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PLEASE NOTE: The Reality TV World Message Boards are filled with desperate
attention-seekers pretending to be one big happy PG/PG13-rated family. Don't
be fooled. Trying to get everyone to agree with you is like herding cats,
but intolerance for other viewpoints is NOT welcome and respect for other
posters IS required at all times. Jump in and play, and you'll soon find out
how easy it is to fit in, but save your drama for your mama. All members are
encouraged to read the
complete guidelines.
As entertainment critic Roger
Ebert once said, "If you disagree with something I write, tell me so, argue
with me, correct me--but don't tell me to shut up. That's not the American way."
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"You're Cut Off."
Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-10-10, 07:23 AM (EST)
 
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"You're Cut Off." |
The Simple Life multiplied by 4.5, with no retreat zone, no breaks, and apparently no ability to go out and find a pawnshop. These women may have never heard of a pawnshop. Goods someone else once owned? Completely outside their personal paradigms. It's easy to see how they got suckered into being on this show: they have people who don't read contracts for them...If you missed the premiere, the premise is fairly simple. Nine spoiled-rotten divas who have no income, motivation, or skills of their own beyond credit slip signing were told they were going on a reality show which celebrated the world of hyperspending. What they got was a series of declined credit cards followed by a notification of their new status: no more money from parents, spouses, and trust funds for the next eight weeks -- minimum. They have to live together, Get Jobs, learn how to take care of themselves, and suffer. Oh, do they ever have to suffer. And the simplest things qualify for suffering potential. Like having dinner. One of them (Gia) admits to not even knowing what a kitchen would look like, while others are happily mistaking dishwashers for stoves. It took them about ten minutes to figure out boxed wine, and that was working as a committee. You wish I was joking. And if you watch this, by the end of the hour, you'll really wish I was joking. I haven't even started touching on the train-wreck events of last night: eighty-car pileup with not a single brain cell surviving. You may have seen spoiled and clueless on this scale, but not in this kind of mass quantity. They can be tormented by having to cut the contents of five pieces of luggage down to one bag, and were. (This is where pawnshops would come in: most of what they got to keep was still worth a few thousand dollars per piece at full retail. So at least five bucks at the sign of the three balls.) A trip into a middle-class residential neighborhood qualified as ghetto diving. One of them may have gotten pregnant just to have an extra fashion accessory. And the hard parts haven't even started yet -- so far, it's been a night of living together, one dinner, a single group therapy session with their host/life coach, and the notice that more difficult things might be coming. One of them has already vowed revenge. Her chosen method: spending ten times as much. It's the only thing she knows how to do. Can they be saved? Changed? Made to at least look for a sale tag once in a while? Taught to turn on a microwave? There are faint glimmers of hope for a few of them, but they're few and far between at this stage. It's Charm School for the ultra-rich and my, do they ever need a few edges sanded off, all on their credit cards. There's even a prize: if they get through this, their financial backers will consider taking them back -- under new terms. (The saddest part of the premiere is the interview cells filmed for the fake show, showing them with the bill-payers: the 'What have I created?' sadness is clear in the eyes of their families -- and to the princesses, completely invisible.) Watching them struggle with what most people would see as Real Life? Funny. Thinking about how they got to a place where all this turned into a struggle? Sad. Schadenfreude? Very, very high -- but it's also like watching Celebrity Rehab: you hope some of them get better while knowing most of the cast is going to relapse. Imagine how they'll do on I Love Money 4. They already have the money-loving down pat. And for some, it's all they can love. 
Moving, talking, shopping shells.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-17-10, 09:51 AM (EST)
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4. "Episode #2." |
The pack is starting to sort itself out. The Smart Ones have figured out their only road back to a life of happily never paying your own bills is to take whatever they're force-fed here and choke it down. To that degree, they're going to at least give some effort in the various tasks, although they may dodge out of it whenever possible -- witness the issues visible in the initial housecleaning. For most, this is 'fake it until you make it': the lessons are unlikely to sink in and the whole experience will be treated as cramming for a course whose only purpose is a graduation requirement, where total forgetting of material takes place at the exact second of handing in the final -- but at least they'll try to give off the illusion of reform. The Stupid Ones are exemplified by Gia. (She's hardly the only one -- just the worst.) The world exists to do their bidding, and this situation is a momentary aberration. They will continue to act as they always have because this experience has to end eventually -- and once it does, things will go back to their normal with no concessions on their part. To concede anything, much less change in any way, would mean descending to a level they only acknowledge the existence of at a great distance. So they'll wait. And then they'll go home. Followed by taking vengeance. But those divisions are what existed before they were told what the goal of the program was. Now that they've all heard that they're actively working back towards their old lifestyles -- well, to continue down the Stupid path is going to require a sense of entitlement that, luckily enough, you'll already find in the house. In quantity. They should all realize they've at least got to fake it now -- but... Other notes: I don't like the VIP position. Maybe you do need a reward system with this group because it essentially comes down to training purse dogs, but they were clawing at each other before the perks appeared. Too many queens in the hive -- at some point, the stingers are going to come out. As far as Voldy's appearance goes: you had to figure she lived like a pig. (Sure, production could have wrecked the house on purpose. I choose to believe otherwise. Voldy would understand: after all, believing otherwise is all she's ever done.) It might have been better to tell the massage receivers about the celebrity endorsements after the experience. Say, at the end of the series. Too much fighting, too many insults, and welcome to Total Drama Household: you won't be staying long. No one could stand to stay for very long. Well, maybe if they offered you Gia's rejected (and theoretical) cleaning million... Gosh, what a fun shopping trip. I hope some of their furniture is edible, because that did not supply nine people for one week. Innocents abroad in a place with no grocery bagging. Which isn't a problem, because most of what they purchased didn't look like groceries. Does anyone in the house have a T-Bird? I'd like to see their daddy take it away.
