The New TV season is upon us. And a yearly fall ritual that used to bring joy to men and boys, with shows like “Miami Vice,” “the Equalizer,” “Hunter,” and “the A-Team” is now more than ever, a female and gay ghetto.
Notable new series include “the Forgotten” with former movie star Christian Slater (in short, forget it), “Modern Family” which might as well be titled “Modern PC Family,” “Mercy,” “Cougar Town,” “Glee,” and “the Witches of Eastwick.”
What is interesting in them is how bad the shows are, all of them, how at least some of them have female fans. Showing how women, culturally, live in a parallel universe that never really intersects with men. The NBC promo for Mercy is below:
The Mercy show is one of the most interestingly bad shows, along with the “Witches of Eastwick.” The Mercy protagonist is a nurse back from Iraq, secretly addicted to drugs, who has little or no compassion for her patients, often older people dying of cancer.
As the review here makes clear, the central character is not long on compassion for her fellow Americans:
You treat a 6-year-old Iraqi kid who got his arms blown off because he thought a bomb was a toy . . . that’s sad,” she snarls at a tearful colleague in an oncology ward. “A 75-year-old man with cancer? That’s a trip to Club Med.”
Note the PC valuation (Iraqi kids are more worthwhile in their lives than older White Americans), the various character pathologies (she’s an addict, cheating on her ordinary good-guy husband with the hunky, powerful doctor) and facing no criticism from her co-workers who are either fabulously gay male nurses or “you go girl” female co-workers for her affair or lusting after hunky bartenders. Even more ridiculous is that the male doctors would not be lusting after female doctors, or the younger (and hotter) nurse played by “Buffy’s” Michelle Trachtenberg.
The show is an interesting expression of what Hollywood at least thinks is attractive to women: a lead character with massive personal problems, cheating on her good-guy husband she describes as her “best friend” with the Alpha male doctor in command. Meanwhile the character is a “bitch” to everyone lacking status (i.e. not the Alpha Male) particularly the young, naive, pretty, and “nice” character played by Trachtenberg. A fantasy aimed at women passing the peak of attractiveness and finding not much else in their lives. Note the power-relationships, the Latina nurse as the confident and near equal of the lead, and the junior, prettiest nurse as omega girl. Again, deeply appealing to older women is Hollywood’s bet. Noticeably lacking, however, is any semblance of a man with any masculinity. The good-guy husband is a cheated upon doofus, the “Alpha Male” is a cardboard cutout (who is obsessed with the lead character and followed her to a new city), and the male nurses, gay. Fairly revealing of what Hollywood thinks women want: not real men.
The Forgotten, centers around Christian Slater as an ex-cop leading a team of an older hotter (early forties) widow, a young woman (also “TV hot”), a doofus blue collar guy, and a broody artist in a volunteer effort to identify victims the police cannot and have closed the case on. If that sounds predictable  — it is. Slater, at least, plays a semblance of a real man, and his character actually has to do something  — lead a disparate team to the goal of identifying the victim. With something approaching real masculinity, it’s an odd-ball on ABC’s schedule, filled with Desperate Housewives clones and PC lectures.
“Glee” centers around a High School Glee club, with a wheelchair bound singer, a gay one, various women, and so on. Think “High School the Musical” except without naughty pictures of Vanessa Hudgens on the Internet. No actual men or even approximation of men appear in this series. The same holds true of “Cougar Town,” starring real-life cougar Courteney Cox, as a divorced Mom on the prowl for younger men, with the approval of her ex-husband and young son. Neither of whom mind her explicit retelling of her sexual exploits with young men not too much older than her teen son. I can imagine the pitch meeting. “Remember the Squid and the Whale? How the movie depicted how awful the parents were and screwed up their kids? This is just like that, except as a comedy. Plus Courteney Cox was hot … back in 1987.” Again no characters even approximating real men appear in this sit-com.
