"BIG LOVE" -- Anybody see it? Any thoughts?

[Atman]

Tweety just mentioned Frist's comment, re: "Every child deserves a mother and a father," to which Mitt Romney apparently tried to trump him with "Every child deserves ONE mother and ONE father," an obvious reference to polygamy and a very feeble attempt to gain the "holier than thou" vote.

But...how many watched "BIG LOVE?" I gotta say, everybody's knickers were in a twist about this show before it aired, fearful it was somehow glamorizing the idea of a man having three wives. If anything, I think "Big Love" promoted just the opposite message...if you think being married sucks, try multiplying it by three!

Thoughts?

[im10ashus]

1. I loved it.

I don't think it will glamorize polygamy in any way. Good acting, good writing.

[greenbriar]

2. kind of slow going in but next week looks to be

great

[im10ashus]

5. Series premiers always seem to be that way.

Setting up the story line and all that great stuff. I am excited to see the next few episodes to see if it can keep my interest.

[SoCalDem]

37. I liked it too.. and recommended it to my snarky son..BUT

then he reminded me that my daughter-in-law is from Utah..AND is Mormon..:eyes:.. She's not all THAT mormon, but still, he said that show would probably not go over well at his house ...knowing him, he'kk TIVO it, watch it when she's not there and then erase it..

[im10ashus]

48. I don't think they are Mormon's on the show, are they?

The Mormon's renounced any members who are polygamists.

[incapsulated]

49. Yeah, they are.

But they are doing something that is against the law and they know it. It is estimated that there are what, tens of thousands doing this, despite the law, in Utah? 40,000 or something.

[im10ashus]

50. Holy crap!!!

That's a lot of Big Love going on. I must say, after watching the show, I don't see the attraction. One wife would be too many, but three? :hi:

[incapsulated]

51. Yeah, well...

The main character isn't exactly someone to envy, lol. The fantasy (of some men) is way better than the reality, when it comes to actually keeping a harem of women (and children, and expenses...)

[RufusEarl]

3. It sounded more like gay bashing to me

Every child needs a mother (woman) and a father (male) Just my 2cents.

[Atman]

9. Frist's comment WAS gay bashing. Romney trumped it by say ONE

That was the point...But isn't Romney from Utah? He must think there is a big underlying polygamy vote in America. He's nuttier than the average fruitcake, that Romney.

[thinkingwoman]

4. Mitt Romney is such a tool

What about step-parents? What about the tragedy of a parent dying and the widow/widower remarrying some loving person who makes the family feel complete again.

Kids can never have too many adults/parents who love them. Never.

[tanyev]

6. Repugs got a problem with step-parents?

Plenty of them are divorced.

:shrug:

[incapsulated]

7. I thought it was good!

I will continue to watch. It does smack Mormons, although they tried to pretend it had nothing to do with them before it ran, lol. It is interesting, because you have the renagade polygamist fundies living on a compound on one side, and a son who came from that background and wants nothing to do with them, but is also a kind of yuppie polygamist on the other. It's good, and funny, too.

[Atman]

12. I like the local girls calling the girl at the burger shop a "MORBOT"

Funny stuff. I liked the show, btw. I'll watch again...after all, what the hell else are you going to do to unwind after an hour of Sopranos?

[greenbriar]

14. speaking of...did you expect Tony to get shot fist episode???

and by JR

[Atman]

15. Okay, THAT was a big surprise!

Best night of teevee in ages!

On edit: while it was a big surprise, it probably shouldn't have been. That's all the show's plot was about, what would happen if Tony was gone, Tony is fat and might have a heart attack...it was obvious they were planning on taking him out. Taking him out in the first episode, under the circumstances it happened, was a brilliant stroke by the writers.

[PVK]

45. Next time preface it with Spoiler Alert.

Some of us didn't see it yet.

[Atman]

47. Sorry...it's been spoiled all day on every other outlet

I was surprised actually. I woke up, and the first thing on morning news was about Tony being shot in the very first episode (as if it was actually "news," but that's a different story).

[PVK]

53. I see what you mean. I just turned on Abrams Report and there it is.

Jeez--THIS is news???

[incapsulated]

16. I knew he would get shot...

From the promos. But I was stunned at how it happened, and right in the first episode!

I'm going to savor it, since this is the Last Waltz...

I've been watching since day one, episode one. :)

[greenbriar]

42. me too~

we do the whole Italian thing on sunday's

some kind of pasta and sopranos.

