(no subject)

[spatch]

Today's "You Go, Girl!" award goes to Channel 5 sportscaster Bob Halloran, who folds up a copy of the Boston Metro ("News For People Who Move Their Lips When They Read", according to the paper box in the Davis T stop) into a little paper box-like thing and uses it for his soapbox:

Sometimes the "power of one" is like a spit in the ocean, and other times it can start a wave. Either way, the power of one is empowering. It makes the one feel like he's making a difference--or at the very least, trying to. Only occasionally have I tried to make a statement and use the power of one as a consumer.

...

More recently, I've decided never to watch "Rescue Me" again. It was a great show, had great characters, unique plot lines and small doses of comic relief. But in the final episode of last season, they killed Denis Leary's kid in a drunk-driving accident. That's all for me. I'm done with it. And I'm hoping others will follow me in my consumer revolt so that television shows will stop confusing the death of a child (even a fictional one) as entertainment.

Way to go, Bob! That'll show Leary and his hack show, which added the death in there for the obvious cheap laugh. It's about time someone took a stand against this terrible televised trend -- oh, sure, we laughed when it happened on Everybody Loves Raymond, and the kid dying on the series finale of Friends provided much-needed comic relief amidst the nostalgic tears and farewells, and "America's Funniest Child Deaths" was, really, the best midsummer replacement ever. But now enough is enough, and it's got to stop, and it's going to take a man like Bob Halloran (who forbade his 11-year-old son from watching the Drew Carey Show--known around these parts as "Gomorrah Rocks!"--because it got too randy) to start the stop.

So consider this your slow clap, Bobby H. I'll be your One Lone Person who starts the applause, one small clap at a time: Clap. Clap. Clap... until others join in and the speed of the clapping picks up and builds and builds and builds until, at last, there's a grand ovation.

No, wait, this is just the Sarcastic Slow Clap. Sorry, my mistake. They blur together, the two.

Comments

[brak55.livejournal.com]

I'll go along with that. I hate it when they use the death or injury of a child as a plot device and hate it TWICE as much if they show it.

For an example, I HATED the movie Face/Off because of the death of Travolta's son at the beginning.

[spatch]

I agree that in the case of Rescue Me, it was completely random and done with the intent of ... well, meanness. Screwing up Leary's character's life far beyond what'd been done to it so far.

Sometimes loss, especially bitter and random loss, is what drives a character. I think it's incredibly harsh to randomly kill a kid off, yes, but I see Mr. Halloran tilting at windmills here. It doesn't seem to be too common an occurrence to truly drive outrage. And it's definitely not done for "entertainment." I wasn't entertained by the Rescue Me finale, either. But I'm not going to mount a "consumer revolt" against a show I have no sway over about it.

For what it's worth, I first checked to see if Bob had actually lost a kid at some point. I mean, I could see the umbrage being sincere and all too personal if he had, and I don't think I'd have been snarky in that case. But this just sounds like a "I think I'll start a cause" thing more than anything else, and I find that rather goofy.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Child-death in fiction seems to offend Americans much more than it does people in other cultures. It's much more common to see kids killed in Hong Kong action movies than in American ones, for instance. In America they usually get successfully rescued by the hero; in Hong Kong sometimes the hero fails.

Then again, it's not so much that Americans never want to see this as that they want it to happen only in a particular type of story. If it's a weepy Triumph Over Tragedy tale, then it's OK to kill the kid to move things along. "Touched By An Angel" had an incredible body count.

[stopword.livejournal.com]

This guy is a moron.

Death is always used as a plot point. Because it is something that happens! And killing a vulnerable or popular character is guaranteed reactions. I bet he didn't do anything like this with "Dallas."

Or is it all because of THE CHILDREN? If so, he shouldn't watch "Lost" because CHILDREN GET KIDNAPPED AND KILT IN THE PLANE OMG ELEVEN.

[rabswom.livejournal.com]

im impressed that he managed to be offended by the jockey using the word 'mount.'

[annilita.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love the reference to "The Big Unit" in the article you linked to. The sports casters here in AZ wept when he was traded, because they couldn't continue with their pervy innuendos.

Really, we all wept.

[spatch]

Was there gnashing of teeth along with the weeping and wailing?

It's not a true tragedy until teeth are gnashed!

[annilita.livejournal.com]

One guy spent the week in sack-cloth and ashes, too!