Modern PC Family centers around a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby, a terminally hip White dad who embarrasses his kids (and is a doofus), and an older guy (Ed O’Neil, a shadow of Al Bundy on Married With Children) married to a Columbian younger woman with a fat, doofus son. The comedy centers around PC lessons on how Fathers are useless doofuses and women don’t need them, and also how cool gays are! No actual men appear in this show either, and I could imagine a parody of it, as Al Bundy’s nightmare, on Married With Children. Sadly, Ed O’Neil does not stick his hands down his pants and yell “Peg!”
The Witches of Eastwick however, is as bad as the Mercy show, and equally as revealing. One female reviewer did not like it and neither did Television Without Pity
Both reviews note the source material, the Updike novel, has the women wish for power, get it, and use it to cause cancer in female romantic rivals. They exist on the whims of the devil, and compete with one another to be his main girl in his defacto harem. The show is “Charmed” bad, with “hot chicks” empowered by magic, and Desperate Housewives. As the ultimate female power fantasy (they use their magic to get hotter) they all compete for the same guy with lame 1980′s hair. While dumping their loser husbands or what have you. Take equal parts Sex and the City, Charmed, and Desperate Housewives. Mix, stir, and remove any male characters that might have a smidgen of masculinity. All the women can do, with all that power, is chase after the same guy. One of the more obvious takes on female hypergamy. Moreover, showing how accepting the female audience really is with expressing this on television, along with some fairly explicit implied sex, and demands for “having it all.” In a deep Recession, none of these characters worries about money, jobs, or security. Just having the hunkies man available. Even or especially if it means sharing.
These, besides the LA NCIS spin-off, are the notable new shows for Fall 2009. All that is missing is men. And presumably, male viewers.
But that is why man invented both College and Pro football.
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Love your last line! So true. The Mercy show promo bugged me the first time I saw it. When she tells the doctor – ” I want you to be better” Oh please. Let’s just cheat on your husband with the doctor. Great role model!
I guess we should not expect more. When was the last time you saw a commercial with the Man actually having the solution. Could you imagine the uproar if the woman in the commercial were made to look clueless by her husband. Never happen.
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“But that is why man invented both College and Pro football.”
Thats about all I ever watch, especially the latter. As well as History Channel once in a while and movies.
Mercy sounds like it includes every loathsome female driven plot possible, soaking in moral relativism with a steady diet of follow your heart.
“Modern PC Family centers around a gay couple with an adopted Vietnamese baby, a terminally hip White dad who embarrasses his kids (and is a doofus), and an older guy (Ed O’Neil, a shadow of Al Bundy on Married With Children) married to a Columbian younger woman with a fat, doofus son. The comedy centers around PC lessons on how Fathers are useless doofuses and women don’t need them, and also how cool gays are! No actual men appear in this show either, and I could imagine a parody of it, as Al Bundy’s nightmare, on Married With Children. Sadly, Ed O’Neil does not stick his hands down his pants and yell “Peg!â€
Cutting edge!
What percentage of the population is gay again? 35/40% right?
/
Might as well be. Just have to include their swpl/single female cohorts.
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Castle, starring everyone’s favorite Captain Tightpants, at least mitigates some of the customary unmanliness. Nathan Fillion’s eponymous character is a single father who has custody of his daughter. Castle frequently snarks his mother for not knowing who his father is. He personifies Cocky-Funny.
Of course, Wyrd decrees that the romantic interest be an ass-kicking 100 pound female. The boss is an older black man, natch. Powerpuff girl’s subordinates/partners, however, are respectably masculine men, at least as of the first season. PP girl’s ball-busting is portrayed as annoying, though cute, overcompensation.
Beyond that, it’s a procedural, which I tend not to like. Castle, though, seems to be careful with its writing and casting.
Then there’s LOST. I’ve tried to convince friends that Sawyer has been the intended hero from the very beginning, but few will bite. He plays the complete asshole, because he wants to be hated (actions alpha, motivation not so much). But anytime something nasty happens, he’s in the front line. E.g. Jin whomping on Michael over the Rolex. Sawyer’s assholery makes him a woman’s alpha. Sawyer’s altruism (however strongly denied), makes him a man’s alpha.
