I don’t get the whoopla and the subsequent firing of the Duck Dynasty Dude. Is anybody shocked that this old Fundamentalist Christian isn’t so fond of gay folks and is wrong about Jim Crow laws. Really?
But look: I come back to what I said at the beginning. Robertson is a character in a reality show. He’s not a spokesman for A&E any more than some soul-sucking social x-ray from the Real Housewives series is a spokeswoman for Bravo. Is he being fired for being out of character? Nah. He’s being fired for staying in character – a character A&E have nurtured and promoted and benefited from. Turning around and demanding a Duck Dynasty star suddenly become the equivalent of a Rachel Maddow guest is preposterous and unfair.
I have seen the show a couple of times. It’s a lot more interesting than most of the crap reality shows. I don’t really have a problem blipping over the offensive remarks to watch them whittle their whistles. I find the botox injection parties on the Housewives shows equally offensive.
That’s not to say that Phil Robertson is right about gay people or happy black folks during Jim Crow. Absolutely not. TNC has a good response to his race remarks. But I don’t expect everybody to be right about everything, and I think that wrong people still deserve compassion.
I like Jon Stewart’s take on the matter. From Gawker, “Stewart made it clear he was not personally cool with Phil Robertson’s homophobic comments. “But I also have an inclination to support a world where saying ignorant shit on television doesn’t get you kicked off that medium,” he said.”
Gotta watch this movie about the family.
Apt. 11d 
Cable costs more a month than Netflix and renting a dozen movies. I never even heard of this show before.
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I take it you don’t go to the store much–there’s Duck Dynasty paraphernalia EVERYWHERE, at least around here.
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I did all my Christmas shopping in Oakland’s weird assortment of retail.
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I went to the store today and yesterday. I didn’t see any Duck Dynasty paraphernalia.
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Go to Amazon, key in “Duck Dynasty” and just keep scrolling. It goes on and on and on.
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I likewise had never heard of this show until about 3 months ago. No cable here. Only Netflix.
On the other hand, you must watch The Forsyte Saga, which I suspect you have never heard of. At least I hadn’t. Streaming. Delicious.
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Forsyte Saga was soo amazing, I watched it a few years ago when the downton hysteria hit. Just finished the Fall and Top of the Lake. Give them a spin if you like british tv.
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My mom’s been into Duck Dynasty lately, though the other night she and I were decrying the over-commodification of the brand (Duck Dynasty t-shirts! Duck Dynasty lunchboxes! Duck Dynasty dental floss!).
If people stop watching Duck Dynasty (and buying the products) because of Robertson’s remarks, and therefore A&E wants to stop running the show, so be it. But the whole suspending thing was a little over-reacty.
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Every time the internet gets in a tizzy about someone I’ve never heard of saying something stupid, I lose a little respect for the people in a tizzy. It’s not important, it’s the opposite of important. Someone, even someone prominent in some community you’re not a part of, is always saying something stupid or ignorant. Unless you’re a fan of this guy who is suddenly re-evaluating their fandom, you’re just playing your part in the two minute hate of the day.
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We left Netflix streaming and went back to old school CD’s, because the streaming system never has movies we want.
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It is handy for catching up on TV shows.
We do both, but don’t do cable or any other monthly billed entertainment.
Lillyhammer is great–that’s a Netflix-created TV series about a NY mobster living in Norway as part of the FBI witness protection program and doing business there (the only way he knows how) and corrupting the locals. Where we are currently, our hero has just muscled his way into the refugee resettlement business.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilyhammer
The sweaters are amazing.
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I heard about the show because of Destination Imagination pins (hey, over-commodification!). But this is a convocation of tizzes (or whatever the group term is for tizzies).
My rule is that I hold people responsible for what they say and believe, but not necessarily for what their friends say and believe. So first-degree shaming (duck dynasty falls in that category, but since I wasn’t going to watch the show anyway, But, I’m probably not going to be as excited about the pins.
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If the Duck Dynasty people do walk off in solidarity, A & E is either going to lose a ton of money or have to go crawling back to the Robertsons.
The essential problem for A & E is that there’s very little overlap between 1) people who are terribly offended and 2) the show’s fan base. It’s like the Chik-fil-a boycott–you can’t effectively boycott a product you were never a consumer of.
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I actually have to disagree about the show’s fan base. My mom is pretty liberal, and she loves the show. My impression is that the show actually transcends demographics. We’re overmerchandised here in the Northeast, too. I was thinking of watching it with my mom (who got me into Pitbulls and Parolees, which is The Best Show) but now I won’t try it.
You know, there are very very clever people running that show. This could be an attempt to address the inevitable decline of interest in the show by maintaining a core set of viewers who will watch simply to piss off liberals. That demographic actually seems to be fairly attractive to advertisers.
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I’ve seen only bits of the show, and it didn’t interest me, but am amused by this:
http://keep0smiling.blogspot.com/2013/07/duck-dynasty-before-and-after-beards-25.html
It’s useful for keeping in mind how “reality” shows are in fact completely prefabricated products, and these are actors playing parts, even if the parts they play are loosely (apparently very loosely) connected with their “real” lives.
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Merry Christmas, all. I’m stuck on a train heading to Hoboken NJ. And I’m having a moment of blissful quiet. The first in a very long time. Will b back very soon. Itching to return to normality.
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Merry Christmas!
Enjoy the flesh pots of Hoboken!
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Merry Christmas, Laura
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A&E has come to an understanding with the Robertsons.
“For its part, A&E did little else in the wake of Robertson’s comments beyond the initial suspension. Encores of the series have continued to air, including a marathon on Christmas Day. Canceling or delaying the Jan. 15 season-five premiere never seemed to be on the table.”
“The entire Robertson family has been on hiatus for duck hunting season, a contractual stipulation, which continues through Jan. 26 in their native Louisiana.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/a-e-welcomes-phil-robertson-667647
A&E could have done nothing (or just said something like “The opinions expressed on this program do not reflect the views of A&E”) and come through this with more dignity.
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