Did anyone see this or hear about it? Tonight, while aimlessly driving down the road to yet another baseball game AND practice - both on the same night, and across town from each other - I heard a commercial for this TV show - Black Gold. OK, so I was using my fair share of the bubbling crude to get me from point A to point B, but I was still surprised that this is a real, honest to goodness show. A TV show that glamorizes the "tough guy life" of drilling for oil?!?!? With a tag line of "2 miles deep or 6 feet under!" BLECH! Here is what the producer has to say:"Drilling for oil … is fascinating and dangerous at the same time," truTV executive vice president Marc Juris says. "When we looked at the characters, the stakes and how relevant this world is, in terms of the role oil plays in our lives, it hit on a lot of emotional targets."
He doesn't believe hostility to high oil prices will transfer to the roughnecks and drillers. "They represent what this country is all about," he says. Black Gold "is about American oil, not about being dependent on foreign oil."
Am I wrong to be a little outraged? All of the money, time and resources devoted to making a TV show about the one thing we really need to be cutting back on makes me a little ill. Where are the thrilling and dangerous shows about suburban moms struggling to go green? How about a series devoted to drama and suspense of what is happening at the local recycling centers? Shoot, I know people who don't even know how to use the free bin the township hands out to be used for recyclables, an episode about the little blue bin could be riveting for them!
Or, maybe I am just tired and a little grouchy? After all day packing drinks in reusable water bottles, washing out returnable glass milk containers and running my errands using my canvas tote bags the last thing I want to do tonight is watch a show about freakin' oil - American or otherwise!
8 comments:
I wonder if seeing how hard it is to actually get at the oil will make people appreciate what they are mindlessly burning up? If the show is true to life, that is.
By the way, I tagged you over on my blog. I hope you don't find that annoying. I've never done it before, and it seemed like a good way to get to know people.
Yeah, and how about a show that shows us what to do with all the crap we CAN'T recycle or about the troubles of biking in 90-100 heat (or freezing temps) or about foreign industry that pays its workers practically nothing so we can have cheap electronics or....
Oil? No thanks. I won't be subscribing to cable any time soon.
Joyce - Unfortunately, it seems that the show is all about the tough, dangerous men and their yelling and barking at each other. Sort of like the crab fishing show... I'm afraid it will make oil even more glamorous! And, no, I don't mind being tagged on your blog, you have wonderful posts. I also love that your son blogs too!
Heather - wouldn't that make an awesome "reality" show?? Taking the over-consumers and make them bike in 98 degree heat to the office, make them work at a garbage dump or make them sort recyclables against a time clock. Best yet, head to a foreign country, make them work a day on an oil rig, pay them the daily wage and tell them to go feed their family! That I might watch. :o)
What time did you say? Can't wait to watch. It sounds fascinating.
Kidding already!
Ooh! I like the idea of making them work at the garbage dump!
Yikes. However, remember that all these reality shows are dirt-cheap for them to produce. And the sheeple will watch them.
it kind of reminds me of that ice road trucker show last year...I have to admit I watched an episode or two but then I was like, wait a second, these people are driving huge tractor trailers through pristine wilderness just to go mine diamonds...but deBeers got lots of name dropping publicity out of the whole thing...
yes, and juvenile name calling will solve lots of problems too. good call.
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