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capri0mniI would have posted this yesterday morning, right after it happened, just for sheer WTF-ery. But I lost my Internet Friday night, and just got it back this afternoon.
When PHC was new-ish, it was one of our family's favorite two hours of the week, period. But in the last 10-15 years, Garrison Keillor (the host, writer, and exec. producer) has gradually turned it more into a showcase for proselytizing his own Christian beliefs and talents than hosting the talents of others (I mean, why does he always have to sing bass, now, in a duet with every woman singer he brings on?).
But, hope springs eternal, I guess, and I turned on the Sunday repeat broadcast for something to listen to because my current favorite show was not on yet.
For the "Guy Noir" segment, he wrote the criminal as a wheelchair user, and I quote: "the guy's in a wheelchair, and like a lot of these chair-bound people, he's wily and unpredictable..."
(scattered audience laughter)
Yes -- he really did say "chair-bound." And why for ever-loving Frog's Sake -- why? Just to make fun of an outside group? And okay, putting the perp in a rocket propelled wheelchair for a radio drama gives your sound-effects man a chance to do something interesting and funny with his mouth-skills. But why not make it clear that it's this individual is untrustworthy, instead of a whole class of people?
That's it. I'm done with the show. For good.
When PHC was new-ish, it was one of our family's favorite two hours of the week, period. But in the last 10-15 years, Garrison Keillor (the host, writer, and exec. producer) has gradually turned it more into a showcase for proselytizing his own Christian beliefs and talents than hosting the talents of others (I mean, why does he always have to sing bass, now, in a duet with every woman singer he brings on?).
But, hope springs eternal, I guess, and I turned on the Sunday repeat broadcast for something to listen to because my current favorite show was not on yet.
For the "Guy Noir" segment, he wrote the criminal as a wheelchair user, and I quote: "the guy's in a wheelchair, and like a lot of these chair-bound people, he's wily and unpredictable..."
(scattered audience laughter)
Yes -- he really did say "chair-bound." And why for ever-loving Frog's Sake -- why? Just to make fun of an outside group? And okay, putting the perp in a rocket propelled wheelchair for a radio drama gives your sound-effects man a chance to do something interesting and funny with his mouth-skills. But why not make it clear that it's this individual is untrustworthy, instead of a whole class of people?
That's it. I'm done with the show. For good.
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Date: 2011-10-03 09:52 pm (UTC)And you are wily... and artful! Although I think of your unpredictability more in it's physical manifestation as creativity, heh.
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Date: 2011-10-03 10:35 pm (UTC)It's just "considering the source," you know, that makes this depressing. I'd always thought of the show, and the values of its host/creator as being a celebration of diversity and openness, and the humanity of everyone, and in recent years, it feels like he's gradually become more fearful, and retreating back into the harsh Protestant watch-out-for-Hellfire upbringing of his childhood, and maybe he's not even aware of how much he become narrow-minded.
The theme song, when the show was new, went like this:
"Ah hear the old piano
From down the avenue.
I smell the onions,
I look around for you.
My sweet, sweet old someone,
Coming through that door.
It's Saturday 'n
The band is playin'.
Honey could we ask for more?"
And that 'smell the onions' line was perfect for a show playing on the kitchen radio at dinner time.
But sometime in recent years (I didn't keep track of when), he changed it to stereotypically "sweet" smells -- like "I smell the roses" (last Saturday, it was "I smell the apples"). Just an ever so slight "prettification" -- a shift in attitude toward what acceptable to mention in public, and what's not.
...You know?
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Date: 2011-10-03 11:02 pm (UTC)Oh, that must feel so disappointing. It manages to simultaneously be anti-creative and insult the audience's intelligence.
Perhaps someone should remind him that "the devil is in the details". ;-)
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Date: 2011-10-03 11:20 pm (UTC)Two years ago in the "Season's Greetings" season, Garrison went on a rampage about "why do all those Jew have to mess with our Christmas songs?" Wait, better quote this:
There was a (thankfully) robust roar of reaction, from all the usual suspects and then all the media that Jews control, that is to say, the New York Times.
Anyway, that was my "No mas!" moment for Garrison.
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Date: 2011-10-03 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 09:23 am (UTC)I'm making the horrified face. I have no words.
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Date: 2011-10-04 06:35 pm (UTC)If I had, I would've sworn off the show a lot sooner.
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Date: 2011-10-04 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-05 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 11:09 pm (UTC)'Ugly' fossil is largest toothed pterosaur:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15150591
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Date: 2011-10-05 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 11:45 pm (UTC)"And you, Dear..." (cue mother bracing for questions about her father's career, or her level of education): "Do you like onions?"
Mother answered "yes." Otherwise, I might not be here (or at least, here with my current genetic make-up).
Though, frankly, with his current Pentecostal bend (or whichever denomination he now adheres to) I wouldn't dare mention the Devil to him at all (see
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Date: 2011-10-06 06:21 am (UTC)And then last year Live Wire! Radio waltzed into my life, right on the Saturday 6:00 pm time slot, which threw the whole thing into sharp contrast. It was hosted by a sassy, feisty, youthful, opinionated woman, and had music that was enjoyable, and made jokes that were funny and relevant and I kind of realized that I had been living a lie, trying to be faithful to the old public radio regime that did not actually have a place for me in it.
And then they did Audience Haiku, and it knocked my socks off.
So can I offer it up as a much better replacement for you? Try starting with either Episode 144 to get a feel for it (a personal favorite!), or maybe more appropriately, Episode 158 . . .
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Date: 2011-10-06 06:41 am (UTC)You Can! And you may! Thank you.
5-7 years ago, huh? So you think that's the turning point when it went from "Stale, perhaps not exactly funny -- but good nostalgic value" to "Downright Spiteful"?
Hm. The storyteller in me wonders what happened, back then...
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Date: 2011-10-07 06:24 am (UTC)Enjoy Live Wire! They take potshots at public radio too, but, then, they are working from a framework of satire and independent artistry, not as a cranky giant of public broadcasting abusing its position. So. A much better chance of it actually being funny.
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Date: 2011-10-07 06:36 am (UTC)I listened to Live Wire #144 before I went to bed, last. ... does the fact that it features knitting contribute to it being your favorite? ;-)
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Date: 2011-10-08 02:35 am (UTC)American Idol and all its clones I can ignore—public radio, not so much. Kind of a pet peeve.
#144 is a favorite because of the science squee. The knitting is incidental.
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Date: 2011-10-08 04:17 am (UTC)Me? I'm much rather watch grass grow.
And re: 144 -- Yes. I'll have to go back and listen to that.