[mother earth]

8. I'm planning to watch it next week too, I thought it was good.

[gatorboy]

10. I watched it, cause I'm secretly in love with Chloë Sevigny.

D'oh! I guess it's not a secret anymore. :P

All I can say about polygamy is, it's gotta be friggin expensive. One family aint cheap. I can't imagine 3 (or more!).

[Hamlette]

24. polygamists believe in "bleeding the beast" which means

the tax payer (they say the government because the government won't let them live their religion freely.)

There is an inordinatly high number of polygamists on public assistance, housing, medical, food stamps and ... get this .... child care. Quite a racket. (Some states have stopped child care payments to polygamists. We've had "sister wives" (that's what they call themselves, wives of the same husband) who want us to pay them to watch each other's kids. It's pretty hard to stop the other payments because they are for the welfare of the kids.)

Read Under the Banner of Heaven for a good expose on polygamists. They are the fundamentalist arm of the Mormon church (although the church excommunicates them for polygamy) and are as wacky as fundamentalists in other religions.

[Missy Vixen]

40. I've been reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" for a year

>Read Under the Banner of Heaven for a good expose on polygamists.<

I read Jon Krakauer's description about what really happened to Elizabeth Smart and put the book down for awhile. I realize that millions of women are rape survivors, and that the only difference between her and them is the fact that she got hundreds of thousands of hours of airtime. At the same time, I was so horrified I haven't picked up the book again yet.

Julie

[NMDemDist2]

11. i watched it, but wasn't very impressed

i'll give it a couple more weeks to see if it grows on me.....

[Lost-in-FL]

13. It was kinda repulsive to me...

I did not cared about the show really. They are portraying him as someone people should feel sorry for. He has a house, 3 woman, 7 children... poor guy, he works so hard to keep his family together :sarcasm:. And like most right wingers, he wants to be a good Mormon but he picks and choose what to believe. He can marry 3 woman but won't pay the 15% of all he owns to the church. Go figure.

[PVK]

17. Sensationalist. A small percent of Americans are polygamists.

The close of the show said something like 40,000.

It's an aberration but they make it seem like it's okay.

Weird.

[Atman]

19. 40,000 is a VERY small percentage of 300,000,000

And I didn't see them as saying it was "okay." Just the opposite. Remember the secrecy they had to deal with, their fear of even taking the dad to the hospital because they'd ask questions? That hardly made polygamy sound like a glamor lifestyle to me!

[PVK]

23. I didn't see it that way. Just the opposite.

The secrecy indicates they didn't want to be investigated.

If they have nothing to hide, why hide?

[Atman]

25. Legalities

Polygamy is no longer legal. They HAD TO be secretive.

[PVK]

29. Doesn't mean they think it's okay.

Only that they recognize it isn't legal.

[incapsulated]

30. I don't think the show is saying "it's ok"

At all. Just because you do a film or a series on a topic doesn't mean you are condoning it. I don't think Chase is putting forth the idea that the Mafia is a great thing just because that is the subject of the Sopranos?

[PVK]

32. Didn't mean the sponsors. Meant the characters. n/t

[incapsulated]

38. "Chase" the person, not the bank, heh

He is the creator of the Sopranos.

[PVK]

39. Didn't pay attention to sponsors and got confused by your comment.

I know David Chase is the creator of The Sopranos. Too bad he doesn't write the shows anymore. They were better in the beginning.

Still, same principle--I didn't mean the creators/sponsors of the show, I mean the characters.

[incapsulated]

41. That is what I am talking about though

Look at Tony Soprano. He is a mob boss and does evil things. But the series treats the character as a full human being, even likable, despite this. But it doesn't gloss over what he is and what he does. But just by portraying him as a person and not a stereotype of EVIL some might say that the Soprano's glorify the Mob. I disagree.

People and the lives they lead are way too complicated to just shove them into "good and bad" caricatures. Not to mention it makes for very bad art of any kind. I mean, do you want to watch a series that is a judgemental condemnation of characters with no depth, just because it agrees with your view of polygamy? Or make them all out to be helpless victims, even though they make choices? Like I said, life is more complex than this.

[PVK]

43. I don't feel like they are glorifying the mob. Villifying it, yes.

Why else do they all suffer such bad fates?

It's the same thing with The Sopranos, though. They ACT as if it's okay even though they know it isn't. The show points out how human beings rationalize.

On edit: I saw on "The Buzz" that one of the producers originally reacted with "Oh, yuck" when the idea of a show about polygamy was suggested by his partner three years ago.

