Reading about two young up-and-comers from wildly different shows who don't necessarily want to be up-and-comers being smashed together into the same program as their old characters puts to mind images of Remy the rat shouting, "He's ruining the soup!" in Ratatouille.
When you put it like that, it really is amazing that anyone thought the show would be anything other than a disaster. The more I read about its production after watching a few episodes for research, I came away thinking, "It all makes total sense now." Literally a concept doomed from the word "go".
As we’ve seen many times in recent years, corporate boardrooms are quite good at missing the obvious when desperation comes into play. Just ask the Disney of today vs the Disney of yesteryear, back when they had their Hannah Montanas and Selena Gomezes in their pockets. I’m sure they wish they could snag another win like that right about now.
I think they've got a couple still in the works. I know next to nothing about Olivia Rodrigo except that she got her start on Disney Channel and is now one of the hottest names in music, and I believe one of her co-stars is also having a similar career trajectory, but that's the most recent I know of. I'm sure there's others, but I also have zero interest in combing through Disney Channel's current crop of sitcoms to see what they have in production. For the foreseeable future, I think I'll be tapped on my fill of teen sitcoms. Probably forever.
Very true. If the show were about this setup in regards to making a show, that could've been quite an entertaining twist on the typical sitcom format. A little bit of teen drama to mix in with the laughs, a tiny glimpse at how these things really work, (just a tiny one so you don't break the illusion of that life completely) and then work it all in with the online interactivity they'd been doing, and they might've had a winner on their hands.
The one upside of current year music being so largely terrible is that it makes it easier to appreciate just how industrial the music industry is. Music-as-product, music-as-science, a malign machine built over a century which has only just realised its true evil potential (or, rather, it did about two decades ago now, but clearing out the actual artists takes time, man)
I think it's wholly impressive in the worst way they managed to do it in such little time. I thought the internet, at one point, would have democratized it some by offering an alternative to real artists to release their work through other means besides the industry machine, but of course that was a thought I also had before the internet had been completely converted into one giant aggressive AI-generated ad and still functioned on at least a base level.
Yep. This whole process is very clear to see in every kind of popular media (hello, video game industry!), but of course it's also been gnawing away at the foundations of most other fields in our societies too. I suppose much of it comes down to the creation of the consumer culture after WW2, which sowed the seeds for what we might as well call The Great Encrappening, haha. Still, it's especially insidious when it hits artistic fields, where the lack of soul and integrity is even more acute than in more practical matters.
Maybe I'm being dramatic, but "evil" really is an apt term here, isn't it? I think John Michael Greer is on to something when he talks about advertising as evil magic here, in the Dion Fortune "the art of changing consciousness in accordance with will" sense. Considering how much advertising an average person sees in a day, it's like being subjected to a constant low-grade spiritual warfare.
When you reduce humans to consumer units and producer units, you strip them of their humanity, so it only stands to reason that an industry that does so can only put out gray, bland, generic, and unremarkable consumer product.
That being said, it is absolutely low-grade spiritual warfare and advertising is, and I will always maintain this, pernicious and willful psychic terrorism, as I have never once - not once in my entire existence - ever wanted to or asked to be exposed to an ad. I have to stop myself from going on a screed about how the modern marketing system is perhaps at the root of all of our problems (or at least an immense proponent of it) and truly, genuinely, evil in the most base way.
I think he's definitely been dirty, but the full scope of it will be explored in an article unto itself. There's one more about Sam and Cat and the end of the Bakeryverse, one about Dan and the accusations, allegations, and stories about his behavior on set, and I'd really like to give Drake Bell and Jeanette McCurdy their own retrospectives as well because they are both interesting in their own rights, and also the premier examples of how the entertainment system takes these children, puts them through the ringer, and promptly discards them. Bell's case is of particular interest to me - he's not just a cautionary tale about child stardom, but a dark look at the cycle of abuse in the entertainment industry and how being abused often leads to the abused abusing others. In truth, the recent revelations about his life, his experiences working for Nickelodeon, and the praise he's been receiving by the media is what spurred me to write this series, because it seems like everyone completely and conveniently forgot that he was charged with sexual impropriety with a minor the moment that documentary about Nickelodeon came out. I'm on the fence about doing it, though, since the amount of research I've already put into this series is not insignificant, and to make sure I do them right and tell their stories accurately it will take a lot of time (and probably re-reading McCurdy's book, which, at that point, it's kind of like... well, why not just tell people to read it themselves?)
