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May 29, 2008

Templar: Mawww-AWM, I can HANDLE my ILLICT DEALS by mySELF!!

Yer gonna embarrass me in front of the other cultists!!!

Eeesh. Some parents, you know?

So yeah, in case you don't read my Twitter: I watch trashy downloaded television while I make the comic. One of my favorite shows, next to "Women Behind Bars," "Bodyshock," and "Forensic Files," is a gem called "Intervention." It's a reality show where a camera crew follows an addict around for however long it take to get humiliating footage, all the while secretly training the addict's family to stage an intervention. If you're a fan of how-low-can-they-go style human degradation, I really can't recommend a better hook-up.

A bulimic who consumes and throws up so much food in one day that she has to strip to pay her outlandish grocery bill? Got it. And I only wish I could find the "Leslie," "Laney," "Betsy," and "Cristy" episodes for you guys... You know you're in for a ride when someone gets the whole hour to themselves. Chugged mouthwash, schizophrenia being self-medicated with meth binges, and an on-camera, on-purpose pill OD, just to name a few highlights.

Kind of found myself in a bit of a conundrum with the "Lawrence" episode recently, though. See, Lawrence actually died.

Lawrence was a 30-something alcoholic, and by the time the film crew set up camp, his liver was sending loud-and-clear FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP DRINKING signals, via massive, inexplicable bruising all over his body. His assistant needed to cut his food up for him like a toddler, he had testicular cancer he wasn't getting treatment for, and he was downing Big Gulp-sized cups of vodka in between puking up modest, but worrisome spatters of gore onto the rug. A good episode of Intervention has a lot of "woah-moments," But Lawrence was seriously nothing but one big WOAH all on his own.

He succumbed to his family's carefully-prepared intervention and went into treatment, but left before too long. He died a few months later in the episode's postscript from esophageal bleeding, which is something that can happen when you're putting away the booze like Lawrence is. Was.

After a bit of thinking about it, I'm gonna say I'm okay with that episode being filmed and aired.

Some people might say that making an exploitative documentary out of what were, literally, a suffering man's last miserable days and turning it into light entertainment is in poor taste, and I don't disagree. But most of reality television IS in poor taste, and to some degree, about suffering. Watching a 300-pound man shrieking in pain and vomiting after a 3-mile run on The Biggest Loser, for example. Or watching the skanky, pregnant 13-year-old on Maury Povich in the hot pants slapping her mom. It's all trash. Incredibly watchable trash. It's about discomfort and stupid decisions and, yeah, more than a touch of holy-shit-am-I-glad-that-ain't-me superiority. It's the firey car wreck you rubberneck to gawp at from the comfort of your own home. And if you like that sort of thing... No sense in assuming EVERYONE does, but enough of us do that they keep making the stuff... It's probably arbitrary to partition off how much suffering is too much suffering to put on TV. Particularly if the subject wants to play along.

Lawrence, like all Intervention addicts, was initially lied to about the nature of the filming. He thought he was taking part in a documentary about addiction, and had no idea an intervention was being planned. But still, he let the film crew in his house, and when things started to go completely to balls, he didn't kick them out. His participation was voluntary, like most reality show participation tends to be; even COPS will blur your face if you don't want to be on TV. And while he may not have known how dire things really were, he certainly knew he wasn't going to come out of this looking good.

He knew what he was doing, and he had the final say in it. That's really the most important thing, forget what each of us may or may not think is individually suitable for TV. That's about our own personal discomforts and limits. In the end, it was up to him.

Yeah. Anyway. Rambling.

Preorder, plz?

Posted by Spike at May 29, 2008 01:20 AM

Comments

not with you on this one, Spike.

BUT I'm not writing for an argument, but with a recommendation: something to maybe wash that bad vodka-taste away. I recommend 'Secret Millionaire'. It's an English show. They get a multi-millionaire, ditch him/her in a really poor neighbourhood, and he/she pretends to have no money. They film him/her on the pretext that it's a doco about being unemployed in a new town. People as a whole are really, really nice to the newcomer - handing over food, jobs, whatever they have.

And THEN, at the END, the millionaire comes up to the poor people and says 'actually I'm a millionaire, you've all been so nice to me, here's a wodge of cash to fix the roof/build a sports centre/run your home for disabled kids etc.'

My husband won't watch it because it makes him cry EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Posted by coelacanth at May 29, 2008 03:42 AM
131.111.127.100

jesus GOD

This may just be the worst TV has to offer.

I hate reality TV. It's effectively a genre of exploitation film all by itself. One thing I notice is that the only really positive ones are on ABC- Extreme Makeover Home Edition and to some extent Supernanny. Supernanny does have one problem, though: the parents on that show are fucking terrible at actually parenting. Which I guess is the whole point, but it's pretty cringe-worthy to watch sometimes.

Posted by dethtoll at May 29, 2008 04:04 AM
72.49.117.53

I hardly ever post though I stalk you like crazy but thank you so, so much for Intervention. Need.

