That Show is Problematic

Destroying your favorite TV shows forever and ever.

[yourfaveisproblematic]

About Jensen Ackles teenage photos “It’s rumored he was once a girl. These are the pre-op photos. Jensanna Ackles.”

“If fandom were a kingdom I would be the queen. Because in chess, the queen is the most powerful piece and because there are several photos of me circulating in drag.”

...

[thatshowisproblematic]

Sorry for the hiatus!

We’ve been very busy here at TSIP, but we’re getting back into the swing of things. Feel free to request shows for us to judge. We should have more stuff later this week!

[meotional-blog]

Hey, do you think you could do a post on the show Red Eye? It’s outrageously problematic but it’s gotten weirdly popular on tumblr lately. Someone seriously needs to call out the bullshit. It’s on hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/478665#i0,p43,d0

[thatshowisproblematic]

Interesting, I've never heard of that show! We'll post about it today/tomorrow.

[thatshowisproblematic]

The Biggest Loser

From "The Curvy Nerd", who puts it in words much better than I ever could:

I’ve blogged about The Biggest Loserpreviously, at which point I was a casual viewer, having watched approximately five episodes of the current season (season 11). Since then, I’ve drunk the Biggest Loser Kool-Aid in massive quantities and have marathoned the entire 9th season, added all my favorite contestants on Twitter and am very actively engaged in the current season and its trajectory. The show has turned out to be an important part of my weight loss/fitness “regime” (as I joked in the original post), as it does serve as a positive reinforcement each week and a reminder that I need to stay on track, and get fit. I have to credit The Biggest Loser with inspiring me to sign up for my first 5K. To wit: begrudgingly, yes, I’m a fan. It’s inspirational, and tells some good stories.

One of the most frustrating anti-fat (people) messages we get is that if you’re overweight, and especially obese, that you are lazy and have no will-power. Hey, sometimes it’s true (being sedentary does have a correlation with weight), but as we all know, losing weight and turning your life around oftencannotbe done based solely on so-called “will power” and “not being lazy.” Even if you get off your butt and work out or you resist that cheesecake nine times out of ten, a lifetime of learned, disordered and destructive behaviors can set you back, stand in your way, or lead to relapse. Or, you may have a medical condition or genetic predisposition that makes “getting skinny” improbable or impossible. Not being able to lose weight, or struggling to do so, is not an automatic product of being “lazy,” or “not working hard enough.”

So this season in particular, its rankled me every time contestants (like Arthur or Q) have been chastised by their fellow contestants (Justin and Rulon) for “not working hard enough.” The trainers do it, too, which I also find problematic, but you can’t blame a super thin and buff personal trainer for thinking that working out six hours a day is a magic bullet to weight loss. That’s their worldview and their job.

But fat people need to give other fat people a break. Anyone who has struggled with weight and/or obesity knows how difficult it is – thinking about food constantly, weighing your choices, sometimes making bad choices, food guilt, feeling gross in your body, fat rolls, sweaty fat rolls (the WORST), super fast weight loss, almost no weight loss, plateaus, working your butt off and not seeing it on the scale, etc. etc. The reality of being an overweight person trying to lose weight is that it’s HARD, it’s unpredictable, different for everybody and “eat less, exercise more” DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK. Sometimes your body gets really pissed at you for eating less and exercising more and your metabolism skids to a halt. Some weeks the scale doesn’t correlate to your effort.

Yet we get fat people on The Biggest Loser “calling out” their fellow contestants for not working hard enough. Ok, is it possible a contestant didn’t work as hard as they could have? Yes. But people have different health concerns, pain thresholds, bodies and metabolism. They react differently to exercise, particularly different types of exercise (Moses, as we saw, works better with boxing as opposed to straight cardio), and food.

This season has been a study in extreme opposites: Justin and Rulon losing massive amounts of weight in the beginning and fat shaming their fellow contestants who has slow or low weeks (notably Q and later Arthur), and then BOTH eating humble pie when they slowed down, lost zero or, as we saw this week, cheated on their diet. I’m sorry, the Olympic Gold metalist who can clearly just work his ass off and drop a shit-ton of weight is cheating on his diet, yet he has the gall to chastise fellow contestants who have been sedentary and obsese their entire lives, are new to exercise and have a slow week? Rulon needs to gain a bit more understanding of his fellow human beings, and step outside his own narrow worldview.

