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Jan. 29th, 2011 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatching Breaking Bad - second season at the moment. Today while watching Pioneers of Television : The Western - realized why I despised Bonanza, and my mother who lived Westerns was never that into Bonanza - it was written and created by a misogynist - who stated that he didn't want any women characters, that there were too many Westerns and tv shows about mothers and wives, and he wanted one about father's and son's only with no women cluttering things up. Women characters never survived. (Jeeze.) Also found out that The Wild Wild West was canceled not because of ratings, but the US State Senate told CBS that they should cancel it for violence. It was too violent for audiences. (Ironic that, particularly since five years earlier, Senator Bird in a rousing speech in the Senate, convinced CBS to save Gunsmoke - his favorite Western.) The Government has less influence over television now than it did back in the 1960s, which is sort of interesting.
Oh, Harry Groener is on Breaking Bad. And he's incredibly gaunt. He looks ill. And almost unrecognizable.
Oh, Harry Groener is on Breaking Bad. And he's incredibly gaunt. He looks ill. And almost unrecognizable.
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Date: 2011-01-30 03:38 am (UTC)Anyway, one of the three episodes was a great example of the misogyny of which you speak. The episode featured one of the brothers (Michael Landon, maybe?) going out with this woman. The other brothers and the father were suspicious of her. And as the episode went on, it was discovered that she actually was a gambler. She gambled all the time, and gambled savings away. Rather than stating that she might have a problem and might be dangerous, or might need help (which would be reasonable), the brothers and father just told the in-love brother repeatedly that she was "no good" because she's a gambler. As if to drive the point home, there was one scene of her gambling, and she actually turned out to be the worst gambler in the world--she literally lost every single hand. Eventually it was decided that, yes, she was no good, and so she and the in-love boy broke up. It's funny because it's so sad.
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Date: 2011-01-30 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 06:25 am (UTC)The Government has less influence over television now than it did back in the 1960s, which is sort of interesting.
It's not less influence; it's just different. There's a lot more focus on money and which giant companies get to produce and charge for content over publicly regulated cables. A lot of pressure to carry or not carry specific news networks exists, too. But there's less bluenose culture warrior influence. Still, I bet Breaking Bad worried some suits who feared for their jobs. The president's drug policy office still gets to spread millions and millions to networks that back its agenda.
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Date: 2011-01-30 04:24 pm (UTC)AMC is a cable channel not a broadcast channel. That's what has changed. Cable isn't regulated. PBS - Public Broadcasting System is to a degree, but not to the same degree that CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CW are. If the viewer can see the show for free (without paying for cable or subscribing) then it tends to be more regulated. If we pay for it - the government isn't really that involved.
Private industry isn't that regulated by the government regardless of what the Tea Party believes. Sure they feel regulated - but having worked for both public and private industry, I can tell you there are distinctions.
Are there regulations? Sure. But not to the same degree. I doubt anyone worried about Breaking Bad - considering WEEDS had already been done on Showtime and was far riskier. Also both premiered on cable channels that less than 2 million people watch regularly. It's not the same thing as ABC or CBS. Or even CNN for that matter.
So, I think you'd lose that bet for Breaking Bad.
That said? Programs are still being regulated. The History Channel for example pulled The Kennedy's from it's lineup due to political pressure. And Skins on MTV is readdressing it's approach and the PTC (Parent advocacy group) is lobbying to pull down ads for it. One man wrote a letter to the MTA complaining about the ads for Skins on the subway - he was offended by the teenage boy and teenage girl passionately kissing, with their tongues visible in the picture.
So it's not the government pushing for regulation so much, as individual and very vocal lobbying groups, the majority of which tend to be right-wing and libertarian, ironically enough.
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Date: 2011-01-30 07:54 am (UTC)Have you seen the 10th ep from S2 yet. I can't help it, I love the lab episodes.
I was never interested in Bonanza. It doesn't sound like I missed much.
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Date: 2011-01-30 04:31 pm (UTC)The only good thing that came out of Bonanza appears to have been Michael Landon - who they talked about more than they did Bonanaza.
Landon ironically created the exact opposite series from Bonanza for his first television show after it - Little House on the Prairie, focusing on the story of women in the West and how they survived on the Kansas frontier. Little House was more successful than Bonanza and ran longer.
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Date: 2011-01-30 05:10 pm (UTC)I didn't like it as a child because the girls were...too girly for my liking. (As a kid I would only read stories with girl protagonists if they did boy things, it's really weird but I rejected anything that was labelled "for girls" completely and thus missed out on things I might have even liked. Also things that were actually feminist but I wouldn't perceive them so because the girl in question was not a physical fighter they I liked to imagine them.)