Posted by Otto at May 29, 2008 08:40 AM
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De-lurking to say I have to disagree. I think if you read your description of Lawrence's life towards the end there what you see is someone's who has a shitty track record wrt making good decisions for himself. If he was really capable of making a good decision, the vultures of reality teevee probably wouldn't have gotten half the footage they did. To me they are predators, plain and simple and they prey on people whose judgment is compromised for whatever reason.

Despite disagreeing with you about this, I am eagerly awaiting my pre-order. Maybe some producer should get in here and film me pacing the room waiting for it to arrive.

Posted by Saltypepper at May 29, 2008 08:53 AM
69.121.180.123

I like Intervention because I like to imagine showing it to kids at impressionable ages, so they won't do meth or heroin or become alcoholics. I don't know how effective it would be. Maybe cut out all the families crying and treatment failing garbage, and just show people lying in gutters puking on themselves while shooting coke into their leg. That'll learn those damn kids.

Posted by x at May 29, 2008 12:13 PM
67.189.61.128

Wow. Not my idea of entertainment at all-- but that's probably just me.

And oh Markus, you vagrant.

Posted by MissusHow at May 29, 2008 02:47 PM
66.67.173.77

When I was working nights at a Nursing Home last summer, the other ladies would watch Intervention every night. It was some of the saddest, more disturbing television I've ever seen. And I used to watch Oz AND Maury Povitch daily.

I've seen the Bulimic stripper ep and the lady who chugged off-brand mouth wash. It was just so degrading and awful. I'm not saying the show shouldn't be on air, as, like you said, they volunteer for it all, AND it's a good way to really show what drugs and such can do to a person. NOt so glamorous when you're sprawled out on the floor in your underpants, simultaneously vomiting and pleading for your gallon jug of mouth wash back while your kids stand there and gawk.

That's the part I took offence with, really. The kids. That lady with the mouth wash. They had gotten her OUT of her kid's lives, and that was the right thing to do. Believe me, I've been there. Those kids did NOT need even those few days of exposure to that. I know, they wanted to be able to keep track of her until the intervention, but... those kids, they were WAY too young to see that, to be able to understand what was going on in the least.

After watching a few eps of that, I just had to excuse myself and go sit in the hall while the others were watching it. It made me so angry.

Posted by Lady Malchav at May 29, 2008 11:36 PM
70.17.156.213

Yeah, well, the fact that this is considered entertainment gives me chills. It strikes me as a symptom of something seriously wrong with society...

I mean there's escapism and voyeurism and they can be quite entertaining, but that kind of show is the ultimate in desensitizing people to those around them. When people's lives are portrayed as indistinguishable from from fiction, they can be dismissed.
What's next? Gladiatorial combat to the death? I can already hear the reasoning: "They agreed to fight to the death, it was their choice."

Need I say that I do not watch television?

Posted by MrThumbtack at May 29, 2008 11:45 PM
98.140.43.42

I went to catholic military school (it makes sense if you think the Crusades were a good idea)

they made us watch Silent Scream, the abortion video

at the beginning, Charlton Heston came out and didn't shoot anything and said something like "TV is good because it lets us vicariously experience uncomfortable things and figure out how we feel about them"

I am feeling that sentiment for stuff like epic trainwrecks of life.

Thanks for signing the release, Lawrence.

Posted by jeremiah at May 30, 2008 12:57 AM
69.207.177.70

Is justifying horrible treatment of people with slightly-less-horrible treatment of OTHER people really a logical path we want to step down? "So we slaughtered an entire race of people, it's not really much worse than those OTHER guys who slaughtered MOST of a race of people, is it?" It really doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Lawrence or Laney or Limbaugh signed releases for this filming, it's that we're giving the media license to be our conscience. And we can all see how well THAT's worked for us.

Seeing it on television does not make it real. If anything, it makes it more distant, especially when we're watching it FOR entertainment. The death of this sad individual means nothing to the viewers who will just tune in next week to see the new train wreck.

Posted by Boy at May 30, 2008 12:28 PM
68.125.224.176

It's a cautionary example.

If people view it as empty entertainment without taking any time for reflection, that's their own fault.

Moral rectitude is left as an exercise for the viewer.

Posted by kaiju big rattel at May 30, 2008 03:28 PM
129.21.180.134

Why doesn't individual culpability apply to the producer as well as the viewer? It's billed as entertainment, and while I absolutely agree that individuals need to wake up and say, "Y'know, this is arsed up" and do something about it, take something from it, I also insist that it's the producer's (among the rest of the team it takes to make the show, just choosing an individual for fair comparison's sake) to do the same, instead of selling it as an hour block of shock for money.

Posted by Boy at May 30, 2008 04:56 PM
68.125.224.176

There is no such thing as a positive make over show. "you and/or your home isn't pretty enough to meet our standards! so we're gonna force you to change!"

