“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-16 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of March 14, 2016
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Short Stories
I have a long-standing love affair with the short story. The first piece of writing that blew me away because of its writing was a short story. It was The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe. Since then I have read many short stories and have even written some. Maybe someday I’ll get them out for everyone else to see. The problem with that dream has less to do with my writing than it does with the limited audience for short story collections (especially those by writers no one has ever heard of). Such collections rarely make much money so major publishers have always been less enthusiastic about them versus novels.
So when I see a story about a new venue for short stories I perk up my ears. When I saw what that venue was my eyebrows shot up as well. If you are into technology my bet is that you are familiar with the website known as “Cnet”. The technology news and review site have been around since 1994, and its parent company was purchased by CBS Interactive in 2008. They acknowledge that it may seem strange for a tech site to get into fiction. The editor in chief of Cnet News, Connie Guglielmo, said, “…while fiction is a new story type for us, we think it’s consistent with our goal of delivering unique, useful and relevant content to our readers every day.”
So I bounced over to check it out. The stories will be published monthly and have some graphic illustrations to go along with them. Nothing like starting off with a big hitter, the first installment is “The Last Taco Truck in Silicon Valley” by New York Times best-selling author Michelle Richmond. All the stories will have a technology angle to them, keeping in step with the web site’s core vision. In this case, it tells the story of a start-up “evangelist”, what we used to call PR people, who gets kidnapped by her favorite taco truck in the hopes that she can save the last taco truck in the valley. It’s a cute concept, plays with some interesting ideas on how things go “viral”, and, unsurprisingly, it’s very well written. Next up is National Book Award winner, Christina Garcia.
One of the things that new media makes possible is the potential for new and old to combine in interesting ways. Short fiction once held an important place in American literature, appearing in all the popular magazines through the middle of the last century. As magazines begin to fade as a medium, it’s nice to see someone else beginning to explore the possibilities of the short story.
60 Days In
Every time I think we have found the bottom of the reality TV barrel I discover that there’s still another level down there to plumb. The so-called “reality TV” bears very little resemblance to any form of reality. The stories are edited and cherry-picked to create interesting stories rather than show us what really happened. They have taken every concept from locking people into a house, to exposing people to their greatest fears to love and marriage and made a game out of them. Turned them into entertainment. One show was one long series of people killing animals, over and over and over again. I will admit that I have watched a fair number of them. But after a while, the allure just goes away. It’s either the same issues/questions/challenges over and over, or the whole thing just starts feeling exploitative and a little dirty after a while.
But I will say right up front I have no intention of watching the newest entry from the A&E Network, called “60 Days In”. It’s not because I’ve finally had enough and am drawing the line. It’s because I can’t see any way this show ends that is not an utter lie or an utter tragedy.
The concept of “60 Days In” is simple. Seven everyday people volunteer to serve sixty days in what is alleged to be one of the toughest county jails in America. That’s the Clark County Correctional Jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It is renowned for its violence and drug peddling. The story goes that the county sheriff thinks he has a corruption problem and is using these volunteers to go inside and report back to him.
Do you see the problem?
The cast is the usual band of made for TV not so everyday people. One is the mother of two who believes that inmates are being coddled by the system. Another is Muhammed Ali’s oldest daughter, Maryum. Just every day folks, picked off the street.
The real problem here is that there is an age-old prison term for what these folks are being asked to do. It’s called being a snitch. In that culture, it’s one of the worst things you can be. Add to it that everyone in the jail will know who these people are because they will have camera crews following them all the time. The “cover story” is that they are filming a documentary about new inmates. Which puts a different kind of bullseye on them.
Bruce Springsteen once sang about there being “…fifty-seven channels and nothing on”. If this is what’s available, maybe it’s time to turn the TV off.
Lane Bryant
There is no way that I thought I would be returning to this topic this soon. In fact, I didn’t expect to come back to it at all. The question of plus size models in the media. The flap raised by ’70s supermodel Cheryl Tiegs about the cover of the last Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue figured to be a quick blip on the screen. Turns out, not so much.
I mentioned in that previous post that Lane Bryant was planning on launching a television ad. Just in case you’re not familiar with the brand, Lane Bryant is a women’s clothing store that focuses on plus-sized clothing. The new ad is part of a campaign called “ThisBody” and is intended to help launch a new lingerie line. The spot contains images of the models doing things like kick boxing, stretching, breastfeeding and apparently nude. I say apparently because you can’t really see anything. But that hasn’t stopped several networks, including both CBS and NBC, from refusing to air the spot. The exact reason for the refusals is a little unclear. The Peacock Network has said that a few “minor edits”, that’s their term, are needed to meet broadcast decency standards.
I’ve watched this ad several times. I had both my wife and daughter watch the ad. None of us see the problem. Not in a world that finds no problem with the ads for Victoria’s Secret. Compared to the Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue ad from a couple years ago the Lane Bryant ad is positively pedestrian. Lane Bryant leaves plenty to the imagination. The perfume ad left virtually nothing there.
So now the question becomes, what’s the real problem here? The two leading candidates are the breastfeeding shot and the fact that these are plus sized models. As for the baby being fed, the shot lasts between two and three seconds. Again, you don’t “see” anything. I know that some people are offended by this. Of all the things on TV these days, I’m hard pressed to see that as the most offensive thing out there.
The other questions are about the body type of the model. I’m certain that the networks know there is no way for them to comment on that subject that will not result in a firestorm of near Biblical proportion erupting around them. It’s just stupid.
As for the question of decency, where’s that line these days? We’re fine with marriage being made into a game show. But somehow this steps over the line. That’s a distinction too fine for these eyes.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2016
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Stories Are My Life 
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