NEWS: HBO Tackles "Mormons"

I'm with you. "The Wire" is easily the best show on television (including "The Sopranos", IMO).

I know, right?

I feel the same way about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Big Love is portraying a family structure that most people aren't familiar with, so it could possibly affect opinions and perceptions regarding polygamy. Most people won't encounter other, more reliable sources unless they actually make an effort to look them up.

Something like the Simpsons is less likely to affect perceptions regarding the standard middle class or lower middle class nuclear family because so many people have grown up in them, and know what they're really like. And the Simpsons is a cartoon, so the viewer immediately knows not to take it seriously.

It's okay to make light of serious issues, but the entire point of humor is to provide a funny contrast to what we see in the real world. When there's no realistic counterpart to the joke (your real family to the Simpsons), things become problematic.


And is this show even a comedy? I've only seen commercials and I got the impression that it was supposed to be a drama with a unique premise and a light-hearted tone.

[Edited on Mar 12, 2006 by Hooraydiation]

I dunno, I do think you can be funny about things that are not funny in the slightest. But it still seems like a stupid idea for a show to me and I have no desire to watch it.

By the way, the official tally:

Best show on television: The Wire

Really fucking good: Carnivale, Deadwood, Rome

Okay: Sopranos, Oz (come on, it all starts to blur together)

Worst show in the history of mankind: Arli$$

You taking inventory?

I watch pretty much any original series HBO cares to commit to DVD. Carnivale has been my standout favorite so far. The subdued supernatural background, the way everything seems to have subtle hidden meanings and portents, the mysteries...it feels like a (superior, imho) spiritual successor to Twin Peaks. I was very, very unhappy to hear about it being cancelled. But virtually everything else I've seen from them has been at least above average. The Wire is addicting me right now. Oz was amazing for the first three seasons and then veered off into plots that were too often ridiculous. I hope sixth season changes the trend, but I don't count on it. The Sopranos...well, the early seasons were (imho) the best, as I've been unhappy with some of the directions characters have been going, and it's been less about mob conflicts and more about Tony's family issues, but I'm still in for the long haul. And it sounds like sixth season got off to quite the start. Deadwood is the only Western I've ever liked. Entourage is surprisingly addictive given the shallow subject matter. Sex and the City eventually wound up being too aimed at women for me, but was pretty funny, all the same. Six Feet Under..I flinch at some of the things the characters put each other through, but, again, I keep watching. I might be forgetting some.

The ONLY HBO show I've seen and disliked was Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think a better name would be "Larry David Complains". Not even remotely funny to me. But then, I'm one of the few who doesn't like Seinfeld. (The man's a fine standup comedian, but the show, nah.)

So I figure I'll at least rent the first couple of DVDs of Big Love. I admit the concept doesn't immediately grab me, but neither did some of the other shows.

Have you actually watched it?

It makes it pretty plain that they aren't part of the LDS/Mormon church. A concern that their neighbor's house was sold to "some Mormon bishop" was expressed. It's highlighted that their situation isn't "normal" for Utah. There's a caption right before the end credits explaining that it's estimated that there's X thousand polygamists in the U.S., and that polygamy was banned by the Mormon church in (I think) 1905.

I think those points will get nailed down a bit better in future episodes. In the previews a girls voice is heard saying "It's illegal and it's against the Church." I'm going to guess that it was the oldest daughter's new friend/coworker who is pretty obviously a Mormon.

As the show's protagonists, they need to be shown in a way that highlights the differences between them and us, as well as gives us something to keep interested in. All of the polygamist women at the compound wore dresses. Nikki (wife #2) makes it a point to button up the top button on her shirt the moment they leave to visit Bill's parents at the compound. Margene, the third wife, never wants to go back to the compound, and Nicki seems to criticize Barb for her attitude regarding the people there.

So basically, they are polygamists. They express many of the critiques of the lifestyle you've expressed (old men chasing off the younger men so that they can have the young girls to themselves). They're part of it, but not quite in the thick of it. They aren't mainstream Utahans or Mormons, though to some degree (short of breaking up two of their marriages) they'd like to be. Particularly their youngest daughter.

Did they get everything dead exactly right? No, and I don't expect any show ever could. I think they got it closer to the mark than anyone else would have bothered to try. There's lots of little details in the show that clicked with me as an occasional visitor to Utah. The new store being in "Pioneer Plaza." Mentioning "Family Night," "Jello and white bread," and their tendency to let go with streams of not-quite-profanity.

That last part I don't really see Mormons doing, but one time a coworker who's a Bishop up in the SLC area was filling in for someone at my office. I suppose to try to fit in with us "gentiles," he tossed the occasional "hell," "damn" and "shit" into conversation. He sounded almost like Capt. Kirk did in Star Trek 4.


[Edited on Mar 19, 2006 by Timer]

Bite your tongue, sir!

And Six Feet Under was fantastic in its heydey.

I like the show!!!

Um, Dude, the discussion she's talking about is this thread I think.

This show is a trip. I'm not sure if I'm hooked on it just yet. Certainly nothing like that first episode of the Sopranos but I'll be watching again when it comes on.

I watched the first two episodes and was not impressed. It's boring and I don't really like the characters at all.

According to the writers of the show upcoming episodes will look at the dark side of both males being abandoned by the commune and child brides being forced into marriage.