"can you photoshop your life with better decisions, jerry?"

[falulatonks]

Yes, I'm very busy and important, I just want to say -

NBC just ordered a full season of Outsourced, which means it's not ending in six episodes, which means the slot that we were hoping Parks and Recreation would take in January is full.

NBC, what is your problem. Why did you order a full season of Outsourced. Have you seen any critics liking that show. Why did you order a full season of Parks and Recreation and then not bring it back. Have you seen any critics not liking that show?! I DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND YOU RIGHT NOW AND I WANT TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. NBC, I WANT TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE.

I'm sorry, I'm just really annoyed that the show with my favourite 2009-2010 TV season, which already has seven episodes ready to air, which has people working at NBC and not with the show itself saying S3 is even better than S2, which has writers who have clearly outlined the purposes and ideas behind every storyline and character, which ended the season with genuinely interesting new characters that I want to watch exploring and affecting and being affected by the characters on the show, which is warm and funny and fantastically well-constructed, which has a brilliant/interesting/diverse cast, which is five hundred billion times better than Outsourced, IS NOT COMING BACK. I dealt with it for five months, NBC. I can deal with it until January. I will not stand it any longer. After November, I will have the time to drop everything, take a flight to your offices, and burn them to the ground. (First I will steal all the recorded film from S3, of course. Obviously.)

Oh, guys. Last weekend I ordered the S2 DVD online. I don't order shows on DVD a lot - I have maybe four altogether (which is actually kind of terrible for the amount of TV I watch). Do you realise this is a big deal?

This is maybe a lot of rage directed towards something of disproportionate importance, but I've been studying a lot and mathematical equations are equating themselves to facts about Cold War history right now and the internet is getting annoying and Fringe isn't back until November and I DON'T KNOW WHEN MY FAVOURITE SHOW IS COMING BACK, IF IT'S COMING BACK AT ALL.

There was a sentence here somewhere containing the words "teetering", "melodrama", and "really fucking wrong", but I can't remember what it was, and I think I may have accidentally deleted it. Oops. It's probably for the best; I start using unnecessarily long words (e.g. "disproportionate importance", what does that even mean) when I get angry.

---

In other news, today, one of my friends and I dissected everything that's disturbing and wrong and offensive about Twilight to a friend who genuinely wanted to know. We did this instead of studying for an economics test this afternoon. It was time well-spent.

TV for the next few weeks are as follows: Castle, Cougar Town and/or Modern Family, and Fringe. This is a big improvement.

-- rachu

ETA: Stephen Fry on Language, in kinetic typography. I love this. I love words!

ETA again: To be honest and completely rational, I get why NBC is doing what it's doing. And my problem with Outsourced isn't entirely its handling of racial issues, because they do make an effort to make ignorance not mean, but with good intention. I just don't find it funny. (And I'm feeling irrational now, deal with it.)

Comments

[torigates.livejournal.com]

:((((((((((((((((((

[falulatonks]

:'''''''''''''''''(

[sonni89.livejournal.com]

I don't have words for how much I disapprove of that. Granted, I've never watched an episode of Outsourced, but I keep seeing trailers for it and it JUST DOESN'T GET ANY LESS OFFENSIVE. Why, NBC? WHYYYY?

I want Parks and Rec back. I don't even care if it's not on Thursday. I just want it baaaack. Preferably with MUCH better ratings, too, but I feel like that's too much to hope/wish for.

[falulatonks]

To be fair, Outsourced is getting better and isn't bad about how it writes the racial issues - it's worse on the Americans than the Indians, even. It's not racism here, not really. What's offensive may be how mostly unfunny it is. :P

I want Parks back, too. D: But you know that.

[anoel.livejournal.com]

It's all a ratings thing, Outsourced pulled better ratings than Parks & Rec. I hate it but that's all there is to it right now. After Pushing Daisies which devastated me I just became numb to this sort of thing (and it's why I watch the ratings for Glee and Modern Family so closely-don't want to lose them). All I can do now is hope that they will find a way to air the episodes and if not (*sadness*), savor the good stuff we did get.

[falulatonks]

I understand that it's a ratings thing - it's depressing, but I get that it all comes down to that. The thing is, though, that Outsourced has the benefit of an Office lead-in, isn't as critically-acclaimed, and doesn't have nearly as strong and brilliant a cast as P&R. Plus P&R got a full-season order last May? Damn it, NBC!

Clearly I need to get immune to this kind of thing. :/

[anoel.livejournal.com]

That's true but P&R did get an Office lead in before and didn't get those ratings. Of course it did that before it got Great so it isn't quite fair really. I'm still holding out hope right now, I think it'd be really shitty of them to go back on the full season order since they gave it to them.

[falulatonks]

It's true that it happened because P&R got Great, but an Office lead-in is never going to be that beneficial for a show that uses such a similar format - it's always going to be cast off as a rip-off or an inferior.

It really would be! Especially considering they've already got episodes in the can, and filmed these under the impression that they would be airing in September. After the rubbish they pulled with the late night stuff earlier this year, I'm feeling a little annoyed with the network as a whole right now.

[moirariordan.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Outsourced is actually very conscientious of the racial issues involved. It's just as hard on white Anglo culture - I would say harder, since they make us all look like unintelligent rednecks (the company in it sells novelty products, like boob lamps and singing fish). Not to mention that since it takes place in India, Americans are othered - not just through the customers on the phones that are like caricatures of Stupid Americans - but through the main guy (he's kind of a dink, he meets this guy Manmeet and immediately makes an off-color joke) and Diedrich Bader's character Charlie, who represents the foil to the main character Todd. Charlie is all about eating American food, by himself, not touching any of that gross Indian crap or letting himself be in the culture at all with this subtle overtone of racism and ethnocentrism, whereas Todd decides to approach his team, try the food, have an open mind, etc. The show makes a pretty obvious moral statement right there, in the pilot episode. Plus I'm all for television with this awesomely adorable and hot lady in it.

