Too real for “Reality”
I was watching bad TV with some friends a few days ago when we saw an ad on ABC for a new show called “Welcome to the Neighborhood.” We were mesmerized throughout the thirty-second spot and when it was over, we all agreed that it might be a reality show that was worth watching. The premise is basically this: there’s an empty house in a posh, suburban neighborhood and the residents of said neighborhood get to decide who lives there. The catch is that the potential new neighbors are black, hispanic, poor, tatooed, or in some other way not affluent and white.
Well guess what? ABC has decided not to air the show. Apparently, upon viewing the six-episode season, several watchdog groups expressed concern about some controversial issues and ABC buckled. Gay rights groups feared that the show would leave unanswered (for a few weeks, anyway) questions raised by and about homophobic suburbanites. The Family Research Council was concerned about the light it shined on evangelicals.
While I’m sure all those concerned are somewhat right in that this show could paint a less than rosy picture of race relations and gay rights in middle America, isn’t that kind of the point? I mean, if this is a reality show and that shit actually went down, shouldn’t, for the sake of reality, we see it?
June 30th, 2005 at 10:32 am
I dunno, it seems more and more like we don’t live in a free country anymore. Not totally because of the government, just the cultural climate. First, Saving Private Ryan is pulled becuase of FCC fears and now this. It’s not totally shocking though. The bigwigs at Disney are cowards…look at what they did to Miramax and Fahrenheit 911.
July 1st, 2005 at 10:09 am
I can’t remember which Bradbury or other sci-fi novel that we are all required to read in high school this reminds me of. The one where everyone has to act vapid and bored because they don’t want to offend anyone. Succumbing to the lowest common denominator, that kind of thing. What bugs me most about ABC pulling this show, and especially GLADD’s concerns about it, is that they are assuming the worst about their viewers. I’m not really old enough to remember, but wasn’t there a time when we expected, and got, the best from ourselves and each other? I swear I have some vague recollections of such a time.