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“All that is missing is men. And presumably, male viewers.”
Yes, but this is because the masculine viewers already left. Analogous is MTV, which I recently looked at for the first time in years. During the 10:00 Eastern hour of programming, at least, you will not see any white people on screen. Whites have apparently stopped watching MTV, thus the programming follows the audience.
Selection bias, blah blah, but I do not know anyone who actually watches television shows at the time they are aired, or who tolerates commercials.
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Yes, it’s all part of the great conspiracy to flip create chaos and anarchy in society. Further flipping of the gender roles. It’s sickening, but unfortunately I don’t think enough men are willing to fight their wives about discriminating against watching the show. It’s easier to just go to another room and watch sports than to say, “no, no one will watch that sh** in my house.” Regardless, it’s obvious that Hollywood is run by a bunch of homosexuals, women, and “men” are who want to support their “progressed” agenda.
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After reading this article I have figured out why I don’t watch TV anymore. It’s full of feminized crap and, as it has been said, there’s not a single manly man to be seen (also studies prevent me from having much free time, but that’s another story).
It’s a shame to see the once “king of entertainment” fall so low as to be only directed towards girls/women and gay men.
Anyway, there’s not much I can contribute to this, but I’ll be sure to check this site regularly and maybe add comments that are not so stupid as this one. Good luck on this project.
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I started watching Mad Men, a series I had enjoyed watching the first season of. The second I watched out of my good feelings from the first season, but the drama was getting too much to handle.
The fucking rollercoaster going up and down, up and down tired me, nevertheless, I managed to finish the second season, and the en thinking WTF?
Recently I started watching the first episode of season three.
We have:
Married man cheating.
Engaged woman banging an alpha.
Closet gay coming out of the closet.
Some slimey british dude who acts more french having all the girls over him.
Some bitchy manager creating female politics in the workplace (two managers for one position)
And few others.
Hell, I could not bring myself to finish even the first episode.
Mad Men, started off as a mixed series, turned into a soap opera.
Damn sad, as it was a refreshing one in the beginning.
Now, looking at the presented rollercoaster, and knowing it is NOT presented for the male audience, makes me think:
how is any stable hard working man going to be able to give women this kind of rollercoaster that the women apparently crave, and that the hard working men find too hard to watch, let alone create?
Then we had Battlegina Vagactica…. Which was a massacre of manliness and justice, honor, karma, everything that makes a civilization a civilization.
Sad.. Very sad..
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I shot my TV back in 1974. My attitude toward it is perfectly summarized in Frank Zappa’s “I am the slime from the video, oozing along on your living room floor.” I consider it a time-thief and butt-glue. The time I spend not watching it can be spent doing things which are far more satisfying and rewarding.
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I have to stick up for the show “Glee.” It’s a good show, and there are men in it. (I’m not sure why you’d say there aren’t.) Also, it has some clever dialogue.
Scene: girl’s bathroom in school
Guidance counselor: “Are you attempting to throw up in there?”
girl: “Yes, but I don’t seem to have much of a gag reflex.”
Guidance counselor: “Trust me: later on in life that will be a gift.”
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Gotta love TV.
While flipping through the channels the other day I paused on an old rerun of 90210 as I noticed one of the characters was a younger Michael Cudlitz – the actor who played SGT Bull Randleman in Band of Brothers and who is one of the leads in Southland. He was playing Brenda’s prom date, I guess. Here’s the scene:
It’s at a prom party. Brenda walks into the room wearing a very tight, slinky, sexy dress. Cudlitz’s character says “Wow, Brenda, you look hot!”
Brenda glares at him, snaps “Get your mind out of the gutter!” He looks dazed and confused.
Classic. I didn’t watch long enough to see if she filed a sexual harassment charge against him too.
