High Hopes For ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’
Apple pie and a cross couldn't make this photo more American
Apparently, 5 million people watched the premiere of Sarah Palin’s 8-part reality series, her Alaska, last night.
I was one of them. Miraculously, I held down my vomit through every stinking minute of the TLC hour, mostly because I was hoping that Alaska’s former governor would get eaten by a bear (although I certainly would have settled for her falling off of a mountainside). She didn’t. But there are seven more episodes to go, so here’s hoping.
If you compare this pilot to other recent television hours, like Matt Lauer’s recent interview with the fact-slalom king, George W. Bush, then heck, the content wasn’t at all that infuriating. After all, one could maybe accept Alaska as simply a cloying, stagey, poorly-produced celebreality show (Really, Mark Burnett? You built how many scenes off of one blurred Joe McGinniss cutaway? Tsk!) along the lines of Keeping Up With The Kardashians (except the young, unmarried, unqualified new mom in this show isn’t old enough to drink yet). One could celebrate the soaring music cues, red-white-and-blue lower thirds and Christian-rock theme song of the show as just what the Middle American doctor ordered. One could argue that the vast mountain landscapes, endless skies, and extreme animal closeups legitimize this “travelogue,” excusing Palin’s thinly-if-at-all-veiled political rhetoric–sprinkled throughout each story beat–because she, like a Ken Burns that can’t pronounce “feel,” is just givin’ a much needed voice to the under-appreciated state she loves so darn much.
You could. But you’d be lying, just like anyone who defends the show as “completely non-political.”
Sarah Palin’s Alaska marks an American low, a political low, and HOLY CRAP a reality show low (which I wasn’t sure even existed). I really, REALLY hope there’s a hungry bear in episode two.
[LAT: 'Sarah Palin's Alaska' breaks TLC record with 5 million viewers for premiere]
Filed under: Alaska, Ken Burns, Mark Burnett, Non-Political? Seriously?, Reality TV, Right Wing Nutjobs, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Is Poison, Sarah Palin's Alaska, Sarah Palin's Alaska Debuts To 5 Million Stupid Viewers, Shows That Liken A Shitty Yard Fence To Guarding Our Nation's Borders, Subversive Campaigning, The CW Blows, Thinly-veiled rhetoric, TLC, Vomit
I was most surprised to only find 11 other posts with “vomit” as a tag.
Hey maybe TLC will do to this show what they did to the Jon & Kate series, turn something that starts out as beautiful & family-oriented and drive it into the ground for the train wreck that it is!!! I’m crossing my fingers!!!