The programming executives at ABC have been secretly replaced by alien pod-people from planet MRA. That’s really the only logical explanation for “Work It,” an upcoming ABC sitcom whose premise seems to have been lifted straight from the comments section of The Spearhead. Here’s a description of the show from ABC:
With unemployment an ongoing issue and women now outnumbering men in the workforce, the new comedy series Work It follows two alpha males who realize the only way to beat the current “mancession” and land a job in pharmaceutical sales is to pass themselves off as women.
Yep, it’s a retread of Bosom Buddies, this time sprinkled with MRA buzzwords. Alpha males, mancession – all we need is a few false rape accusations to complete the MRA-cliche soufflé.
Gawker has already hailed the show as an abomination that “Could Be the Worst Television Show in History.” After watching the promo clip below, I’m thinking that may be an understatement.
Of course, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this isn’t an MRA show at all. Maybe it’s just a really inept and misguided attempt to explore the issues faced by trans women in the workplace. But somehow I doubt it.
The funnest part is after this is cancelled as fast as Cavemen, the MRA can claim it’s a feminist conspiracy.
The most hilarious part about the premise of this show is that the industry that is so female dominated that these guys are required to dress as women just to get ahead is SALES. Are you fucking kidding me?! SALES!! Bwahahahahaha!!
So there’s a POE working at ABC programming. Who knew?
The most hilarious part about the premise of this show is that the industry that is so female dominated that these guys are required to dress as women just to get ahead is SALES. Are you fucking kidding me?! SALES!! Bwahahahahaha!!
Yeah… the whole reason for the “mancession” is that traditionally male blue-collar jobs are getting shipped overseas, whereas America still needs nurses, teachers, secretaries and salesclerks–still the most common jobs for women. Women haven’t made huge inroads in most traditionally male industries, much less taken them over, as awesome as that would be.
Anyway, this show looks so awful I might have to watch it. You can gauge the queer-phobia of a show (or movie) like this by the lengths they go to make the drag completely unconvincing. Because if the guys look good, or even comfortable, as women, those gender binaries start to blur in scary ways.
I doubt the show is biased towards MRA. The only thing that came to mind when I saw the preview was “why the hell can’t they come up with original ideas in Hollywood anymore” because I immediately thought of Bosom Buddies.
What annoys me about shows like this is that they’re embarrassing to watch. Pretty much everyone needs to be brain dead in order for the premise to work. I always cringe FOR the people who are dumber than the proverbial box of rocks.
This show looks like it may be a bigger failure than Adam Sandler’s new movie Jack and Jill, which is quite a feat. Who gave the green light to this crap?
So I guess that guy finally succeeded at one of his sitcom show pitches.
I thought we all agreed we weren’t going to do that anymore.
Also, I know they have to write these things way in advance, but isn’t the mancession over?
God, and I thought Last Man Standing was the worst. Is ABC trying to win a prize?
People wonder why network TV is in the toilet, here’s there answer. It’s sad when shit like this gets made and projects that require slightly more attention span than that of your average gnat go begging.
The more they come up with junk like this, the more I want to just barf. They want to codify stupidity, misogyny, and sexism for the lowest common denominator in the society. The hopefully fringe group who see dressing up as a woman to get a job due to women taking all the men’s jobs fits their kind of thinking, MRAs to the rescue. Now they are producers of dumb TV shows. I have not watched any of the reality shows, not one. A kind of anti-intellectualism mindset has overtaken the country. I have heard on commercials about reality shows using sexist language(one reason I won’t watch them), Jersey Shore, is that the name of the Snokky show? is for dolts, dummies and idiots.
Thanx to this site for some sanity
It’s so hard in today’s world for men!
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/02/news/economy/men_women_jobs/index.htm
To be fair there are a handful of “reality” shows that are pretty good, Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs are considered reality shows, but most are horrifically bad. The thing is they are generally cheap to produce, they don’t require sets, have small film crews, few if any writers, etc. so if one doesn’t take off the network isn’t out much money.
This show though is a trainwreck of epic proportions, it’s a jumble of sexism (towards both women and men), homophobia, transphobia, and terrible writing and acting. All it needs is a dash of racism to make it complete.
Don’t give them any ideas.
That’s season 2: they disguise as black women to have a chance to get a job.
good to know theyre including a healthy dose of fat shaming, too
Eh… O_o
Oh Kyrie, you know you meant to write “to have a chance at all those sweet Cadillacs and welfare checks.” :p
To be honest, I’m not sure if this is pro-MRA so much as just “every single character is terrible” (except possibly the wife.) The men don’t really seem to be clever or even correct, what with the “sex slaves” line seeming to mock that kind of MRA thinking. Probably the idea is that the guys will learn to respect women more (by acting shallow and bitchy) and the women will learn to be more like guys (by eating sandwiches) and everyone will learn a Very Important Life Lesson punctuated by hilarious dick jokes and blah blah blah sexism is over.
I suspect the men who got hired by other men to produce this have never considered the irony.
Also, I hate the whole idea that a male-bodied person in female garb is the most hilarious thing ever. It’s transphobic and misogynistic and just plain sucks that for half the population to wear anything even vaguely coded “lady” isn’t a clothing choice but slapstick comedy.
This isn’t even the fun-but-problematic kind of drag-queen comedy. There isn’t anything remotely fabulous about it. It’s just plain old problematic.
So…it’s like Tootsie, but really stupid and without the self-consciousness?
Like Some Like It Hot. Some Like It Hot is a GREAT movie. Problematic, of course, but great.
No new crossdressing comedies unless they’re at least as funny as Some Like It Hot.
So true though *spoiler* Some Like it Hot, despite its age, actually doesn’t do the homophobic/transphobic bit where the guy who falls in love with the crossdressed guy is disgusted/shamed at the reveal, in Some Like it Hot, he accepts it and the issue of their relationship is left far more open. Also, the basic premise of the crossdressing is less sexist than this show or many other more recent comedies, the protagonists do it to hide from the law/the mob, not to gain “the advantages of women”. So, while it is not unproblematic, it is actually far less so than many newer films.
Video contains spoilers:
http://youtu.be/Nz5C1qkI1-I?t=2m10s
That’s actually a scene you don’t really see in more recent films, if anything, this genre has become more homophobic, transphobic, and sexist, not less.
I don’t see how men can even stand to watch the telly. It’s a non-stop propaganda of feminist and marxist smut. They used to stick to demeaning men in the commercials now they dedicate entire shows to making men look like asses. How is discrimination against men funny? That’s what passes for entertainment in this fucked up country.
Speaking of commercials, I saw one that was more sexist than anyone I’ve ever seen. It’s a commercial for PediaSure with a group of girls playing soccer. The soccer mom asks another mom if her son Tyler looks a little slow. Apparently, the only boy on the field turned into a big ball of grease.