As we come to the end of another TV season, the networks begin to announce returns and cancellations. I found this great rundown by the Huffington Posthere. Sadly, there are always a few good ones that leave us too early. But it got me to thinking about my favorite shows that were shut down in their prime. Below is my own personal Top 10 List, in no particular order.
Alias – Probably my favorite show of all time. I watch annually. Sydney made me want to be a spy…and take up kickboxing. But I’d have gone with Will Tippin.
Arrested Development – The funniest show every to grace the small screen. It reintroduced us to Jason Bateman, and introduced us to some of the greatest characters ever created.
Veronica Mars – I needed to see this girl complete college and go to the FBI! Smart mouth and sleuthing can’t be beat.
Firefly– A mere 13 episodes created quite a following. Super original–space cowboys with wit.
Chuck – The fun-filled spy adventures and Zac Levi. Everyone knows a Morgan and Lester.
Eli Stone – Funny and musically-inclined, we barely got into Eli’s life before he was gone. They ended really well for it being so short.
Missing – How could we refuse Ashley Judd on TV!?!? A mom who really knew how to kick butt.
Prison Break – A feature film every week! Glad they were able to release the two-hour special to complete it. But I could’ve really learned a few more things from Michael Scoffield.
Pushing Daisies – Completely original and quirky, we’ve never seen anything like it but hopefully we will again in the future. We need more clever writing.
If you haven’t seen any of these, do yourself a favor and go watch immediately. Let me know what you think. If you have, there’s nothing wrong with a refresher! They are sooooo worth it.
By the way, this list was just off the top of my head, so I probably missed a few. What do you think?
I use the title not only as an homage to the similar sounding Spanish phrase, but because this stupid virus lasts FOREVER! I’m currently ending week three of dealing with this virus. It’s brutal.
First of all, I feel like I should’ve showed more sympathy to my friend, Joel, in college when he had mono and missed several weeks of classes. (He’s the only friend I can remember ever having mono.) I was supportive in takeout and helping him watch movies, though, so that’s something.
Second, I’ve learned a lot about mono, and don’t like what I’ve learned. It will be in my system forever, and could occasionally flair up. Luckily, these weeks should be the worst of it. Mostly it’s felt like the flu without the congestion. Feeling exhausted, achy, headaches, fever…blah. It’s a good thing I can still work from home, when I’ve felt up to it, because I haven’t been able to go into work very much at all.
However, there has been a bit of an upside. One is that it’s post-Orange Conference. I’d be freaking out if that hadn’t been the case. This time is actually one of the best for me to be sick, if that’s possible. I’m not too behind. Also I have a tendency to be a workaholic, so this time has enabled me to slow down. Well, I’ve been forced to slow down–to a halt. That’s good for me, though. I need to do more slowing down. It’s like a mini Sabbatical…where I feel terrible and don’t get to do anything fun. Thank goodness for Netflix and Hulu. And I’m very thankful for my friends that have been been really sweet about wanting to help in any way possible.
So, I guess there are couple tiny silver linings to it. Now, I just need to be well by the 31st for my vacay with Heather in NYC! Goal: set.
Still got some healing to do, but I’m on the mend.
If you ever have mono, let me know. I’ll be there to sympathize with you. You’ll need it.
This morning I attended Not For Sale Georgia‘s quarterly meeting. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the three-day conference they hosted just a few weeks ago because it was opposite Orange Conference. But this quarterly meeting was a way to catch up on what’s happening here locally. There was a lot of really great information presented, as always, so I thought I’d recap a few points here for any of my fellow abolitionists who were unable to attend.
The Global Forum on Human Trafficking will take place on November 1-2, 2012. I’m really hoping to be able to attend this year as I think it would be an unforgettable experience.
Think slavery doesn’t touch your community? Take a look at slaverymap.org to see cases reported all over the world. Of course, these are only some of the cases that people have taken the time to input. There are thousands of others that go unreported or unrecorded on this map.
A guest speaker from Tapestri in Tucker spoke on their organization, mission, victim tragedies and survivor stories. It is an amazing organization doing incredible work. I need to look into them a little more. There seems to be a lot of great information on their site local to Atlanta and Georgia.
Orange Label Denim will be coming to Atlanta this year. It’s a sustainable denim company that will have fair labor practices. I’m excited to hear more about them as they launch. And they need to be at The Orange Conference with us next year!
There is a Trafficking in Persons app that you can download as an info source. This App is intended to provide training and reference material about the realities of Trafficking In Persons (TIP). This training was created by the Office Under the Secretary of Defense (OUSD) and is intended to increase public awareness of TIP, and to help serve to end it.
Out of Darkness was mentioned again, and it reminded me to check them out. I absolutely hate that Atlanta and Georgia rank so high in modern-day slavery incidents, but I’m always excited to hear how many organizations we have here dedicated to ending it.
Buying power was discussed as it has been before. We are all encouraged to “buy differently” meaning to support socially conscious brands. I have been trying to do more of this since working at Captain Planet Foundation but have incorporated it even more after becoming aware of modern-day slavery. One place you can check isFree2Work. Granted it is just getting off the ground so it’s a little limited now, but it’ll grow. Sometimes you just have to do a little leg work and research to trace a product’s supply chain. I have even sent emails to stores I frequent asking about their products and policies, as well as encouraging them to stock more of these items. It takes some getting used to, but it does get easier with time…just like taking your own grocery bags into the store. If you aren’t sure where it comes from and how it’s sourced and made, try not to buy it. It’s always a good rule of thumb to buy fair trade or organic products, though. I realize this action also takes getting used to because it is more expensive. But if it’s cheap, there may be a good reason for it. It could very well be exploiting the laborers. Chocolate is a great example. It’s taken a lot of effort to make this switch in my life because anything that contains cocoa or chocolate may be harmful, and that includes A LOT of items, speaking as a chocoholic. I know I spend a lot of money on groceries and other items comparatively due to these choices, but I really want to not only feel good about the products, clothing, etc, that I use but I also want to do good with it. I want to know I’m not harming another individual’s life due to choices that I can control. My purchase power gives me a big voice.
