybe F/X and/or Spurlock thought that they would let the haters expose themselves and lose credibility.

Agree that it would have been nice to have some rebuttal. According to the Savage piece, however, why did it take GLAAD so long to respond? If review copies had already been sent, that means the episode was "locked" and in the can -- how could they expect the network to film an additional interview, edit it and put it into the show with so little time. The show isn't a news program.

aus1ander99 · 1 year ago

I actually felt the episode was pretty positive towards same sex couples adopting and portrayed the woman and those who shared her views as pretty arrogant and selfish, if not downright idiots. If you watch the episode again, you'll notice all of the same sex couples talking in very calm voices and very kindly to her, but she raises her voice and screams anytime someone has a different view from her. And it was pretty clear that her entire opinion was based soley on what she felt her god would tell her, and she had no response to any of the logical arguments made by the couples who were taped.

I'm actually a fan of Spurlock and I've felt 30 Days has done a pretty good job at airing both sides of the issue. The fact they included some of these morons, I think, was just to highlight how much hate still exists in this country and contrast that with the love and kindness in the couples who were the real stars of this episode.

Mark · 1 year ago

I've compiled a list of contact information for all of the advertisers on last night's broadcast of '30 Days.' Let them know what you think:

http://gaymarried.blogspot.com/2008/06/take-act...

kladinvt · 1 year ago

Considering the FX is owned by NewsCorp, what should anyone expect, accept fear-mongering, sensationalism & pandering to the far-right agenda?! The best thing anyone can do is turn your TVs off. I gave TV up 4 yrs ago & couldn't be happier! Rent DVDs if you need to watch something, read a book, use your brain to come up with something/anything more productive or enjoyable than watching the corporate media!

slappymagoo · 1 year ago

I was going to make the same comment unclemike did, also without having seen it. Just from what I read, the gist (and "gist" is the operative term, I'm totally spitballing here) is that, you show frothing a right-winger and a damaged adult with a bone to pick about gay parents, and then you show a loving gay couple raising children, and Spurlock assumed the message the audience would take away is "well, OBVIOUSLY these people who are against gay parents don't know what they're talking about, CLEARLY here's a great gay couple raising great kids."

Aaaand we all know what happens when people assume.

Forget FX, hound Morgan Spurlock to get an answer. I would think a big-shot grass-roots documentarian who hit the big-time might still remember how dogged other grass-roots truth-seekers can be. Ask him why there was no expert on the show that bears his imprimatur to refute the crazy lies uttered by uneducated biased people with bones to pick with a chunk of the world population. Let HIM answer whether or not he hoped the family on his show would be enough to refute their craziness. Let him tell us whether or not he considers these people to be "experts" in this field of study, and if so, why there were no "Experts" on the OTHER side of this issue to refute their opinions disguised as facts.

And decotodd, no show ever needs be "locked." The Producers of the show could have worked around the clock to re-edit the episode, regardless of whether or not it's a news program. It requires a decision to spend extra money, and it could be A LOT of extra money, but if they realized they had a hot potato on their hands, it would've been worth, at the very least, an end credit crawl that could've said, in light of emerging concerns about the content, this episode's issue will be continued ane expanded at a later date. And if they can't, well, that's a serious drawback of "reality" tv, isn't it? They should be treating their subject matter as news, because clearly, they're hoping to MAKE news with these stories.

Butch1 · 1 year ago

Why anyone gives these right-winged, fundamental charlatans any platform to speak their ignorant drivel is beyond me.

AdmNaismith · 1 year ago

While I like Spurlock's work in general, his methodology is less than rigorous. I've seen several eps of 30 Days. The 'Farmboy live in the Castro' was extremely unrealistic, but ended on a positive note.
I think Spurlock thinks he's doing good, in one way or another, but Penn & Teller's show is a model of balance and restraint compared to 30 Days, which seems to hold a point if view on each subject it covers.

jr · 1 year ago

Dear networks,
Quit pandering to the gravity denier demographic. Flintstones don't belong in a Jetsons age

FNReedie · 1 year ago

I've been a fan of "30 Days" since it started ... but last night's episode had me drop it from my Tivo ...

rextrek1 · 1 year ago

I watched it last night..well,half watched it...that lady was bothering me to the point - I cursed at the TV and then changed the channel til she was done ranting her religious crap. Oh and how it botherwed her that the parents had to tell thier children (if they wanted to tell anyone, that they had 2 dads..it was up to them) ...you thought that lady was gonna go batshit over that..? I thought to myself..you know "WHY, they have to say that to thier kids lady?" ...because of people like her who raise thier lil' bastards with bigotry and Hate. I also, found myself HOPING that her 2 adopted kids were gonna grow up Gay....tho, she'd probably either religiously abuse them, or dis-own them...thats how she came off to me....I watched maybe 3/4 of it...

paulbe · 1 year ago

Homosexuality as a "mental disorder" or similar is starting to get a lot more play lately, even among commentators who I thought were of the "left". We are also apparently tools of the New World Order (NWO) and are being used (perhaps mostly unknowingly) to undermine society and help usher in one world Government by breaking down the family and promoting our hedonistic and hollow lifestyle as the new "normal". We have been doing this for quite some years it would seem, and not very successfully obviously. Apparently our handlers are all jewish too. I haven't checked in with mine lately but I'm sure he'll be disappointed with my lack of hedonistic abandon these days.