'Welcome to the Neighborhood' -- and good-bye!

Joseph Wang Thu, Jul 7, 2005 at 09:23 PM EST

My dear lord....

I just found out that the reality show was in my neighborhood. I'll be interested in watching it, but judging from the early reviews, I think there was quite a bit of bigotry on the side of producers.

FYI, Circle C Ranch is far from a bastion of white Christian conservatism. I happen to live there, and I'm neither white, nor Christian, nor conservative. The neighborhood has a *much* higher than average number of Asian-Americans, a fact that I will be interested in seeing gets reflected in the show.

The neighborhood is a bit upscale, but most people in it are high tech computer programmers from the tech boom. Also, Austin, in general, tends to be *extremely* liberal, which does spill over into the suburbs.

I don't know *anyone* in the neighboor who I would consider a member of the Christian right. Most people I know in Circle C aren't particularly religious.

Anyway I'll be as interested as anyone else to know how the show makes the neighboorhood look.

Neutral Fri, Jul 1, 2005 at 01:14 PM EST

The truth is we're all bigoted. Everyone judges people who are different. It's a fact of being human. So the conservatives judge people, the liberals judge people, white people judge people, black people judge people. Rich people judge people, poor people judge people.

Most of the time we are so caught up in a fight of who is right and who is wrong with their judgements,we forget the point, which is to try and make less judgements.

Annette Fri, Jul 1, 2005 at 10:57 AM EST

- "...conservative groups are the ones discriminating against...well, everyone."
I suppose the maker of this comment has met every conservative in the world?!
- "Shut up Annette. We all hate you." Thank you, that makes my day. You should be a conservative, according to popular opinion, you fit right in. Maybe you should have been on that reality show.

'Paul' and 'Private' - Thanks so much for proving my point. This is too easy.

Lesson: Stop stereotyping people you know nothing about except from movies, TV and whatever else it is you read.

Chuck Fri, Jul 1, 2005 at 08:10 AM EST

Question: Why is it always the affluent Caucasians who get to make the decisions of who lives where? Oh, because that's how it is in the real world. Right.

If ABC and the producers of this show were really serious in their stated aims of performing a sociological and cultural study (not just another crappy reality show), they could at least have shown a little imagination. Maybe do a reversal and expose these White suburbanites to the kind of stereotyping and scrutiny that minorities and gays frequently face. But that's probably too real for network TV.

kristina Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 11:08 PM EST

i think the truly offensive aspect of this show, beyond the biggotry is this(from what ive percieved from clips i've seen) the class separation that is exploited, essentially pitting [at least some] lower income families against each other to vie for the weatlthy man's spoils of a posh house in th burbs. These families are not only being treated with discrimination, they are being humiliated for entertainment purposes. it looks like most of those families have hardship stories and really need the house - i think its a distastful premise --its not like an episode of Oprah where you see the sad story and at the end of the show teh family gets new house or new car, all but one of these families will have gone through this to leave emptyhanded. Yuck.

daisyj Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 07:49 PM EST

Man, every time I think I'm so clever by coming up with the worst imaginable reality shows to amuse my friends, the networks go and one-up me. Gee, a show designed to paint white middle Americans as rascist bigots and play up some other enthnic stereotypes along the way? I don't know where people get the crazy idea that we've got some kind of culture war going on.

Private` Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 05:25 PM EST

Well, Annette, conservative groups are the ones discriminating against...well, everyone. I wish this show had aired so the bigotry of the so-called "family values" crowd (i.e., I value families as long as they look and act like mine) would be brought out into the harsh light of day.

Paul Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 03:44 PM EST

Shut up Annette. We all hate you

Annette Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 02:35 PM EST

Uh, GoddessLu, the 'Christian Right' as you so call it, was not the only group protesting the show. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance and Fair Housing Alliance also wanted the show pulled. And why does every conservative group get bundled into this view of being narrow minded?

Aren't you showing your own brand of narrow mindedness and bigotry?

prboogie Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 12:17 PM EST

I can see where people would be offended all across the board BUT it honestly sounds like it was probably very true to how some bigoted people actually act when cameras aren't around. So if this couple was very bigoted but actually learned from the experience, wouldn't it be worth it? People of all shapes and sizes have diff stereotypes or ppl outside of their "comfort zone" so i think it would have been at least interesting to see if they could grow and dispel those myths and realize we can all coincide harmoniously. it's a shame it won't be shown.

GoddessLu Thu, Jun 30, 2005 at 11:22 AM EST

Lord knows we would not want to portray the Christian right in an unflattering light, although they seem to do a decent job of exposing their limitations on their own. Perhaps they were afraid that they'd be portrayed as shallow and narrow minded people because that's how they appear, both on TV and in life in general. God is supposed to love everyone according to their mantras, yet it is that devotion to God that they use to justify exclusion of so many people that do not fit their mold. People are bigoted--God (alledgely) is not.