But the ray of sunshine this season isCourtney, who through all the fat shaming and “you didn’t work hard enough” rhetoric has had the right attitude and message: every pound lost is a pound lost, and more recently, plateaus happen. While she was uncharacteristically not happy with her three pound loss last night, she is acknowledging her plateau, which is a normal aspect of a weight loss journey. I don’t know if it’s because she’s still a bigger girl or because she’s such a rockstar who lost over 100lbs on her own before starting the show, but on the weeks where Courtney hasn’t “lost a lot” (cue eyeroll), her fellow contestants and trainers have NOT fat shamed her or indicated she wasn’t working hard enough. Compare this to season 9, when Stephanie hit a plateau, losing only 1 or 2 pounds a few weeks in a row (and one week zero) and her fellow contestants, particularly the women, accused her of cheating and playing the game. When someone hits a plateau? Fat shaming and accusations of cheating don’t help. It’s amazing how cruel the very people who should understand your struggle can be.

I hope that people will take away from this season Courtney’s message of positivity, hope and realism. However, fat people shaming other fat people has become pretty standard for The Biggest Loser, so I doubt her attitude will prevail.What is it about overweight people being the hardest, and often the most cruel, to other overweight people?We reinforce the same ugly stereotypes about fat people that society/culture/media thrusts upon us — we’re lazy, slobs, gluttons, unloveable and invisible — when we look at another overweight person and say “well, she/he is clearly just not working hard enough.” Sometimes it isn’t that simple. Be happy for your own success and, yes, be supportive of your fellow fat friends. But fat shaming is NOT being supportive. Be understanding, offer positivity (not negativity disguised as positivity, ie: you just didn’t work hard enough, but you can next week!) and keep an open mind.

And don’t get me started on the “all fat people are miserable; all thin people are super happy” motif of Biggest Loser an the fact that often contestants slim down far beyond where they need to be, all for the big reveal. Why do you need to slim down to a size 4 or 6? No. But that’s a topic for another day!

http://thecurvynerd.com/

Her blog touches on fatshaming in media and culture--I'd highly recommend checking it out.

[blithebereavement]

Hey guys,

I need some help.

If you know me very well then you know I’m not really a person who’s great about asking when she needs something, so please know that I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t serious. If you do know me, then you might also know a bit about my relationship with my father. My father is an abusive and mentally ill person, who had been causing my family constant stress, both financially, legally and emotionally, for over a decade, since my mother divorced him.

Today I found out that if my family doesn’t some how come up with $20,000 by the end of May, we’re going to lose our house because of him. The court has declared that he has a legal right to the house, despite the fact that is my mother who has been paying mortgage payments on it for over 10 years.

This may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but the repercussions would be enormous on my family. Because of the nasty divorce, my mother’s credit is too bad to buy another house or get a loan to help pay the fee. My brother Mark is going to college this fall, and she’ll have to support him through that (not to mention the fact he’ll have to leave knowing the home he’s lived in since he was four is no longer his). I will have to move home to support my family, giving up year of experience and credit I have at my current restaurant of employment. My youngest sister who already faces bullying at school, and my youngest brother who is only 7, will be homeless without a roof over their heads. That’s him, in the picture, when he was a little younger, playing in our backyard.

If anyone can spare anything to help my family, I would be incredibly grateful. I can’t offer much in return - I can’t draw or create clothes or much of anything. All I can really do is ask for whatever you can spare, or a signal post if you can’t spare anything.

You can click here to donate.

Thank you all for whatever you can do.

[kinomatika-deactivated20150207]

You guys helped me fix my computer screen, this is infinitely more important.

PLEASE donate if you can.

[thatshowisproblematic]

I normally wouldn't do this, but this is a serious case that really needs help. Thank you if you donate to this deserving person.

[thatshowisproblematic]

Sorry for the hiatus!

We've been very busy here at TSIP, but we're getting back into the swing of things. Feel free to request shows for us to judge. We should have more stuff later this week!

[thatshowisproblematic]

I stopped watching in season seven, so anyone who has additional commentary, feel free to join in.

This show is so problematic. Women and PoC are treated as villains or stereotypes, and usually aren’t in the show for more than a few episodes. For that matter, I don’t think it’s ever passed the…

[shivering-cold]

I’m not entirely sure that Crowley is queer-baiting. In his first appearance he called out the man making a deal about being homophobic. And Mark Sheppard states that Crowley doesn’t lean toward a sexual orientation of any sort and that he just likes making people uncomfortable (after all, he is a demon and preys on weakness). But as recent episodes came to light that he had a previous sexual encounter with a woman, he might be bisexual.

As for Dean and Cas’s relationship. I don’t ship Destiel but I think a lot of the fans see the romantic undertones between them. I, for one, just like their friendship and how Cas was able to connect to humans through Dean. But, I’m not really going to analyze it.

