TLC channel/Critical Analysis

There are a few tv channels that really irk me.  Channels that seem to play absolute crap all the time.  Today, I'm going to discuss TLC.  The letters stand for The Learning Channel, but I'd like to refer to it as something else - Truly Laborious Channel - as in, it's hard work to watch most of the shows on this network.  I'm not sure what you could "learn" from this channel but how to be annoying.

Let's start with the shows that are horrible.

19 Kids and Counting - This show is about a family of gross proportions.  2 adults spawn 19 children?  If these were animals or items, it would be called hoarding and it's an illness that needs to be treated.  No one should have 19 kids unless you're the director of an orphanage.  I've never watched the show, nor do I even want it on the air.  It's only glamorizing an illness.

Kate plus 8 -  See above, except for the fact that the mother of these kids is a fame whore who will do anything to make more money off her kids.  Not only does she do this show, but has been on countless talk shows about her very public split from her husband at the time, plus shows like Dancing with the Stars that pays $20,000 a week, for every week that you stay on, with a bonus of around $50,000 for whoever wins.  Synopsis of TLC's website, "Join Kate and the Gosselin kids on new adventures - from activities at home to exciting field trips, experience all the fun with the family."  Wow, I really want to follow them around while they go grocery shopping and take the kids to the dentist.  That's so much better than my reality!
 
Extreme Couponing - TLC describes the show on their website as this, "enter the world of bargain shoppers who have mastered the art of saving! In Extreme Couponing, meet the everyday people who save hundreds of dollars in a single trip to the store."  But, it's not really like that.  The people that do this show are addicted to shopping and use the excuse of "well, I'm just trying to save money on groceries for my family."  They spend all their free time day, and night, clipping coupons, digging in dumpsters for old newspapers, searching online for sales, driving around to multiple stores to bargain shop, and miss appointments and family get togethers to do stuff like shop.  It's still an illness.  Hmmmm, I see a pattern developing here.

The Little Couple/Little People, Big World - Same idea for two shows.  You get to watch little people get married, buy houses, do normal everyday mundane things except the draw here is that they're small.  I think this is a bit disturbing, to draw so much attention to someones growth problems and then for the people to agree to be on the show?  Anything for money.

Toddlers and Tiaras - Mother of God!  This is the worst show on this channel for many reasons.  First of all pushy parents make their little children get dressed up in hair, makeup, spray tans, and small outfits to parade around for judges to see and possibly win money.
Little girls are supposed to look like this:

This is one of the "contestants" on the show according to TLC's website.
After she's all whored up, she looks like this for "pageants"

This girl who can't be much older than what 6, 8 maybe, looks like she's 23 with all the make up.  No little girl wants to work for a living doing this at single digit ages.  NO ONE!  When I was little, sure I liked to get dressed up in my mom's high heels, and play with make up, but I didn't want to eat, breathe, and sleep it.  That was play time, all I was concerned about was having fun.  These little girls don't choose this.  The parents push them into it.  What's more disturbing is how accepted it is.  These little girls are being exploited by their own parents to make money and get them some fame on tv.  Meanwhile, pedophiles everywhere are probably rejoicing about how long this show has been on (4 seasons I hear) and how they get their fix of new girls to fantasize about.  There is nothing about this show that's redeeming, there's nothing about this show that isn't sickening, and nothing about it that's ok.  I'm not the only one that feels this way.  On the shows website there are a TON of comments about how wrong this show is and how ashamed TLC should be for airing it.

Sister Wives - Show synopsis from TLC, "Meet Kody Brown, his three wives -- Meri, Janelle, and Christine -- and their 13 children. Follow the Brown family and see how they attempt to navigate life as a normal family in a society that shuns their polygamist lifestyle."  For one thing, it's not legal to marry more than one person at a time in this country, that might be why society shuns them.  For another thing, who wants to have sex with the same man that your other 2 sisters are doing?  This is another form of mental illness on the women's parts (along with low self esteem that they can't have their own monogamous man) and a greedy horny repulsive man who wants to have sex with as many women as he can using the excuse that religion makes it acceptable.  Haven't had the stomach to watch one second of this show, I've only seen previews and that's more than enough.