That being said, the main character is still a white guy, so. There's also a lot of stereotypes, characterization-wise, but that's true of any show in its beginning stages.

But I still want Parks and Rec too. :(

[falulatonks]

Yes, you're right. The white guys are definitely worse off. And I think I laughed once last week!

See, objectively I can't actually be mean about Outsourced, not specifically - its humour falls flat often, but not all shows pull that off right away. It's definitely not too racist (although if they'd stop mispronouncing Manmeet, that would be great), except for how it treats its own Americans. I understand NBC's desire to get a New Hit Show, and so far the ratings are on its side (although it has the benefit of the Office lead-in). If they start changing the things that even Parks was getting wrong in its first season - stronger characters, working away from humour generated from extended gags - I don't think I would mind watching the show. The rational part of me gets why NBC is doing this, and why Outsourced shouldn't necessarily be written off right away.

On the other hand? Parks and Recreation. D:

[hyacinthian.livejournal.com]

Wait, wait, wait, does this mean for sure that P&R is done? Because I will want to cut some bitches. Can they shift it elsewhere?

[falulatonks]

I don't think they won't air what's already been filmed, because that's money. And they ordered a full season and it would kind of cruel to not stick to that. The problem is when it's going to air. If NBC ends up putting comedies on another night and puts P&R there, it's almost definitely going to fail, which means S3 will probably end up being the last. It's better that we get the third season than none at all, I guess, but still.

[hyacinthian.livejournal.com]

........PARKS AND REC IS AWESOME.

I don't know what's even happening. Outsourced should move to Fridays to go with Outlaw.

[cashewdani.livejournal.com]

I have been watching S2 of Parks and Rec again because all the episodes are streaming on Netflix and I can't understand how on earth this show is not airing S3 right now! The way the characters feel like people, and evolve and can change within the context of different relationships is so much more authentic than anything on TV that I can think of, and that's usually the thing I complain is lacking everywhere! For example, it's my biggest complaint about The Office at the moment, because the show has lost most of its heart, and logic, because whatever's funny, as opposed to whatever makes sense for a character.

On Parks and Rec, I like that I can understand who all these people are to one another, and why they're that way. I like that I can laugh with them, and at them, and feel excited about their excitement, and sad about their failures. I like that Leslie broke up with a guy because he wasn't a good fit for her. That she has friends who are women, and can be her friend beyond talking about their boyfriends. That the triangles of April-Ann-Andy and Leslie-Ann-Mark were all dealt with in ways that felt authentic and not melodramatic. And mostly, that even though these people are only co-workers, they are so much more in a way that has been shown and justified time and time again. They have shared things, and we have shared it with them.

Ugh, I'll just be over here, crying in the corner. Don't mind me.

[falulatonks]

WORD TO ALL OF THIS. You know how I feel about this show, but you've narrowed down my adoration for it neatly - it's been a while since I've seen a show that acknowledges character and genuine warmth in its comedy, and as a result of the keen attention the writers seem to pay to the way characters are influenced by events and relationships into doing things or reacting to things, we don't just see character development and change, we see sustained character development, sustained progress. There are differences in the ways characters interact with each other over the course of the season, and the relationships become that much more interesting and believable because of that.

I totally agree that the love triangles are never forced, and they never seem to use the triangles to get "reactions" from the viewers or forced changes in characters - things happen because that's what the person doing it does. And no other show on TV is doing that - Glee, obviously; or sure there's character-motivated comedy in Community, but three out of four episodes this season already have ended with pretty much the same "moral" - Jeff will do things for his friends! but first he must go around being a douche for a while. And then in the next episode, everything happens again.

And I love that Leslie broke up with a guy because she couldn't see her with him for a long time, and then she doesn't mope! I love that Leslie and Ann can have conversations about guys but also do things together like take down Sweetums, or find out a way to host a concert on the lot, or turn the pit into a park. The best thing about this is that even this isn't treated like something with purpose, like it's supposed to fill in a quota of a "female friendship", or something - it's so natural.

And ugh, every single one of these characters has had such great interactions with one another, to the extent that I can tell they genuinely like spending time with one another, and because of that I'm never, never going to turn down spending more time with them, too. I just - I love this show so much (if you can't tell). And I want to draw hearts all over your comment. ♥

Damn it. I think I need to watch P&R now.

[amyho.livejournal.com]

Okay, I know this is kind of late-ish, but I don't know if you've seen this but basically even though Outsourced was picked up for a full season, Parks & Rec will definitely be added mid-season. To be honest, I don't think there was a chance at all that Parks & Recreation was going to be cancelled. What with Amy's emmy nom and Amy being one of NBC's star actresses, I really don't think it even crossed their minds. However, I do think that they'd prefer to give Community the boot. NBC is all about ratings, and Community really doesn't fare well in that department. And I don't recall if you like it, but really I don't care about Community anymore. The show is just so bland now, and every episode is about the same to me. Yes, I love (almost) all the actors, but the show isn't getting any better. I have personally never watched an episode of Outsourced either, but I really think it does well mostly because America is full of people who like that kind of "humor." Also, with a lead-in from The Office, there is absolutely no way the show wouldn't do better than Community.

So basically my tl;dr reply is saying: I'm going to guess that Community is going to get the axe, but Parks and Rec will be extremely safe and will continue to be for at least another season - especially since 30 Rock is probably going to end soon, as Alec isn't coming back and Tina herself said that she couldn't see the show going on for more than 5 or 6 seasons.