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Thread Number: 1860
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Original Message
"meerkat manor"
Posted by cqvenus on 09-26-07 at 03:56 PM
i applaud that the researchers have been following these animals for so long, that this is the most in-depth research on this type of animal, etc.

however, the anthropormorphism used in this show is nauseatingly unscientific. and it doesn't fix anything that they have sean astin narrating it.

~ cq

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Messages in this discussion
"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by udg on 09-27-07 at 12:35 PM
My MIL is in a movie with Sean Astin!

What? Oh, this show doesn't contain filler with gratuitous self promotion? Um... It's Animal Planet. You can't expect anything other than anthropomorphism on any show on that network. After all, dogs are people, too.

My kids really like Meerkat Manor, though.


Slice n' Dice's Sigpic Chop Shop 2004

"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by tribephyl on 10-01-07 at 07:59 AM
I'm actually a fan. Watch it every friday night. Love watching the trials and tribulations of the meerkat groups.
The anthropomorphising going on is our way of connecting to animals. So if it helps to shed some light on a species we wouldn't normally encounter (and in an entertaining way) than all the better.

I must say, after the last episode and the whiskers clan losing their matriarch, Flower (and basically, the star of the show as has been for the last 3 seasons), I'm shocked. I knew going in that the normal life span/claim on dominance would be relatively short. I wasn't quite prepared to be as awestruck and dumbfound as I was over the potential results this event would have on the clan, just as the whiskers clan seemed to be sensing as well. With 3 females of age (and two of those already pregnant) the role of leader will be highly sought after. Yet, with the clan in flux it also leads to many opportunities for the nearby rival clans to come in and take over too. (In bloodshed no less.)

Never watched the sopranos. So I don't really understand completely the ads for the show. But it doesn't mean that the meerkats don't have different personalities and don't act in manners similar to families of every type. Their lives happen to be playing out in the desert scrubs of Africa, which might be the actual reason it all seems so harsh, as their life and existence is harsh. Being bitten by venomous snakes is pretty darned dramatic. Miscarriages and clan fights are too. Sisters can be cruel to each other, just as they can stand side by side in conflict against others. And roving romeos can show up at the most inopportune of times.
Gah... I could go on. I do like this show. My complaint would have to be that it's too short. And Sean Astin? I loved him in Goonies!

"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by ginger on 10-02-07 at 03:27 PM
*Sniffs!*

FLOWER!


RIP, you incredibly tough little meerkat cookie.

"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by batts on 10-17-07 at 02:41 AM
I know. Huh.

I've been watching since season 1.

To show poor Len gettin carried off by that hawk... I was hoping it would have been squiggy (poor crippled little runt), at least the healthier pup woulda had a better chance at survival.

Is Zaphod, who is now out of the tribe, going to die now? The last episode showed him being chased off by the Zappa gang after he tried to get some hoochie coochie lovin from one of the girls.

"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by Ricky on 10-20-07 at 12:54 PM
Someone wrote a letter to TV guide saying that showing the death of Flower was too "graphic" (they showed Flower all swollen after she was bitten by the Cobra) and that the producers/camera men should have intervened to save Flower.

It is true nature though, survival of the fittest. It's not a scripted reality show.



CONSPIRACY THEORY: It is possible Flower was asking for too much money and they had to find a way to write her out of the script.

"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by Agman2 on 03-07-16 at 04:55 PM
Don't feel bad, they're going to make flower's life into a made for TV movie!
"RE: meerkat manor"
Posted by Dakota on 10-28-07 at 02:42 PM
The death of Mozart, with Wilson returning to once again give her a chance at living life in the Kalahari to it's fullest, has left me despondent. No other reality TV personality has ever done this. Mozart wasn't a DAW, she was trying to live, love and survive.

Too much drama? Too much anthropomorphizing? Gosh, I liked that little girl. Fortunately I knew she was going and had time to adjust before it aired or it might have been even harder for me to cope.

surfkitten sigshop 2007