So, as you might have noticed, my big thing is trying to make the world a better place in whatever little ways I can. There are so many groups of people I’m worried about, not the least of which are teenage girls like two of my beloved cousins. Teenage girls have so much to deal with these days – more than I did, I think. The whole online world, with all of its dangers and complexities, is added to academic and athletic expectations, other girls, boys, pressures, fashion, looks, and everything else teenage girls have to deal with.
With all of these pressures on this demographic of our society, imagine my shock when I saw a preview one day for a new sitcom called, “I hate my teenage daughter.”
The show, which is scheduled to air for the first time on Fox on November 30, is described thusly on Wikipedia:
The series follows two mothers who fear their daughters are turning into the kind of girls who tormented them in high school. The fears would come quickly when Annie Watson (Jaime Pressly), who grew up in an ultra-strict conservative family, begins to notice that she has allowed her daughter Sophie (Kristi Lauren) to do what she wants to do, which she takes advantage of by embarrassing and mocking her mother, while best friend Nikki Miller (Katie Finneran), who grew up unpopular and overweight and has reinvented herself as a Southern Belle, begins to notice how manipulative her daughter Mackenzie (Aisha Dee) has become. Even the ex-husbands aren’t very good fathers: Annie’s ex Matt is too clueless, prompting his lawyer brother Jack to step in (and become an object of Annie’s crush) while Nikki’s ex Gary is letting their complicated relationship become more complicated in the parenting department. These situations are among the major challenges Annie and Nikki must face to keep the daughters from turning into the people they were afraid of when they were their daughters’ age.
There are so many things that are wrong and offensive about this concept it’s hard to know where to begin. However, even if the synopsis of the show was less bothersome, why, during this particular tricky time, are we going to put a television show out there called “I hate my teenage daughter?”
It’s really puzzling to me. What could Fox be thinking?
And what can we do about it?
PS, based on a suggestion from my friend Tara Markus, I’ve started a Facebook page called We Support Teenage Girls. Because we do, don’t we?
Turn the TV off, Tell Fox you are annoyed, make angry online, blog about it like you did here.
@Billy_Delaney Hi Billy! Turning the TV off may work for me, but the message is still out there. That’s what I want to do something about.
The days when 20-million people tuned in to watch an episode of Friends is over. Audiences are becoming so segmented that the only thing Fox and other networks can rely on to bring audiences back is the “shock factor.” Playboy Club was another one, but it lasted only 3 episodes due to LOTS of pressure from just about every lobbying group out there.
I do agree with Billy to turn the TV off. But TV doesn’t get me so angry that I need to write letters or protest in front of the network headquarters. Why? Because TV is irrelevant in my life. If I want breaking news, I use Twitter. If I want to laugh, I throw in a DVD of Frasier, Seinfeld or cue up the on demand feature that comes with my digital cable and watch The Office or Parks & Recreation. My life in 3D is much more important and more interesting than what idiots are doing on Jersey’s shore or who’s trying to outlast someone on some island just to get a tube of toothpaste.
I’m afraid we’re inching our way towards seeing a show like Running Man pop on our TV screens to try and lure us all back. However, no matter how shocking, how bizarre or how odd the show is, nothing can ever get me to watch TV ever again.
@leesabarnes Very interesting! Of course, the problem is that there are other people who do nothing but watch TV. And look at your comment here -you were exposed to this show even though you don’t want TV. I think it’s important to keep an eye on what the networks are telling us to think. That’s the best defense against hogwash!
Negative titles create more buzz than what I used to watch like the show “My So Called Life” with Claire Daines.
@lucilla feliciano I guess so, but at some point “buzz” has to be less important than common sense, right?
@margieclayman@lucilla feliciano I agree that common sense trumps buzz.
If the title would have been I love my teenage daughter, people would be oh great another one of those feel good shows.
It just like creating content on a website, if you have a title of a blog post that includes the word “advice”, people won’t read it because this usually means a lengthy explanation. In my opine if you use the word, “tricks” people will be more drawn to reading it because it is a quicker resolution to their problems.
The title of the show is a problem, obviously. But, look at the other shows that pass as entertainment, like “16 and pregnant.” This is entertainment now. If I had been 16 and pregnant, I had better run and hide, because my mother was going to kill me when she found out! It was not something I would have broadcasted.
The problem, from what you have described is not with the show (per se) or these two particular mothers, but that many parents have let their children run amok, in the hopes that they will grow up to be everything they (we) weren’t. We have let them raise themselves, be influenced by their friends (who don’t know any more than they do), and the media. We have grown an out of control generation of self-centered, ungrateful, not-easily-satisfied, unfocused and uncommitted people. And it is our fault! (Our parents thought the same of us, I am sure)
We have built a society that thrives on ultra-instant gratification. The more intelligent we become, the more bizarre the entertainment we seek.
Yes our teenage daugthers are in trouble and at risk; for that matter so are our young men.
Someone suggested the obvious solution, turn the TV off. The second thing is actually spend some quality time with your children, or with someone else’s if you don’t have any at home. Quality time is not playing a video game together. It is having a conversation, actively listening and pouring something of value into someone else’s life.
But that’s just my opinion
@martinamcgowan
@Doc_1@martinamcgowan Can’t really argue with that one jot. My ultimate worry is that teenage girls will see this in passing and wonder, “Gosh, do all adults think that way?” I think that needs to be nipped in the bud. That being said, parents need to be presented better too. The more pressure there is on kids to perform, the more pressure there is on parents to drive them around, support them, make sure they’re doing their homework – we’re all biting off more than we can chew.
@margieclayman@martinamcgowan
Yes, raising children, interacting with them, having real conversations with them is a lot of time and hard work. It comes with the “job”.
But if teenage girls really worry that this is how we all think, there should be at least one adult in their lives to correct that notion. It is our responsibilty to reach out to them, to demonstrate that there is a better way.
@martinamcgowan
I’m hear ya and are with ya! Another show I question is Sisters Wife’s, isn’t that illegal? But back to this show… Reminds me of a saying my Gma use to say, “anyone can have kids, but not everyone can be a parent! Let’s go hunt Fox!!!