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kidflash212 4607 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Stuff Magazine Centerfold"
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06-19-10, 11:37 PM (EST)
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7. "RE: Episode #2." |
I was thinking along those lines when I watched the first episode - the fools who have been paying these demented brats bills are just as much to blame as the they are.
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Puffy 6676 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-20-10, 02:00 AM (EST)
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8. "RE: You're Cut Off." |
I watched, based on your mentioning the show here. It was hilarious. I still don't see what's holding the girls there if they don't want to stay; I don't see any motivation to stay, but I'm getting a kick out of their misery.
Courtesy of the Cap'n
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krismiss2us 818 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Fitness Correspondent"
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06-22-10, 08:51 PM (EST)
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12. "RE: You're Cut Off." |
I totally agree! My honey suggested that this would be good motivation: IF the girls don't comply, then the BENEFACTORS must donate a year's salary (or whatever tehy spend on the girls) to charity. What do you all think?
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-23-10, 10:10 AM (EST)
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14. "RE: You're Cut Off." |
He appeared very briefly in the premiere, but didn't say much about the relationship.
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Snidget 44369 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-23-10, 11:39 AM (EST)
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15. "Oh yikes!" |
Trying to decide if I should watch or just read the thresd.Usually these people give me hives. I had enough trouble with the brush with those who for one reason could not be bought an Ivy League (or second tier private college) education at any price and thought it was unacceptable the fanciest of the State Universities could not be bothered to provide parking spaces in front of every building so the students could drive the five blocks from frat row to campus and park next to the door (and maybe provide people to carry them from the car to their seat). That the University instead partnered with the town so that every student's ID card was now an unlimited bus pass was the most insulting thing anyone had ever done to them.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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06-24-10, 03:17 PM (EST)
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16. "Episode #3" |
Instead of this behavior rehab program, can we send both Chrissy and Perez Hilton to the Persons Unknown Village 3.0? Maybe she can powder her face with the poison gas residue before walking into the microwave wall: just tell her it's a complexion treatment and watch her momentarily consider running! Oh, Jessica's going to bring the attitude now? So up until this point, we were actually dealing with The Sweet And Kind Mushroom Princess Who Lives In Another Castle? Wow. Who knew? But to be fair with Erica, you try finding a nice pair of panties in a thrift shop... It's not the world's least painful show...
