Dr Phil
The past few days have been so busy for me at work that i havent had time to stop and blog! Now though i think ive got a bit more time. Dont you just hate those overly busy times.
I was watching Dr Phil the other day. It comes on at lunch time here for an hour. I am not totally sure if this guy is for real. I mean who for starters gets people to come onto a TV show to talk about their personal problems to a live audience and then to have it broadcast around the world. Now i know he is a rich guy but im not convinced that using people in this way is that ethical. People are being entertained by peoples horrendous problems. Am i the only one thinking in this way?
I know he ploughs a lot of money into helping people with problems but i do just wonder.
Also last night on SKY i watched Jerry Springer. Are Americans really like that? A group of women were on stage to tell their male partners that they were actually hookers! Then the obligatory stage fight broke out that looked so rehearsed that it was unbelievable. Then to top it all, a couple of hookers done the 'tit' show which American TV constructively covered up!!!
Go Jerry, Go Jerry!
kev.in.real.time
posted by kevin @ 6:02 PM
14 Comments:
Alas, there is some truth in the representation for both Jerry and Phil. We can't all be fabulous in America. :)
Those are real people on those shows yes. However, they're not all bad! I saw a Jerry clip the other day of someone who was mtf, post-op, explaining to a man who was in love with her the whole gender/sexuality thing. It was REALLY good, and the way she explained it was simple but completely accurate from everything I know about it. I was shocked that it was on Jerry Springer!
I have no time for either Springer or Phil, although if I had to chose I'd take Springer. I think Springer would have a sense of honesty and humor about what he does. Dr. Phil is just a total sleaze ball and has no ethics as a psychologist or medical professional - otherwise he woul dnot make a side show of his patient's personal problems.
You voice a sad reality to all of this. The image that such shows project of Americans is exceedingly damaging because people in other parts of the world assume we are all like this. Maybe we are - or want to be.
There was a lot of inbreeding in the southern US for a long time. That's why all the people on these shows have southern accents.
Don't you have "trailer trash" in New Zealand?
Jerry was popular in the early to mid 1990's. His show then was wild -- chairs flying, food fights, and white "bush voting" trash (and plenty of black trash). Then he toned it down and it limps on. Jerry is actually a big liberal progressive and very intelligent to listen to when he is serious (surprises never cease). Dr. Phil: have no feelings one way or the other about him. Well, I do but they are not flattering. He is hard to get a fix on.
It could be worse... you could have Geraldo At Large on instead of Phil.
Are there any locally produced talk shows in NZ? What are they like?
I don't think we are all like this, but because we have a large population, I think the percentage of pond scum that we DO have seems like quite alot. I think all these shows are staged, anyway. Or if not staged, attracts people who will lie and act up just to get on TV. Hence, the reason I don't really watch TV. I have enough drama in my daily life!
Dr. Phil is Crap! Springer is funny! The Americans that I have met are not like that. As for ethics, well lets just say that the limits are being pushed!
Damn that blithering jackass idiot Aussie PM Howard! He stuck his ugly node into our progressive liberal politics here (attacking Obama) and Obama shot back and told him that if he supports the war he needs to send an ADDIITONAL 20,000 Australian troups.
I say round up Bush, Cheney, and Howard, and their kids and wives, shave their heads and put them into army fatigues, give them parachutes, and push them out of a troup transport plane over an Iranian rape camp and let them be bum fugged until they see the error or their idiotic policies.
NZ must hate Howard. NW seems a bit like Canada to me in that it has a bigger and more idiotic country in close proximity (we play “the idiots” to more sensible Canada).
Condonblogger is spot on with Geraldo. I once had Geraldo nudge me and stick a camera in my face (I was sleeping in the parking lot of the King Dome in Seattle awaiting Paul McCartney's 1976 Wings Over America tour). I took one look at him, and pulled my head back in. Geraldo is a big joke.
Unfortunately, we do have some people like that in America, but we try and forget about those trashy types. I think they really amp things up on those shows too, and play into the drama. Drama sells in America. As long as other people look worse than ourselves, we laugh. It's kinda messed up.
We ARE the classy society!
I loathe Dr. Phil! I just take Jerry Springer with a grain of salt. These people who willingly go on these "talk shows" deserve any and all humiliation.
Yes, America IS Jerry Springer.
(sadly, more often than not these days.)
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