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TV Without TV


Hey friends!

This pop culture blogger has been sad this week. My cable is out! I thought that surely I wouldn't find anything to blog about, being totally cut off from pop culture as I was. But then it hit me: the internet! TV is often found on the internet! And indeed, I've found that through a little bit of effort, I'm able to keep up with most of my stories even without TV.

I just watched this week's episode of Teen Mom on MTV.com. You can watch full episodes! Online! For free! (Well, for the cost of internet...but still...) Next I plan to watch an episode of Parenthood (that's right, it's back and delightfully unoffensive as ever!) but first I have to recover a bit from the violence of Teen Mom.

In this week's episode, Amber and Gary really had it out. Amber kicked him out, he threatened to call child protective services, Amber started screaming and hitting him, and he finally left with Leah. Now Leah is with Gary's mom, Gary is staying with a friend, and Amber is all alone. This is one of those things that makes watching this show so difficult. I really, really feel for Amber. She is so depressed and out of control and it really seems like she just feels totally trapped in her life. I'm not saying that she's dealing with it appropriately (and MTV would remind us over and over again that domestic violence is not OK by showing PSAs for a domestic violence website before many commercial breaks). But I feel bad for her. I want her to feel like there's a way out of her sadness and her frustration. I want her to feel like she's in some control of her life. But is she in control? Is there a way out?

Thanks to watching this episode on the internet, I know that it was titled "Lashing Out." I'm assuming this title refers to Amber, since the other moms' lives seem to be getting more and more stable as time goes on. Seeing Amber lash out at Gary really is upsetting, but it could be a great platform for discussing the pressures of being a teen mom and ways to deal with those pressures other than lashing out. Luckily, MTV has provided a forum for just such a discussion!

On the same page you can watch full episodes there is a real time conversation between viewers. You can log into your social network and join the fun! The discussion is really great, with such points as:
"Amber be buggin out"
"Amber is definitely not fit to be a mother"
"Amber needs to up her meds"
"Amber is crazy"
"Maci's skin looked really bad this episode"

So as you can see, peering into Amber's stressful life has really given the viewers a lot to think about. And to think that if I had just watched this show on regular old cable, I would have missed those comments. I also would have missed the after show interview with Gary and Amber, in which Amber admits that she doesn't know how bad she often is. I really hope that she can figure out a way to make things better, and I hope that appearing in this show helps her more than it hurts her.

Also, I think Maci's skin looked fine in this episode. Bam!

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  1. Blogger chris | 1:03 PM |  

    Yes! The internet!

    And soon...AppleTV!

    Suck it Comcast/DirecTV!

  2. Blogger DoktorPeace | 10:38 PM |  

    Don't call me your friend!

    The cable's out? Oh god... Is Mark okay?

  3. Blogger Unknown | 1:35 PM |  

    Don't worry...the cable's back now. Albeit no longer with Dish Network. Now we're with a bundled Comcast deal for the whole building. $23 a month for full cable, biznatchezzzzz!!!

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