[incapsulated]

46. I think with this show

That it is difficult to make judgements based on one episode. But it has already shown both the difficulty of such a situation even under the most "normal" circumstances and the ugliness of it when it is in it's "orginal form". I think it is meant to raise questions and cause discomfort. Much like the Sopranos.

The people in the Sopranos die because that is the nature of the buisness, though. I don't think it is a judgement, innocents are killed, too. The judgement comes simply from the horrible things they do being put out there and not glorified. It makes you uncomforatable to like Tony and see the things he does. That is one of the things that makes the series great.

[incapsulated]

21. Well, at first glance...

That's what it seems like. But I think this is more of a examination of both the Mormons who DO practice polygamy, and just the idea or concept of what that would possibly be like in a "normal" setting. Because you have the religious nuts on the one hand, who few can identify with, and the main characters who live like normal middle-class families, except they are polygamist. It is a lot more interesting than I expected, meaning the show itself.

[dogday]

18. Big Love=Big Money

I told my husband you would have to be a freaking millionaire to do that.. Takes too much money to raise one family...

[Atman]

22. And the husband WAS a millionaire!

That was part of the story...they owned three houses. He owned a big home improvement franchise. No one tried to say you do that on a Burger King manager's salary. Of course, if you can get Jean Triplehorn, Cloe Sevigny and that other girl on a Burger King manager's salary, you're probably already endowed with something money can't buy.

[PVK]

26. Plus it seems the money thing is an issue for Chloe's character.

She can't buy enough stuff to compensate but it's not working.

She clearly doesn't want to share Bill but can't be "bought" either.

Then there is the fact that Barb is working and Bill asked for her paycheck. Guess Barb feels Bill needs to support the three of these families but her paycheck is only to help hers. I think that's right. He's getting the benefit of three wives. What is she getting?

[Atman]

27. That will be the big plot device throughout the season

Bossmother is a serious polygamist. The younger wife just wants to be a good wife. Cloe, though...she's the character with issues. She'll wind up being a very central character.

[PVK]

31. I think Barb has her doubts too.

Look how disgusted she was with Rhonda marrying Chloe's dad.

[incapsulated]

35. But that is the interesting contrast

Like, for Barb, it's ok as long as it's consentual and not under the direction of some self-styled "Prophet" who marries 14-year olds. Which is going to be a theme, here, I think. Is one wrong and the other ok? Or are both nuts?

[incapsulated]

28. Yeah, but even he needed to get Viagra, to keep up..

lol. :)

[MrSlayer]

20. I'm not sure if I like it yet.

I watched the first episode and I kept thinking to myself the whole time "this guy is fucking nuts" and then when you see the whole community I'm thinking "not only are these people insane but the whole thing is disgusting". I'm going to keep watching to see where it goes and because most of HBO's shows are excellent but it didn't suck me right in the way Deadwood, Oz, the Sopranos and Rome did.

[helderheid]

33. I thought it was good - I appreciated them portraying this particular

relationship with consenting adults, but also showing the real dark side of the religion where children are being married off to old men. I thought it was a very well portrayed show (and I happen to live in Utah).

[Avalux]

34. I found it interesting - but not sure if I liked it.

I had difficulty sympathizing with any of the characters; they all seemed miserable. Could not figure out why the women would chose to live like that, but as the show went on realized they were raised that way, so essentially are victims of their childhoods. I guess that's the point though - they all chose.

I also have difficulty with a man who uses the excuse of "God's will" for polygamy instead of sex/variety, which is what it's all about as far as I'm concerned.

[PVK]

36. That's what I meant. Like they are only saying/acting like it's okay.

But they don't really feel that way.

[AlCzervik]

44. i liked it but i was totally creeped out by Harry Dean Stantons 14 year

old wife, the age thing plus that girl was just damn creepy.

[kittykitty]

52. B* O* R* I *N *G* ---- Sorry I missed "Grey's Anatomy"!

I like the cast, but not the guy who played the lead. He didn't seem like a guy who could handle 3 women, and it looks like it will turn out lots of conflicts among the women, beginning with them getting glimpses of each other in bed with their "husband". Plus, he wasn't physically attractive IMO.

Back to "Grey's Anatomy" next week for me!

[Atman]

54. Right now on A&E..."INSIDE POLYGAMY"

Ain't no Jean Triplehorn or Cloe Sevigny within a hundred miles. And the husband makes Bill Paxton look like Fabio.