Ellen Leventry: May 2007 Archives

Reality shows have often toed the line between taste and tact--think "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire." But there have been times when audiences find a concept even too distasteful for their voracious appetites--remember CBS's cancelled-after-one-airing "The Will," wherein the contestants vied for the inheritance of a ranch in Kansas? Or how about the British reality/dating show that never aired thanks to the contestants who threatened to sue after they discovered the hot woman they had all been snogging was actually a pre-op transsexual?

But even duping men into a “Crying Game”-esque situation seems tasteful when compared with Endemol's (who brought us "Big Brother") latest reality offering: "The Big Donor Show." This Dutch show features a 37-year old woman with an inoperable brain tumor deciding which of three candidates is most deserving to receive one of her kidneys. She bases her choice on interviews with the contestants as well as with friends and family.

Viewers will be able to text in their vote, but the ultimate decision lies with the living donor, dubbed "Lisa." (Once Lisa has passed away, her other kidney can be made available for the national organ registry but cannot be designated for a specific individual.)

"We know that this program is super controversial and some people will think it's tasteless, but we think the reality is even more shocking and tasteless: Waiting for an organ is just like playing the lottery," Laurens Drillich, chairman of the BNN network, said in a statement as reported by the AP. In fact, the network claims, the show is a way "to draw attention to a shortage of organ donors."

Clearly, Lisa should be able to choose to whom she would like to give a kidney. It’s done all the time in this country; family and friends often act as living donors for loved ones. And as much as I would like to defend the show as crass but bringing attention to an important issue, I just cannot. And I even defended "The Swan."

But, this is life and death, not "outwit, outplay, outlast." This is the real "Survivor." These people are desperate not for the million dollar prize, but an organ (even if their percentage of receiving a kidney on the show is far higher than if they were waiting on the national list). Maybe if this process was wrapped in the hygienic, academic veneer of a documentary--perhaps an inspirational story of a woman looking to find a good person who will go on to do great things with the new kidney--the concept would go down easier.

I'm going to stop short of calling it a small-screen snuff film, but the fact that there is audience participation makes it feel a bit too much like the gladiatorial games of Rome--where the audience members were polled for a thumbs up or a thumbs down to determine the fate of the fighter.

"The Big Donor Show" is set to air this Friday on the Netherland's channel BNN.

TMZ.com and other media outlets are reporting that rapper and entrepreneur Master P is starting a record label with his son Romeo (nee L'il Romeo) "for hip hop artists with street music without offensive lyrics."

Take A Stand Records is a direct reaction to the recent debate that ensued after the Don Imus debacle. As fellow Idol Chatter blogger Nicole Symmonds pointed out in her recent piece on rap music's role in the proliferation of negative stereotypes, Imus tempered his apology by saying, "I'm not stupid. I may be a white man, but I know that these young women--and young black women all through that society--are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected by their own black men, and they are called that name. I know that doesn't give me, obviously, any right to say it, but it doesn't give them any right to say it either."

And although Master P has been known to throw around a few dirty epithets himself, the former street-hustling, crack dealer--who was named by Fortune magazine in 1999 as one of the wealthiest people under the age of 40 in North America--is looking "to be part of the solution."

"There's too much negativity out there--enough with the stereotypes," TMZ.com reports Master P as saying. "Hip hop is a movement, and it is time for it to move forward."

What is so fascinating about this movement of "responsible hip hop artists" is that, at first, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Records and elderstatesmen of the rap community, released a statement with his co-chairman of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network debunking "the false comparisons some in the media are making between Don Imus and hip hop" and that hip hop lyrics "may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression."

But later the pair seemingly retracted that statement by issuing another press release, proving that it's deeply complex issue even with in the hip hop community.

"We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger'," the statement read. "These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as 'extreme curse words'." The pair continued to emphasize that "our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship," but corporate responsibility.

The balance between expression and supression has always been tricky, and there is nothing Americans take pride in more than our freedom of speech. But it seems the time may be right to have a serious, national dialogue about the use of hip hop and rap's oft-derogatory lyrics. Sure, it's been tried before. But with the weight of heavy hitters such as Master P and Simmons behind it, the conversation may finally bring some changes. But, only record sales will tell for sure.

The first release from the Take a Stand Records is a Master P-Romeo collaboration called "Hip Hop History," and is expected to drop this fall.

There’s an old psychiatrists' joke that goes: "If you're a jerk, and you go talk to a psychiatrist about being a jerk, afterwards you'll still be a jerk. But you'll feel good about it." The same might be said for Tony Soprano.

With only two episodes to go, the leitmotif of mental health emerged as a central character, the raison d’etre of the Soprano clan. Every member of the immediate family has sought psychiatric care: Tony, Carmela, Meadow; Uncle Junior is in a mental hospital for the criminally insane; and A.J. is the latest victim of the Soprano "curse," as Carmela calls it.

Disillusioned by the world and disturbed in particular by his class on Israeli-Palestinian relations, A.J. attempts to kill himself in the family pool, only to realize at the last moment that he doesn't want to die. In one of the most discomfiting moments on television, A.J. struggles against the line tethering him to the concrete block at the bottom of the pool and manages to push the suffocating Ziploc baggy and rubber band up above his nose and mouth, gasping for air. Tony returns home and fishes A.J. out of the water only to initially chastise him--and then hold the weeping boy in his arms.

