I didn’t watch a lot of “Seinfeld.” Maybe a season, or so, and that was about
it. I certainly didn’t watch it from the
beginning and I did watch the terrible series finale but, all totaled, I saw a
dozen episodes or so. “The Contest”
episode is one of the best written pieces of television entertainment ever.
Since I had not watched from the beginning, or watched every
episode and/or repeats, I can only imagine the shock when Michael “Kramer”
Richards went on a racist rant during a stand-up “comedy” show. You spend enough time with an actor playing a
role, and you think you know them. And,
yes, though “Kramer” was a whack-a-do, there was something lovable about him
that viewers bonded with. Though you
know it’s a character and Michael Richards is the actor who plays him, you
still may believe, deep down, that Michael and Kramer are one-in-the-same and
you wish that HE was your wacky neighbor.
And then he goes and yells the “n” word multiple times during a comedy
show and it goes viral and the next thing you know, you’re questioning your
allegiance to this racist douche-bag...and the show itself. Even as people, including Seinfeld himself,
came to his defense and he went on Letterman to apologize – the words were
there, the stain was there and in the speed of an “Entertainment Tonight”
episode, “Kramer” had gone from lovable side-kick to a despised racist a**hole.
Michael Richards
Part of the overall problem with the Richards/Kramer career
meltdown was that he didn’t control the message. The racist rant happened on a Friday, he
didn’t talk about it until it came out on the following Tuesday after it had
aired. He didn’t get ahead of the
message. Who knows if he even talked to
his publicists/managers/agents...I mean, what do you say: “Hey, Joan, Bill, Maggie – uh, I was in a
comedy club last night and kind of went off at some hecklers and I used some,
well, off-color language...” “Such
as...” “Well, I may have used the N-word about a dozen times and implied that
the people who were heckling me should be lynched but, well, just wanted to
give you the heads up in case someone was videotaping and, I’m sure, no one
was....” Did that happen? I doubt it.
He probably assumed that he pissed off a couple hundred people in a
club, that someone would talk to the media, he’d deny it or say they were drunk
and it would be water under the bridge.
But, alas, no. Footage released,
apologies given, career ruined.
Michael Richards apologizing on Letterman
David Letterman did the perfect thing in terms of getting
ahead of the message. When he was being
exploited for an extra marital affair and knew that it was going to go “live”
he went on his show and talked frankly about it. He then went on Oprah and took full,
complete, total responsibility. He
manned up. Ahead of the message, he was
able to control the message and his career didn’t suffer (though, I assume,
there were some sketchy times in the home with the wife).
Letterman apologizing on Oprah
Recently the “Daily Beast” did a story about the “19 Kids
and Counting” community. About how some
leaders in their faith structure (patriarchy – quiverfull movement) were
convicted of doing a number of heinous things.
Some of the leaders are friends of Bob and Michelle Duggar and the
article, I felt, painted a broad stroke upon all of them. Sort of “guilt by association.”
And all this did for me, was to bring up the message/getting
ahead of it/controlling it that the TLC channel does with one of their popular
shows.
If I said to you:
“Will you watch a show filled with people who have strong conservative
beliefs, don’t think gays should marry, think that homosexuality is a choice
and they can be “cured,” want to out-law abortion, think that women should be
subservient to their husbands, want to dismantle Obamacare, are pro gun rights,
etc.” would you watch it? Seriously?
Campaigning for Ken "The Cooch" Cucinelli (about as political as they get)
And that’s what you get with “19KaC.” But...not overtly. Nothing as tricky or interesting as
homosexuality is ever discussed on the show.
Their views on abortion? Minimum
wage? Certainly nothing that could be
deemed controversial is ever brought up.
The question then being: Is that
okay? Are we all just skimming the
surface? I mean, if you devote hours and
hours of your life laughing at Michael Richards aka Kramer and then you find
out that he’s a racist pig don’t you feel a bit “had?” And that’s a fictional character you’ve grown
to know and love – it’s the man behind that character. “19KaC” is a reality show that is,
supposedly, showing us real life. But,
to me, the complete lack of honesty in terms of their political, spiritual,
mental belief structure undercuts the reality of the show.
The best example of this is their eldest son who ran a car
dealership, got married and moved to Washington D.C. when he was offered a
job. Not once, in over a season and a
half or two seasons has anyone actually said what that job is. I assume it’s a job in politics – I mean, why
else would he move his growing family to high rent D. C.? Is he a paid lobbyist for the Pro-Life
movement? Is he an assistant to a
Tea-Party politician who thinks that women should stay in the home barefoot and
pregnant? We don’t know because it’s
never been said. Hell, he may work for
the KKK for all we know. It’s obvious
that the network and family have made a conscious choice to NOT say what he
does for fear of losing viewers...I mean, seriously, how controversial can the
job be?
What "exactly" does Josh Duggar do?
The second example of controlling the message comes in form
of a couple episodes where the “Duggars answer your questions!” At least twice now the Duggar family has had
episodes where they answer viewer questions.
Not once have I heard the question:
“Would you allow your daughter to date a black man?” “What if one of your children came out as
gay?” “Do you believe that Obama is
destroying this country?” And I’m pretty
sure they get questions like this all the time...but, again, the message is
controlled.
When the Duck Dynasty guy came out against homosexuality and
Bravo said that he’d be off the show for a while – a huge amount of people came
to his defense – Bravo backed down (but now the show has had its worst ratings
ever.... is it something in regards to the message?).
Controversy does not necessarily equal good ratings.
How much is real and how much is REAL? You take a highly controlled environment like
the Duggar family and compare that to the “fart and swear” white-trash world of
“Honey Boo-Boo” and “19KaC” looks more and more like a scripted show.
I’ll say this: Like
“19KaC” or not, the creative people behind the show, and the Duggars
themselves, do a great job of staying on point and not allowing who they really
are and what they truly believe slip out.
It’s just a matter of time until something is said or done by someone on
the show and the near perfect house of cards will collapse. By then the show will probably be long in the
distance and people will have moved on, but will you feel kind of icky for supporting
a show that may be contradictory to your political/spiritual/mental belief
structure for so long? Or blessed? Guess it depends on what you believe.
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