And for the women being portrayed in Supernatural. The central focus of the show is the relationship between Sam and Dean. The brothers. They aren’t going to add in a central female character because she would be the outsider to relationship of Sam and Dean (Cas is too) because the brother will always come first.

So yeah, we’ll get strong females likes Jo, Ellen, Meg (both of them), Ruby (first Ruby didn’t take shit from anyone and saved the brothers a couple of times), and Lisa. But they won’t (or didn’t) stay because Sam or Dean will always come first to the other.

Granted, I agree with you that Supernatural does has its problems as do all tv shows in public media but it has its good points too. But, you can’t please everyone, can you?

[thatshowisproblematic]

You can't please everyone, sure, but decent people at least try to include the less represented communities. Supernatural hasn't really done that, and it really makes me suspicious.

I think the fact that they included the kiss with the homophobic man, and every other time Crowley interacted with other men in a sexual manner, is just problematic. I mean, the demon is playing the role of something we should fear, and if that's homosexuality (even if it's making fun of homophobes), it's wrong.

I know the show is about the two brothers, but I don't think involving female characters just automatically makes it okay. The characters are often one-dimensional (badass bitches or maternal figures). Not that women can't be badass or maternal, it's just the defining characteristics of most females on Supernatural. And that's a problem.

[thatshowisproblematic]

I stopped watching in season seven, so anyone who has additional commentary, feel free to join in.

This show is so problematic. Women and PoC are treated as villains or stereotypes, and usually aren’t in the show for more than a few episodes. For that matter, I don’t think it’s ever passed the Bechdel test. Women play the sexy villain, or the sexy sidekick, but not much else. And PoC are almost always villains. There are a couple examples of good PoC on that show, and surely it doesn’t try to be offensive, but the lack of presentation shows that this is clearly a show written by white men. After all, the powerful roles go to the white men in the story.

There’s a few instances of queer-baiting, too. Specifically, the character of Crowley, who is played as a joke when he kisses someone of the same sex. And while a lot of fans really enjoy Castiel and Dean’s relationship, a lot of the jokes are played off of Cas being naive and their interactions having homoerotic subtext.

It’s focused on Christian beliefs for the basis of most of the storyline. The times that they have other religions and beliefs are usually oneshots, that are treated like they are ~exotic~ and rare. I’m personally glad about this, because when I heard about the SPN fans wanting golems (from the stories of Judaism to protect against Gentiles), I cringed. A lot. Appropriating culture happens on that show, such as that example, and it’s always bad. Especially because religion is a sacred thing.

Overall, it’s one of the more problematic shows with a huge following on tumblr.

[catchmewhispering-blog]

Definitely one of the more problematic shows but I will say that none of what’s mentioned here is lost on the fanbase, if anything tumblr has become a place where people who like under-represented aspects of the show can go to appreciate/represent them.  Attempts made to appeal to the cast/crew about our issues have mostly been ignored or met with hostility so definitely the problem is with having a 99% straight white male crew (a few of whom have shown homophobic tendencies more than once).

To their (somewhat) benefit, however, as of S7, they have introduced an openly gay female character who has kissed a woman on screen and it wasn’t presented as a sexy thing for the male characters to lust over.  Unfortunately, she’s not a lead character but the episodes she’s in are completely centered around her.  And one properly represented LGBT character in 8 seasons is pathetic.

[thatshowisproblematic]

I have heard of the gay woman on the show, and I have some respect for them doing that, but you’re right. That’s definitely not enough. And the cast and crew being sketchy doesn’t surprise me at all.

[itstactical]

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those in Boston.

Here are some resources we’ve gathered so far.

Looking for a runner? Use this form.

If you’re trying to call someone in Boston, phone lines are jammed....

[thatshowisproblematic]

Not related to this blog, but very important. Everyone should stay calm and safe, and the losses are horrific and our hearts go out to everyone affected.

[afternoonsnoozebutton]

Study shows watching TV boosts self esteem of White male children, decreases self esteem of Black male and all female children. (x)

Boys making the transition from elementary to middle school are probably exposed to superhero cartoons, Jordan said, adding, ” ‘Superman,’ ‘Batman,’ X-Men.’ The lead characters of these shows tend to be male.”

But Jordan added, “In recent years, creators of children’s programming have worked hard to improve diversity and include strong female characters.”

For white boys, “regardless of what show you’re watching … things in life are pretty good for you,” Martins, an assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University Bloomington, said in a statement. “(White males) tend to be in positions of power; you have prestigious occupations, high education, glamorous houses, a beautiful wife, with very little portrayals of how hard you worked to get there.”