Upon talking to Dr. Malfi about A.J.'s suicide attempt, Tony asks the eternal question "Why me?" He goes on to explain that he thinks he is a good man. Indeed, for all of his faults, Tony fiercely loves his family, or at least the idea of family, and usually tries to do right by his larger mafia family. But Tony is not a regular family guy--nor are his cohorts, who console Tony by sharing stories of their anorexic daughters and depressed sons, explaining that "kids are under a lot of pressure these days."

And Anthony, Jr. more so. Though his insta-nihilism didn't seem absolutely sincere, it's worth considering that A.J. has never had a "You're in the Mafia, Dad" moment like Meadow. He's never voiced the discomfort with the family business that seems to color everything and uses his comments about things like fecal matter in meat to repudiate and criticize his parents, since he's afraid to confront them about Tony's criminal life.

Meanwhile, in an odd aside, Dr. Elliott Kupferberg tells Dr. Malfi that a recent study has shown that talk therapy doesn't help sociopaths become upstanding citizens, but in fact aids them in their criminality. While not a classic sociopath, Tony has been able to use the insights provided by therapy against others--helping manipulate them and justifying his own actions. Psychiatry has been a part of "The Sopranos" since the pilot episode, and it seems that it is to writer/producer David Chase what religious references are to Scorsese or Coppola--a way to bring out the secretive characters' inner lives.

We sympathize with Tony because of his therapy; we sympathize with him because we see things most often from his perspective. We know all about his family, and we perceive the genuineness of his emotions about his wife and children and, occasionally, his desire to create something slightly better than a brutal, ugly existence for them. If we saw as little of Tony's inner life as we see of Phil Leotardo's or some of the other cruel and violent criminals in the series, then we'd find it difficult to have any feeling for him.

But as it is, we still believe that deep, deep down, Tony really could be a good man.

I love Betty Suarez. I admit when I reviewed the "Ugly Betty" pilot oh so many months ago, I was lukewarm, but mostly optomistic about the Salma Hayek-produced show based on the popular telenovela "Yo Soy Betty La Fea." In hindsight, I must have had a very bad day, because "Ugly Betty" is not only the best comedy on television, but the best "family" show on television as well.

You see, Betty, our Queens born-and-bred protagonist, always does the right thing, is rabidly loyal to her friends, and fiercely loves her family. (The kind of person we all wish we could be, but disdain others for being.) She is the embodiment of traits that could be terribly annoying in many prime-time characters, if only Betty wasn't such a well-written character and America Ferrera such a talented actress. Ferrera portrays Betty ever so earnestly--such as in last night's season finale when she gleefully believes that her boss, Daniel, saved a drowning Girl Scout in Central Park--but without a drop of treacle, and, her disappointment in finding out that he had acquired his bruise not from heroics, but from a drug dealer, was palpable.

Audiences cheered when Betty finally decided to fight for her crush Henry and he reciprocated in kind. "Finally," audiences sighed, "Betty is going to be happy. Betty who makes everyone else's live better will be getting her share." And then they screamed a collective "Nooooooooooooooooooooo!" just moments later when Henry's ex-girlfriend Charlie announces she's pregnant. Crushed, Betty stops fighting for Henry so that he can move to Tuscon with Charlie and raise what he thinks is his baby. (This is a soap opera afterall.)

But, the beauty of "Betty" goes farther than just our perky protagonist. Mark and Amanda are the best gay man-straight woman couple since "Will & Grace's" Jack and Karen; and they don't overshadow the central characters thanks to great writing.

While some of the dialogue, entendre and innuendo may be too risque for the under tween set, the show is multi-dimensional, never bowing to derogatory stereotypes and allowing characters to have deliciously complex relationships. Even the "bad guys" have deep friendships. The conniving Wilhemina, who has seduced Bradford Meade into divorcing his incarcerated wife (played with perfection by Judith Light) and marrying her, gives up her coveted wedding date in order to get her assistant Mark back in her employ.

And while I will stop just short of calling the Suarez family "The Waltons" of aught-seven (John Boy never put walnuts in his competition's chicken salad in order to get a part in the school musical), I will say that it is rare to find a family on television these days that has such genuine affection for and acceptance of each other. That's why when Betty's sister's fiancee is shot in a convenience store heist, and Betty delivers the news to Hilda at her son Justin's opening night as the lead in "West Side Story," we are devasted too. Until next season, when Betty can bring a big, braced smile back to our faces.

"King of Queens" star, and prominent Scientologist, Leah Remini is denying that there's anything to her friendship with music/movie star Jennifer Lopez other than wanting to hang out with "a fabulous girl." Recent reports not only have Remini trying to convert Lopez to Scientology, but advising "Jenny from the Block" that Scientology would improve her chances of getting pregnant. The former Quaker State pitch-woman called the claims "bulls—t" and told People magazine, "I think Jennifer knows how to get pregnant."

Well, she certainly knows how to get married....

"I would never question, 'Such-and-such is hanging out. Does anybody know her religious beliefs? Because that's why they're probably hanging out together,'" the actress continued. Remini's comments make sense. If J. Lo was going to convert, wouldn't it be due to her father's influence, who has been a Scientologist for over 20 years?

It's always seemed a contradiction to me that such an outspoken woman would be a member of such a hush-hush religion, but I'm glad to hear that the Brooklyn-bred babe is speaking out with her usual aplomb remarking that she too is "fabulous to hang out with."

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