I also recently finished listening to Not For Sale, the book by David Batstone that launched the organization. You can read an excerpt here: NotForSale_Introduction. It’s a remarkable and eye-opening book. I highly recommend. The organization’s main website also serves as a great resource and also has a small store of products that support them. I’m really proud to support this group, and count myself as an abolitionist among them.
Ok, that’s it! There was more but these are the highlights in my opinion. Read up and get involved! We could use your help!
I was really disappointed to learn this week that Groupon San Francisco has twice offered tours to Kink, a porn studio, as one of it’s discounted experience promotions. A friend shared an email with me from the organization, The War on Illegal Pornography, with the details.
Here’s what their email said:
For the second time, Groupon has sent out thousands of emails to individuals advertising a tour where people can view a live filming of sadomasochistic, torture porn at Kink’s studios. Groupon even advertises that groups may get to see a live filming in progress. When confronted about their choice to feature this company, Groupon defended it saying they thoroughly vet the businesses we feature…Fortunately, this business has proven to be a responsible member of their community.”
This “responsible member of the community” specializes in the live filming of “young sexy teens who are overwhelmed and outnumbered…who need to learn a lesson by multiple men;” of women being “bound, whipped, objectified and humiliated. They are immobilized, caged and humiliated as objects;” of women “suspended and tied in rope bondage…tormented beyond all reason;” and of women “naked, tied up, bound, punished, exposed in public…who are taken to public bars for public sex and public humiliation…” (The material in quotations are descriptions written by the porn site Groupon is advertising for.) Is this really corporate responsibility? Shouldn’t we demand that Groupon refrain from selling torture porn tours that exploit and degrade women?
You can see the link that was sent to me with widgets for sample letters to executives and executive emails here.
As you should when you get any kind of forwarded information, you should check it out for yourself before taking action in case the info is outdated or incorrect in some way. So I searched for the tour on their website but found nothing. I was encouraged thinking that maybe they’d removed it due to public pressure. So, I did a web search and found numerous articles of papers, websites and blogs covering the story and backing up the facts behind The War on Illegal Pornography’s claims. Again, so disappointed. I have loved Groupon from the beginning.
The next thing I did was to write in to Groupon’s customer service myself to see if I would get a different response to the claim, or maybe that they’d taken this offer off of their list both now and in the future.
Here’s what I received:
Hi, Kristi,
Thanks for your feedback. We certainly didn’t intend to offend anyone.
We strive to offer interesting and exciting deals that will appeal to our diverse customer base. We’ve run deals with this specific business before, and while we realize it may not appeal to everyone, we’ve received positive customer feedback on past offers.
We thoroughly vet the businesses we feature, which is why we take these concerns seriously. We’ve found that the tour offered in this deal is historical and informational in nature and provides a unique look inside the landmark San Francisco Armory and its past.
Your feedback is extremely important to use and makes an impact in how we choose which businesses to work with in the future. Thanks again for taking the time to share your concerns with us, and please know that we value your opinion as a customer.
Diane T
Groupon Customer Service
It is identical to the response posted on the aforementioned website. Gotta say, I was really bummed. They stood by their offer and it sounded like they have no intention of removing it as a future offer. I also checked out the public version of the facility’s tour description here.
So, I was left with only one alternative. I cancelled my Groupon subscription. I have been a big fan of Groupon since their launch, made multiple purposes and even forwarded deals to friends. But I can not in good conscious support a company that takes that stance. And I truly hope you will join me.
As consumers, the power of our money is the strongest vote we have. Speak now.
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UPDATE ON JUNE 13, 2012 FROM MY FRIEND AMY:
Over the last month, 20,000+ people joined our boycott of coupon giant, Groupon because the company was selling coupons to visit a porn studio. We know of at least three businesses that stopped their deals because of Groupon’s decision to run ads for a torture porn company. In addition, 7 other national organizations joined the boycott too.
We are writing to tell you that the boycott worked!
This message was sent to us:
“Given all the feedback from partners like you, we reassessed not only consumer interest but also merchant opinion on these types of deals. It’s never our intention to offend customers or our business partners. Your feedback has been invaluable to us and executives are regularly informed of merchant response, both positive and negative. As a result of the feedback from the Armory deal, we have stopped running adult deals across the country.
The Playboy Mansion deal ran after the “non-adult” rule was enacted in the U.S. due to a process glitch. As soon as we became aware of it, the deal was immediately taken down.”
Be encouraged that 20,000+ people stood with you this time. We hope that you feel as motivated as we do to continue to challenge pornography and the pornification of our society where and when you see it. We do not have to simply accept the mainstreaming of pornography and the devastation that results from it. We can fight back!Please continue to learn more, spread the word and take action when and where you can!
Best,
Patrick Trueman
President & CEO, Morality in Media
P.S. Special thanks to the many of you who took action, as well as to our boycott partners: Citizens for Community Values, Girls Against Porn & Human Trafficking, American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri, Louisiana Family Forum Action, Illinois Family Institute, Women for Decency and Arizona Family Council.
As we come to the end of another TV season, the networks begin to announce returns and cancellations. I found this great rundown by the Huffington Post here. Sadly, there are always a few good ones that leave us too early. But it got me to thinking about my favorite shows that were shut down in their prime. Below is my own personal Top 10 List, in no particular order.
Mental Post-Its 