[liminalis-deactivated20221110]

 #study shows existing on this planet boosts self esteem of white male children/decreases self esteem of black male and all female children

[mentalhealthfemme]

In other news, water is wet.

But, children don’t see color, doe’.

[thatshowisproblematic]

Supernatural

I stopped watching in season seven, so anyone who has additional commentary, feel free to join in.

This show is so problematic. Women and PoC are treated as villains or stereotypes, and usually aren't in the show for more than a few episodes. For that matter, I don't think it's ever passed the Bechdel test. Women play the sexy villain, or the sexy sidekick, but not much else. And PoC are almost always villains. There are a couple examples of good PoC on that show, and surely it doesn't try to be offensive, but the lack of presentation shows that this is clearly a show written by white men. After all, the powerful roles go to the white men in the story.

There's a few instances of queer-baiting, too. Specifically, the character of Crowley, who is played as a joke when he kisses someone of the same sex. And while a lot of fans really enjoy Castiel and Dean's relationship, a lot of the jokes are played off of Cas being naive and their interactions having homoerotic subtext.

It's focused on Christian beliefs for the basis of most of the storyline. The times that they have other religions and beliefs are usually oneshots, that are treated like they are ~exotic~ and rare. I'm personally glad about this, because when I heard about the SPN fans wanting golems (from the stories of Judaism to protect against Gentiles), I cringed. A lot. Appropriating culture happens on that show, such as that example, and it's always bad. Especially because religion is a sacred thing.

Overall, it's one of the more problematic shows with a huge following on tumblr.

[butmyopinionisright]

The Problem With The Big Bang Theory...

I’ve been meaning to post something about The Big Bang Theory for a while now but it’s taken me ‘till now to really understand what it is about the show that makes me uncomfortable. I’m not exactly a believer in the whole “only write about the things you like, don’t trash the things you don’t” trend which seems to be plaguing comments sections in negative articles lately, but I wanted to be able to really examine why I don’t like TBBT rather than just slagging it off. My main questions being - Why don’t I like this anymore? Why do I feel uncomfortable watching it? And why do I get so annoyed when I see people sing its praises online? The thing which really sparked this post was seeing a raft of comments on Facebook, below the last round of voting in Television Without Pity’s Tubey Awards, claiming The Big Bang Theory to be “the best comedy on TV”. This made me angry so instead of posting an impulsive comment calling out their bad taste which I’d probably regret later, I decided to really analyse why seeing comments like that made me so mad when previously, although I didn’t really love the show, I’d never considered myself as disliking The Big Bang Theory.

Hell, I even have season one on dvd, it’s sitting right between Battlestar Galactica and Bored To Death in my alphabetised collection.

And here, I think, is where my problem with The Big Bang Theory lies…

Read More

[thatshowisproblematic]

(Note—This is for the show itself, not the fandom. If you’re on tumblr, you probably already know how bad the bronies can be, anyway.)

This show actually has a lot of problems. One of the biggest is the way characters who are non-ponies are treated. In one episode,...

[thatshowisproblematic]

That's a good point--they kind of took the feminism from it and made it a boy's sport. (As if there weren't enough of those).

[thatshowisproblematic]

My Little Pony

(Note--This is for the show itself, not the fandom. If you're on tumblr, you probably already know how bad the bronies can be, anyway.)

This show actually has a lot of problems. One of the biggest is the way characters who are non-ponies are treated. In one episode, Bridle Gossip, the main characters met a zebra named Zecora, and thought she was an evil enchantress. It turned out that she was just different from them, and should be treated as an equal.

But of course she was a million African stereotypes in one animal. She spoke in rhyme and did voodoo and magic, and is only in an episode if they need a ~wise elder magic woman~. Even the way she looks is just like someone googled "africa" and animated it.

I wouldn't have as big a problem if it weren't for the episode "Over The Barrel". In it, the main ponies went to a settler town, where the natives (buffalo and deer) were fighting with the ponies over land. It was full of insensitive portrayals of indigineous people, and grossly oversimplified the conflict of the West. And the fact that they were ponies (or people, relatively), and the others were different animals? That bothers me.

Plus, it's kind of weird that the show is so praised and rewarded, and passes the Bechdel test in each episode, and men appreciate it, but they're not human? I don't know, it seems odd that the only way men can love a kid's show is if it's not girls, even if that means ponies are more successful than humans. But I could be wrong.

[thatshowisproblematic]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

This show perpetuates the Madonna/whore dichotomy with the contrast between Buffy and Faith. While Buffy only has sex with boyfriends who she loves (with the exception of Parker, later in the series,) Faith has much more sexual autonomy. She is called a "slut" several times and her promiscuity is seen as a part of her "evil" character. Furthermore, the scoobies and even Joyce call her a psycho - an ableist slur - or variations of that word.