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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07-03-10, 01:31 PM (EST)
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19. "RE: Episode #4 preview." |
I would reply to your post, but I need another hour to finish working on my hair.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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07-08-10, 06:56 AM (EST)
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22. "Exit one." |
It almost makes me wish for a reunion show, because the immediate question -- one which doesn't get an answer within the structure of the main series -- turns into 'Is she still cut off?' A yes would explain the crocodile tantrum on her way out: not only did someone else wind up telling her what to do after all, but now she gets to do it without spending everyone else's money. Oh, the pain. Oh, the torture. Oh, the injustice of someone around her having real eyelashes. That would be a perfect fate for Chrissy, wouldn't it? Beyotched her way back home and found out her departure meant she wasn't going to have a home at all. But don't worry -- with her beauty, she'll have no problems entering the modeling industry. Or getting a new sponsor. Or offending everyone around her to the point where someone finally caves in her face. Two days, tops -- one if she makes it into modeling. But for now, she just goes into this show's history book as The One Who Couldn't Even Be Bothered To Fake It. You have to think the others have considered that no-more-cash-ever angle, and that's why you're not seeing a mass exodus. For one -- maybe two -- you might have gotten to the 'it's an interesting experience' stage, but I still feel a lot of them are just going through this to get their credit cards back. If they felt acting out would get them tossed with all funds restored, we would have seen a mass exodus already. The fear that Chrissy is now permanently locked into The Unemployable Life -- that's keeping them in the house. For now. But it wasn't good enough for Chrissy. And nothing ever will be. Minor notes: This is Erica's second tour of duty on a reality show: it turns out she was a contestant for the hand of an ABC Bachelor, Rome edition. And she was hated there. (I honestly didn't know this until last night. I just despise Chris Harrison that much.) So basically, nothing's changed: put Erica in a house full of females and watch the cluelessness fly... So basically, every time a reality cast visits a temple, someone's going to walk out? While the no-makeup confrontation was effective, I'm not sure about the format for the rest of the day's challenge. It didn't feel as if the temple visit did anything beyond a momentary impression. (I would have left them there for a couple of days, if the monks had permitted it.) And the photo shoot just got a few of them deeper into Diva Mode. So Laura came into the house in jeans and a t-shirt, without makeup. And Chrissy? Couldn't be bothered to openly notice. (Or at least not notice in a way that was recorded.) So did Chrissy have any legitimate points there? Because it wasn't the worst idea to do it at the challenge: put everyone on equal footing. Or it wouldn't have been coming from someone else -- but Chrissy just seemed to want the focus off herself while continuing to push every boundary she could see. And personally, I would have given VIP to Amber. Gia's pushing her luck, and she's too petty to have power.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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07-13-10, 06:29 AM (EST)
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23. "The Great Outdoors Bitchfest." |
Any attempt to extensively summarize last night's fiasco would lead to flashbacks, so I'll just stick with the following:Never give Gia any degree of power. Don't let Erica talk. Consider canceling the graduation ceremony. And whatever happens, do not let them eat cake.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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07-20-10, 01:31 PM (EST)
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26. "The PATH out." |
Is this where Gia finally started to Get It?Is it where we realized Erica was Never Gonna Get It? Did the editors leave out the part where Gia mentioned the restaurant was a thousand miles away: start walking? (Better yet, how good was that offer? We need a reunion show.) How overdue was Courtnee for VIP? And will the finale incite: 1. One fight.
2. Multiple fights.
3. A riot.
4. Season #2.
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LFJ 363 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Cooking Show Host"
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07-21-10, 06:51 PM (EST)
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29. "RE: The PATH out." |
ITA with most of what you have said. However, some people compensate for their illness so well, that it is hard to know they are ill in the classic sense of the word. Obviously, Gia is not *ahem* well. She was probably cast for that very reason. Of all of the women in the house, her behavior has been the most outrageous - underscoring the rage in that word. Exploitation of her illness is what I call cruel. We know depression can manifest itself in many ways. And, of all of the depressions, IMHO, post partum is the worst. While everything in nature is telling you that you should love your infant child, you are rejecting it. Result: Terrible guilt, self image destroyed - sometimes so severe that infanticide occurs. Unimaginable depression Psychosis. And, most men do not understand post partum depression (IOW - husband virtually useless). Women who suffer from that illness are to be pitied. Even Gia, if in fact this is true. She lost something she will never regain - a time that was meant for bonding with her child is gone forever. Of course, we are assuming that this program has any basis, whatsoever, in Reality. But, interesting discussion, nevertheless.
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Estee 57126 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold"
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07-27-10, 09:12 AM (EST)
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30. "Finale." |
LAST EDITED ON 07-27-10 AT 09:20 AM (EST)Laura's behavior in this episode bothered me more than that of the contestants. 'I want you to keep her cut off.' Right. Throw her out on the street with just the very expensive clothes on her back and she'll be fine. Anyone can find a job within hours in this current economy, especially with that wealth of shoe warehouse experience. When the host is being less realistic than the participants on this show, we've got Major Problems. Sure, they all needed help -- but was the person supposedly providing it acting out of jealousy at the end? The take-back conditions needed a little more standardization. Some took it on the chin (again, one month to find a job in the current climate?), some got off way too easy, Erica, and it felt like too many had the chance to just move back into their old ways as if nothing had ever happened: shake head hard, erase memories, resume spending. And looking at the closing updates, that's just what happened for at least one. (One Erica note: forget about apples not falling far from the tree -- I don't think that particular rose ever got clipped from the bush.) I have vague hopes of the lessons sticking for one or two. Some of them got something out of this: the real question is whether they'll keep it. But for others... ...here comes Season #2. Possibly featuring Retreads #1-5. Not the worst concept for a reality show. Even with all the fighting and frequent lack of impact, it wasn't even the worst cast. But the execution still needs a lot of work -- -- and we might just need a new host. Who's Chrissy?
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