Posted by Jesus Jones at May 30, 2008 07:20 PM
75.118.195.65

I like intervention in the sense it could wake people up and become more aware of themselves, plus, it shows those druggies, that people care about them. That they have somebody. Which maybe even a reason they turned o chugging store brand mouth washed, they were depressed, they felt forgotten.

but other than that, it's degrading, the idea, the "program" of actually having an intervention is a great thing, but for the respect of all those people, keep it off air.

Posted by chibbi at May 30, 2008 07:32 PM
76.99.128.173

Here are my 2 million or so cents, which are quite sincerely not meant to attack anyone who watches or enjoys this show. :)

Yeah, it was his decision to be on the show, but like someone said above, he didn't have a good track record in making decisions for himself. I know he's an adult and it's not like he can't think and make choices, and it's not like he shouldn't be allowed to make bad choices if that's what he wants to do. But I also believe that it's our responsibility as the community that such extremely unhappy people live in (whether it's local or global) to NOT HAND THEM BAD CHOICES when we know that they're impaired when it comes to that sort of thing. We don't offer children the opportunity to do things that will probably harm them and just hope that they have the decision-making skills to say no. Why should we do it with adults who also don't have those decision-making skills?

By offering them the opportunity to hurt or humiliate themselves, we (meaning the media and those who support that kind of media) basically say that it's okay for them to not treat themselves well. (I'm assuming from Spike's examples that the majority of the show is the meltdown factor, not the "something good might come out of this" factor.)

We can't make people take care of themselves, but we can sure as hell not encourage them to NOT take care of themselves for the sake of our own entertainment or education. I feel the same say about the Jerry Springer-type shows, which are basically about hostility and humiliation. I'm pretty sure there are other ways to make people feel good about themselves and teach kids to not end up that way.

Posted by knacky at May 30, 2008 07:36 PM
75.7.22.124

Of course this type of debate is exactly what the show's producers hope for, because any way you spin it it's more ratings.

YOU ARE ALL, RIGHT NOW, STRENGTHENING THE TERRORISTS! :P

Posted by brandon at May 30, 2008 10:18 PM
68.45.29.113

Sorry this isnt about the Jakes or article or anything and that I'm 3 YEARS behind the story, but I like how so far everything we've seen in Ben's apartments looks like it jumped right out of the IKEA Catalog and is doing its littl cheap scandanavian designer furniture dance.

Posted by Chris at May 30, 2008 11:38 PM
151.204.244.119

If the show has saved even one person from themselves who otherwise would have died of their addictions, it is an unqualified good thing. Whether that person be a participant, or a viewer who watched and saw something of themselves, was horrified, and took action.

You can sermonize all you like about never watching TV, and how exploitative modern entertainment is, but, you know...we don't hold gladiator battles to the death anymore. We don't bull-bait. We don't pit fight dogs (I certainly hope you don't). We don't cockfight, or pit slaves against each other for our entertainment, and these things were all the popular entertainments of their day. By that standard, we are doing WAY better. This show isn't about destruction, it's about redemption.

If you want proof, look at the episodes people love. I'm willing to bet it's the ones that are full, heartwarming successes, not the ones where someone winds up failing. That shows, to me, that what people really like to see is something wonderful happening to someone.

Posted by Louisa at May 31, 2008 01:33 PM
64.12.116.16

This is America, people: Drug addicts and alcoholics and the rest of the socially detrimental sit around and watch Intervention and Maury and suchlike and say "Dang, I'm a wretched piece of shit but at least I don't have people FILMING ME being a wretched piece of shit" and consider that a claim to the moral high ground. On the other hand, it might provide incentive to be even more degenerate in the hopes that someone will notice. And bring along the minicam. CYNICISM.

Posted by ano at May 31, 2008 02:32 PM
70.240.146.93

Personally, my favorite make over show is "How to Look Good Naked" even though I've only seen one episode.

It's not about "your body sucks, work out" it's about "love your body, whatever it is."

Plus Carson. Who doesn't like Carson?

Posted by Twitching at May 31, 2008 03:12 PM
151.199.145.10

If people didn't want to see it, they wouldn't show it.

Right or wrong, understand that it's Mr. and Mrs. consumer who vote for these shows with their purchasing dollars.

If the show's popular, that should tell you something about the people you sit next to on the bus, or drive alongside on the freeway, or what have you.

Somewhere there are enough people in the viewing public that want to see this sort of thing that it has been deemed bankable.

I think it's silly for anyone to imagine that anyone making decisions about what gets aired has any sense of morality about it. It's their job to make money. Bottom line. You want concience? Watch PBS. Or quit watching TV.

Lately, whenever I walk past a television, unless it's showing a movie, I feel like I'm observing some alien broadcast.

When kids grow up and find out that people aren't handing out free wardrobes and houses and whatnot, there should be blood in the streets.

Posted by Tyler at May 31, 2008 07:49 PM
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