This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/04/sarah-palin-amazing-america-show-hate-watch
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Sarah Palin's Amazing America: a show so bland it's impossible to hate-watch | Sarah Palin's Amazing America: a show so bland it's impossible to hate-watch |
| (5 months later) | |
| I subscribe to the Sportsman Channel because, as an incorrigible Canadian, I wanted the NHL network, although I keep it in part because of NFL RedZone. And so last night I found myself in the sports tier of my cable television package, watching the debut of the network's newest show, Amazing America with Sarah Palin. | I subscribe to the Sportsman Channel because, as an incorrigible Canadian, I wanted the NHL network, although I keep it in part because of NFL RedZone. And so last night I found myself in the sports tier of my cable television package, watching the debut of the network's newest show, Amazing America with Sarah Palin. |
| Professionally making money from grassroots Republicans inevitably involves trolling liberals, something in which Sarah Palin is an expert, albeit with diminishing returns as her brief period of political relevance recedes. While there's a certain trolling subtext to her new show, it's mostly below the surface. I was actually reminded of America's Heart and Soul, a 2004 Disney movie featuring profiles of various American Heroes that was touted by conservatives as an alternative to the anti-Bush box-office hit Fahrenheit 9/11. (Alas, it pulled in a robust $314,000 during its brief box office run, making the Atlas Shrugged bombs look like Frozen.) | Professionally making money from grassroots Republicans inevitably involves trolling liberals, something in which Sarah Palin is an expert, albeit with diminishing returns as her brief period of political relevance recedes. While there's a certain trolling subtext to her new show, it's mostly below the surface. I was actually reminded of America's Heart and Soul, a 2004 Disney movie featuring profiles of various American Heroes that was touted by conservatives as an alternative to the anti-Bush box-office hit Fahrenheit 9/11. (Alas, it pulled in a robust $314,000 during its brief box office run, making the Atlas Shrugged bombs look like Frozen.) |
| As a strategy for a TV show, Amazing America's human-interest-story-with-a-twist format makes plenty of sense. There's a certain political subtext that will undoubtedly appeal to Palin's natural fanbase of conservative partisans. But explicit partisan politics and issues – which might alienate the less ideological hunter or fisher who tunes in during hockey intermission – are carefully omitted. | As a strategy for a TV show, Amazing America's human-interest-story-with-a-twist format makes plenty of sense. There's a certain political subtext that will undoubtedly appeal to Palin's natural fanbase of conservative partisans. But explicit partisan politics and issues – which might alienate the less ideological hunter or fisher who tunes in during hockey intermission – are carefully omitted. |
| The only extent to which Amazing America relates to actual large political battles is the extent to which the show's theory of what makes America amazing revolves around guns. "Firearms are in our DNA," Palin observes during the premiere. Bullets are fired at a rate similar to a vintage 80s action sequel, and advertisers include Remington, Stag Arms, Hoyt Archery and Bear Archery (slogan: "Hunt with an agenda"). There's also an ad for Andy Ross's Cold Dead Hands – a "Second Amendment Anthem", the voiceover instructs us, lest we miss the subtle message. | |
| Admittedly, in a week in which the conservative-dominated Supreme Court further gutted campaign finance laws and the conservative movement continued to blame the Obama administration for people being uninsured, a show that conceives "real Americans" as well-off white people who don't live it cities is more annoying than usual. | Admittedly, in a week in which the conservative-dominated Supreme Court further gutted campaign finance laws and the conservative movement continued to blame the Obama administration for people being uninsured, a show that conceives "real Americans" as well-off white people who don't live it cities is more annoying than usual. |
| But as interventions in the culture wars go, Amazing America with Sarah Palinis more a water pistol than one of the high-powered rifles being sold to its watchers. The amazing Americans profiled during this hour of TV don't address the merits of Obamacare or the government shutdown. Instead, they discuss their recipes, show off their homes and drink beer straight out of pitchers at the local tavern. | |
| And Palin isn't even a big presence in the first episode of the very show that bears her name. She introduces segments. She adds sporadic commentary while wearing a GIRLS WITH GUNS t-shirt in front of an American flag backdrop. | And Palin isn't even a big presence in the first episode of the very show that bears her name. She introduces segments. She adds sporadic commentary while wearing a GIRLS WITH GUNS t-shirt in front of an American flag backdrop. |
| In the first segment, the professional wrestler Cowboy James Storms fires a rifle with co-host Jerry Carroll, while an interspersed Palin explains that the gun is made by "skilled American craftsmen". Storms then puts Carroll in wrestling tights, teaches him to ride a horse and takes him for a beer, again punctuated with Palin's one-liners and tributes to Storms's "American spirit". | In the first segment, the professional wrestler Cowboy James Storms fires a rifle with co-host Jerry Carroll, while an interspersed Palin explains that the gun is made by "skilled American craftsmen". Storms then puts Carroll in wrestling tights, teaches him to ride a horse and takes him for a beer, again punctuated with Palin's one-liners and tributes to Storms's "American spirit". |
| For the second bit, Mark Christopher Lawrence ("Big Mike" from the long-running NBC series Chuck) goes to a firing range and enjoys some venison chili with the Montana shooting champion Julie Golob, with even less from the nominal star. Palin does get more hands-on in the second episode, riding in her native Alaska with the Iditarod musher and cancer survivor DeeDee Jonrowe. | |
| Indeed, Amazing America is so blandly inoffensive I'm not sure it even intends to troll liberals. And in the unlikely event that a liberal urban elitist tunes in without a professional reason to do so, nothing in the content of this show will provoke any outrage – unless you really hate guns. | Indeed, Amazing America is so blandly inoffensive I'm not sure it even intends to troll liberals. And in the unlikely event that a liberal urban elitist tunes in without a professional reason to do so, nothing in the content of this show will provoke any outrage – unless you really hate guns. |
| Any potential hate-watchers should be aware that it's not any kind of trainwreck either – the production values are professional, both the co-hosts and the profiled guests are perfectly likable, and the former newsreader Palin delivers her homilies competently enough. | Any potential hate-watchers should be aware that it's not any kind of trainwreck either – the production values are professional, both the co-hosts and the profiled guests are perfectly likable, and the former newsreader Palin delivers her homilies competently enough. |
| So there's nothing much to dislike about this show, floating in the netherlands of your cable package. Compared to the current favorite pastime of washed-up Republican office-seekers – making huge amounts of money by selling your list of followers to various con artists – putting on a tribute to America's hunters, shooters and outdoor sportsmen and women seems as wholesome as the title suggests. |