I don't watch t.v. on the reg.
Every few weeks or so I will binge a series or watch a specific movie.
What I can't get down with, however, is channel surfing. To me it's a cop out. It's like - "I'mma sit here and watch this damn screen whether there is something good on it or not." To paraphrase that great American poet, David Byrne, "I don't know what you expect, staring into that t.v. set".
Not only is channel surfing mindless but it turns out it can shorten your lifespan.
Per contra I confess I will watch hours of YouTube as I can always easily find something worthwhile to watch. At least as I write this. The purge does look like it is just getting started. YouTube may yet become as boring as T.V.
Last week I stumbled into watching a movie and a series. They were on competing streaming services interestingly enough. Additionally compelling was that they were from different generations and were emblematic of the zeitgeist they belong to.
Insatiable
With all of the hype surrounding Insatiable there was no chance I was going to miss it. I am a huge Netflix fan, and okay, yes, they have released a series of clunkers lately ( I'm looking at you David Spade ). Their business model is looking less and less attractive and I've seen just about everything I want to watch on their service at this point.
On the positive side, in my humble opinion, much like HBO did in its golden era, Netflix has changed what we expect from "television".
You will be excused for thinking HBO is still in it's golden era however I'll put Tony Soprano and Omar up against Jon Snow and Bernard any day. You don't have to take my word for it either. This year Netflix had more Emmy Award nominations than any other network breaking HBO's 17 year streak.
But I digress.
My hot take on Insatiable is that it is like a Disney Channel series that tries to incorporate adult jokes and misses more often than it lands them. It does land some jokes but, dude, I HATE fake Southern accents, yet I still watched it all.
I am sure that you can guess but I think that the fat shaming hype is really much ado about nothing.
Fat Shaming
I’ve been fat. I was at least 35 lbs heavier at one point in my life. I am here to tell you that not only is what is casually referred to as fat shaming sometimes appropriate but that it is also sometimes necessary.
I am NOT suggesting anyone do or say anything cruel. I do not either but neither do I shrink from an honest discussion. Much like hate speech, most of the time when Fat Shaming is labeled as such, it’s not. If you know what I mean.
Discussing obesity can be dealt with in a variety of ways and sometimes it is uncomfortable. That does not make it “shaming” and does not mean that obesity is an acceptable lifestyle choice.
What Mel Brooks knew, in 1974, was one of the ways a healthy society deals with uncomfortable subjects is with humor.
Blazing Saddles
One day, while we were in the middle of watching Insatiable, the lovely Teresa Gail clicked onto Blazing Saddles ( on Amazon Prime for the record ). I passed through the living a couple times and eventually sat down and watched it. I was smacked in the face by how politically incorrect Blazing Saddles was!
You could not even make this movie these days. It made the currently controversial Insatiable look like focus group pablum in comparison. In the first few minutes the were multiple n-words, f-words, and c-words ( the Asian one not the female anatomy version ). Additionally, and I ain't saying that causation equals correlation, it was funny AF in a way Insatiable was certainly not.
Mel Brooks was not a Nazi but he did dress up like Hitler more than once… When Slim Pickens and them cracker ass crackers were using the n-word did you identify more with them or with Cleavon Little?
The answer to bad speech is not censorship but good speech. The answer to politically correct social justice warriors is not anger but ridicule.