To add to the sex-negativity, every time Buffy is explicitly shown to have sex, something bad happens. Angel lost his soul, Buffy's heart was broken after her night with Parker and the season four episode "Where the Wild Things Are" depicts a very extreme consequence to Buffy's sexual activity.

Despite her physical strength, Buffy falls apart every time she gets rejected by a man. Willow also finds it very difficult to cope with ending relationships, both with Oz and Tara. After Riley leaves, having had a very odd affair with a vampire, Xander lectures Buffy about how she failed in the relationship.

In season two, Xander is responsible for a spell being cast on the entire female population of Sunnydale. It was only intended for Cordelia, but either way the entire point of this spell was to take away her (their) consent. Then, when Buffy, under the spell, comes on to Xander and he refuses, she acts like he deserves a cookie for being a decent human being under the circumstances. Never mind that he used magic to take away her rational thought and make it impossible for her to consent properly. Though the show acknowledged that what he did was wrong and dangerous, nobody addressed the issue of consent.

[ifixeditpodcast]

America’s Funniest Home Videos

Anger Management

Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader

Baby Daddy

Best Friends Forever

Big Time Rush

Blue Mountain State

Boss

Breaking Bad

Californication

The Client List

Comedy Bang! Bang!

Dancing With The Stars

Eastbound and Down

Enlightened (Creator Mike White wrote all the episodes)

The Firm

Free Agents

Futurama

Game of Thrones

Free Agents

Geniuses

A Gifted Man

Glee

Good Luck, Charlie

Gossip Girl

Gurland On Gurland

Happily Divorced

Hart of Dixie

Homeland

How To Be A Gentleman

The Insider

Jane By Design

Kickin’ It

Lab Rats

Last Man Standing

The League

Longmire

Make It Or Break It

Man Up

Mike and Molly

Napoleon Dynamite

Once Upon A Time

One Tree Hill

The Protector

Ray Donovan

Revenge

State of Georgia

Stevie TV

Two And A Half Men

Veep

Web Therapy

Weeds

Workaholics I

Workaholics II

The link also has a list of shows with no women writers

[anxietyhaver]

TV shows with no women writers during the 2011-2012 season:

America’s Funniest Home Videos Big Time Rush Californication Comedy Bang! Bang! Dancing With The Stars Eagleheart Enlightened (Creator Mike White wrote all the episodes) Futurama Geniuses Gurland On Gurland The Insider Kickin’ It Locke & Key Magic City Psych Teen Wolf Veep Workaholics I Workaholics II

As you can see, there is a lot of overlap.

America’s Funniest Home Videos, Big Time Rush, Californication, Comedy Bang! Bang!, Dancing With The Stars, Enlightened, Futurama, Geniuses, The Insider, Kickin’ It, Veep, and Workaholics I and II (I didn’t know there were 2) have only white male writers.

(I’m guessing they didn’t include/probably don’t hire gender nonbinary people)

[thatshowisproblematic]

Wouldn't be surprised if there were no non-binary writers on any of them. And would you look at that intersectionality!

[ifixeditpodcast]

America’s Funniest Home Videos

Anger Management

Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader

Baby Daddy

Best Friends Forever

Big Time Rush

Blue Mountain State

Boss

Breaking Bad

Californication

The Client List

Comedy Bang! Bang!

Dancing With The Stars

Eastbound and Down

Enlightened (Creator Mike White wrote all the episodes)

The Firm

Free Agents

Futurama

Game of Thrones

Free Agents

Geniuses

A Gifted Man

Glee

Good Luck, Charlie

Gossip Girl

Gurland On Gurland

Happily Divorced

Hart of Dixie

Homeland

How To Be A Gentleman

The Insider

Jane By Design

Kickin’ It

Lab Rats

Last Man Standing

The League

Longmire

Make It Or Break It

Man Up

Mike and Molly

Napoleon Dynamite

Once Upon A Time

One Tree Hill

The Protector

Ray Donovan

Revenge

State of Georgia

Stevie TV

Two And A Half Men

Veep

Web Therapy

Weeds

Workaholics I

Workaholics II

The link also has a list of shows with no women writers

[pollgold]

‘Girls’ Adam, ‘How I Met Your Mother’s Barney Stinson, Stopping Rape, And Eroticizing Consent

“Admitting that Barney Stinson might have had sex with someone without appropriately gaining her consent would make the character decidedly unlegendary—as would the idea that Barney...