My Strange Addiction - pure, pure exploitations of people's mental issues.  Of course, the people do agree to be on the show, and America is full of idiots, but still I'm blaming TLC for starting this show up at all.  I've never seen this show, but I did see a preview of their last episode.  A woman had been eating dryer sheets (the kind you put into your laundry) for 7 years.  EATING them piece by piece because she apparently, loved the smell at first.  Well, who doesn't like the smell?  I do, of course I do, they are meant to make your clothes smell good for days, but eating them, no, I never thought of that one.  The doctor said with the level of chemicals in those things she would be dead soon if she persisted.  The other woman was someone who dressed up like a baby with adult diapers, a whole NURSERY in her house for herself, baby bottles, toys, you name it.  I've heard of people having sex dressed up like babies, but not someone who does it all the time for just fun.  These people are sick and need help, they shouldn't be on tv advertising it.


Now since I've said I've seen previews of all the above shows that happened while I was watching the few shows that I do like on this retched channel.

What Not to Wear - Great show that doesn't exploit people (too much, but still a bit).  Someone gets nominated (I would love to nominate myself, but I'm not allowed) for a $5,000.00 wardrobe make over.  The 2 hosts are top notch stylist that get secret footage of the target in terrible clothes and approach them to take over their lives for about a week.  The target agrees or doesn't (usually does) and gets flown to New York City along with their entire closet.  Usually the hosts make them try on certain outfits and tell them what's wrong with it, why it doesn't suit them, etc. then they throw out the clothes that aren't any good for the target to wear (lots of resistance from the people getting the make over at this point).  Then they get their credit card to shop for a day by themselves after hearing the hosts recommendations.  The camera follows them around as they struggle, and then the 2nd day of shopping the hosts go with them to help pick out the right new clothes and spend all the money.  After that, they get make up tips from an expert, and a new hairstyle.  The show concludes by following the person back to their hometown where they have a party to reveal the new them.  What I like about the show is that the hosts, though they may be harsh, are trying to help the people to feel more confident, to get farther in life, to accept themselves, and be comfortable in their skin.  And the thought of $5000.00 just to spend on clothes makes me jealous every week.  Lucky bitches!

Hoarding: Buried Alive -  I've already covered this show in another post, but I'll be brief.  I like this show because of my psychology background and studying mental illness is fascinating to me.  This show is still exploiting the people on it, but the hoarders do agree to be on camera beforehand, plus their families are always seemingly desperate to get help any way they can for their loved ones.

Say Yes to the Dress - I like almost all versions of this show (Atlanta, Bridesmaids, New York) primarily because I get to look at gorgeous formal gowns, that's the biggest draw for me, but even this is a problem show.  Mean spirited, backstabbing, jealous women are constantly on this show demanding lots of attention and causing lots of drama for all involved.  This, I realize, goes on everyday, all over the world, it's just that this show is making money off it.  Still, the brides and women all know they are going to be on camera so......

The only version I don't like is the plus sized brides.  I know, they are allowed to get married too, but the dresses are so huge I can't relate to those brides, and large or "curvy" women as they like to think of themselves, are not healthy, and large is not attractive.  Curvy women are sexy, in shape women, chunky is the word I used to describe the women of this show.  I'm not trying to be mean, I know over half the population of the United States is overweight, but it remains a fact, that that is not healthy for a human body.  There's no reason to be morbidly overweight, or even 100 pounds overweight.  It's too much for our bodies to take, increasing all kinds of risks for disease and death.  I'm all for people accepting themselves for who they are, on the inside, when it comes to the outside, obesity should be corrected into a healthier way of life and not be tolerated by anyone who is in that position.  I can probably do an entire post on why I think obesity should not be tolerated, but I will stop with this for this post.  Plus sized brides should be focusing on how to lose weight before they buy the dress, and before they get married.  It's a lifestyle change that can only bring about positive results for their entire lives.