But I did like the one were Michael Landon was angel, no idea what it was called in English though.
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Date: 2011-01-30 08:00 pm (UTC)Little House aired when I was too young to actually watch it - in the 1970s. It aired at 8pm on the East Coast, and my bedtime was 8:30pm. So I heard about the episodes via my best friend on the way to school. Also had all the books read to me when I was 4-7 years of age- Laura was actually quite the tomboy, not into girly things.
I think I remember watching the re-runs and being disappointed because my friend's recaps were far more interesting or rather what my imagination did with those recaps was more interesting.
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Date: 2011-01-30 08:16 pm (UTC)Not mine either these days :), but I was prone to bad shows when I was a kid. I loved knight rider to pieces. I'd speak with my watch and I'd still like my car to talk to me (god, did I adore that car).
Laura was actually quite the tomboy, not into girly things.
I know that these days, but I really was a weird kid. To me the fact that she wore dresses without constantly fighting it (like I did when someone tried to force me into one), got her on the enemy side for me. As a kid I wouldn't even get that she did things that are atypical for a girl back then too. I really was a bit of a tom-boy extremist when I was around 6 or 7 or so (which was when it was running here).
There were very few female heroes I took to. I liked Meg from Madeleine L'Engle's books, but I was already 9 or ten when I read them.
I love your story about the recapped episodes. My sister used to do that for me too. She always told me the plot of Schwartzenegger movies when I was far too you to watch them. I adored her recaps and really Terminator and Total Recal both couldn't really live up to them either, when I saw them years later.
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Date: 2011-01-30 10:32 pm (UTC)(Time period - 1800s.)
Although I get the hatred of wearing dresses - I fought not to wear them too. Don't wear them now, unless absolutely necessary - bloody uncomfortable if you ask me. ;-)
I love your story about the recapped episodes. My sister used to do that for me too. She always told me the plot of Schwartzenegger movies when I was far too you to watch them. I adored her recaps and really Terminator and Total Recal both couldn't really live up to them either, when I saw them years later.
Hee. My whole family does it. My brother used to go to horror movies and come back and recap them. He warned me off of seeing one that contained spiders. And my Mom - literally recaps books, tv shows, and movies - I have to stop her at times, from giving
away the plot. LOL!
I remember my best friend recapping tv shows as we walked to school. She'd tell me the whole story. And I realized later, she made up stuff - so that her version of the show was better than the actuality.
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Date: 2011-01-31 10:52 pm (UTC)Back when I was 6 or 7? I'm not sure I did.I figured if girls were properly stubborn they would be rid of the dreadful things soon.
Like I said I was a bit of a fundamentalist 6 year old. :)
I finally did remember a female character loved though at the same age. That was Ronja the robber's daughter from Astrid Lindgren.
I wasn't much one for realistic stories as a kid. When I watched something like house on the prairie (or other shows with a nonfantastic setup) I would afterwards reinvent the stories in my head with infusions from the fantastic stories I loved.
It's the earliest memory I have of something like fanficcing. I think their might have been a few hobbit style dwarf invasions to the prairie house.
I remember my best friend recapping tv shows as we walked to school. She'd tell me the whole story.
I know I did that for a friend who had no tv when I was 13 or so. I'd recap the X-files for her riding the bus.
She's still a fan. In this case though I didn't make things up.
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Date: 2011-01-31 11:07 pm (UTC)Hard to find many strong girl tales back then...although I'm sure I did.
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Date: 2011-02-01 07:22 am (UTC):) I had to work up to that. I liked a lot of books as a kid, but I definitely had some boards inside my head back then.
I would refuse anything that I perceived as a love story and stories without a fantastic element still needed lots of adventure (I loved the three musketeers at 8, to pieces). Jane Austen though I only read at 20, I'm not sure I'd have been able to value her much earlier.
Also was deeply in love with Robin Hood.
Me too!!!
I try to think back to Fairy Tales. I liked Sindbad, Ali Baba, lots of 1001 nights stories. Also loved Odysseus. But I don't think those qualify as fairy tales...
I knew them, but I didn't much like their moralistic side. Andersen I liked but he was always so sad.
Hard to find many strong girl tales back then...although I'm sure I did.
I loved it when I stumbled on them, but it was rare. Most of the time I identified with the male protagonists.
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Date: 2011-01-30 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 04:36 pm (UTC)