Oh, and while I’m ranting…yesterday I was watching Top Sniper on the Military Channel and a Vagisil commercial came on. Riddle me that one, Batman…
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Kirk: “I have to stick up for the show “Glee.†It’s a good show, and there are men in it. (I’m not sure why you’d say there aren’t.) Also, it has some clever dialogue.”
I have to disagree. The men are pathetic losers on this show. You’ve got a pedophile, a beta male doofus, a doofus jock, a doofus cad, and a smart gay kid. The women are all smart, short sighted, mean, and backstabbing. Well, three out of four truths isn’t bad. My LTR loves this show. It holds no appeal for men.
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Television still exists? And people watch it?
What?
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One of the most unusual shows ever made for TV was the sadly (and recently) cancelled “Life.” Available on DVD (and well worth your hard-earned dollars) . The lead, played by “Band of Brothers” Damien Lewis (Capt. Ed Winters) is both tender and shockingly tough. He’ll kill one guy and comfort him as he’s dying, and kill others without a thought or a moment’s regret.
Central to the action is FRIENDSHIP not romance with his troubled female partner. A woman with an uncertain relationship to her father, who got addicted to drugs while undercover in narcotics, who has often an edge to her relations to others in the department (her father was a legendary SWAT captain), it is clear throughout the course of the series that her FRIENDSHIP with the lead makes her a better person. A steady boyfriend who pours the booze down the sink for her, instead of anonymous drunken one-night stands. Trust in her partner, who is weird and a “wacky Zen Count of Monte Christo” (his character was framed for a crime he did not commit) with well concealed rage.
Damien Lewis’s “Charlie Crews” is perhaps the best male characterization to come along in decades. He sort of teases/annoys his female partner, but never too much, but is neither her pursuer nor pursued. His character is extremely masculine, including huge self control and sudden, zen-like violence (like a samurai with a sword). It’s possibly the most masculine thing on TV, ever. Shocking that it was filmed, and ran for two seasons (the first strike-shortened).
Donal Logue’s character is also great to watch, particularly his persistence in pursuing the Sarah Shahi character. It has all the good parts of his “Tao of Steve” character without all the suckiness put in by the female screenwriter.
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I’m not a huge tv fan these days; there is far too much crap out there as it is, without the excess of misandrist rubbish.
Mercy has just started on the free-to-air here in Oz, and Cougar Town is coming up. I’m boycotting both of those on principle and due to lack of interest.
What is interesting though, is the series Supernatural. My housemate’s just finished watching 3 seasons over 2 weeks (don’t ask) and she’s just swooning over the Dean character.
The other women I’ve spoken to are all in agreement: Dean kicks arse over Sam in the desirability game. Hell, even the car is seen as hotter than Sam.
I love the show, and the housemate calls it “Charmed for boys”, but I have no idea of the male demographic that watches it.
I just think it’s classic that women love the more traditionally masculine brother over the younger brother who tends more to emo-whiny crap. Even if the younger one is supposed to be the primary protagonist.
The general impression is that Dean is a real man.
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I don’t have cable but end up watching quite a bit of TV anyways. It does help to sometimes laugh at the world you’re in, but you also end up laughing along with it. I will have to check out ‘Life’. I had heard good things about it before.
One nod I will make is for “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” on FX. I’m sure you could make a critique about how low the moral character of each of the three male protagonists is, but that would, I think, take away from the fun of watching three early-thirtysomethings “go their own way” while running an Irish pub. It also has Danny DeVito, which is always a plus.
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This is why we don’t bother wasting our time watching TV.
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Who has time for TV anyway….why watch what big media feeds us? Dump your TV…Free your mind
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Speaking of men in the media…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oop5fY755Jo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUH34iqK7cI
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TV actually makes me feel ill.
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Stumbled on to an old thread. If anyone reads this, the general contempt for TV is understandable. But I had arrived hoping for some advice on good programs. FWIW, I googled my way here looking for shows that don’t treat men like buffoons. Sopranos & King of the Hill come to mind. Regrettably, both shows are finished.
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