But that's all a discussion for the article when and if it comes. Point is - Dirty Dan's dirtiest deeds will follow shortly.
It's a good read. I genuinely found myself thinking, "This poor fucking woman cannot catch a break" every time I turned the (digital) page. On one hand, I want to do a follow-up about her alone because I think her story and connection to the deeper misdeeds at Nickelodeon are quite important to the overall story, but on the other hand, I feel like I should just encourage more people to read her book and hear her story in her own words.
Thank you for combing through the wreckage to bring us the story. Sounds like next one will be an even bigger crash. I always enjoy your writing and thoughts!
Reading about two young up-and-comers from wildly different shows who don't necessarily want to be up-and-comers being smashed together into the same program as their old characters puts to mind images of Remy the rat shouting, "He's ruining the soup!" in Ratatouille.
This is gonna be a fun train wreck for next week.
When you put it like that, it really is amazing that anyone thought the show would be anything other than a disaster. The more I read about its production after watching a few episodes for research, I came away thinking, "It all makes total sense now." Literally a concept doomed from the word "go".
As we’ve seen many times in recent years, corporate boardrooms are quite good at missing the obvious when desperation comes into play. Just ask the Disney of today vs the Disney of yesteryear, back when they had their Hannah Montanas and Selena Gomezes in their pockets. I’m sure they wish they could snag another win like that right about now.
I think they've got a couple still in the works. I know next to nothing about Olivia Rodrigo except that she got her start on Disney Channel and is now one of the hottest names in music, and I believe one of her co-stars is also having a similar career trajectory, but that's the most recent I know of. I'm sure there's others, but I also have zero interest in combing through Disney Channel's current crop of sitcoms to see what they have in production. For the foreseeable future, I think I'll be tapped on my fill of teen sitcoms. Probably forever.
Much like Atlas carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders, so to do you carry the weight of post 2000's kids and teens sitcoms lol
All this sounds like a great premise for a show, though...if it had been a fictional set-up rather than real drama. :)
Very true. If the show were about this setup in regards to making a show, that could've been quite an entertaining twist on the typical sitcom format. A little bit of teen drama to mix in with the laughs, a tiny glimpse at how these things really work, (just a tiny one so you don't break the illusion of that life completely) and then work it all in with the online interactivity they'd been doing, and they might've had a winner on their hands.
I'd watch it, honestly.
The one upside of current year music being so largely terrible is that it makes it easier to appreciate just how industrial the music industry is. Music-as-product, music-as-science, a malign machine built over a century which has only just realised its true evil potential (or, rather, it did about two decades ago now, but clearing out the actual artists takes time, man)
I think it's wholly impressive in the worst way they managed to do it in such little time. I thought the internet, at one point, would have democratized it some by offering an alternative to real artists to release their work through other means besides the industry machine, but of course that was a thought I also had before the internet had been completely converted into one giant aggressive AI-generated ad and still functioned on at least a base level.
Yep. This whole process is very clear to see in every kind of popular media (hello, video game industry!), but of course it's also been gnawing away at the foundations of most other fields in our societies too. I suppose much of it comes down to the creation of the consumer culture after WW2, which sowed the seeds for what we might as well call The Great Encrappening, haha. Still, it's especially insidious when it hits artistic fields, where the lack of soul and integrity is even more acute than in more practical matters.
Maybe I'm being dramatic, but "evil" really is an apt term here, isn't it? I think John Michael Greer is on to something when he talks about advertising as evil magic here, in the Dion Fortune "the art of changing consciousness in accordance with will" sense. Considering how much advertising an average person sees in a day, it's like being subjected to a constant low-grade spiritual warfare.
When you reduce humans to consumer units and producer units, you strip them of their humanity, so it only stands to reason that an industry that does so can only put out gray, bland, generic, and unremarkable consumer product.
That being said, it is absolutely low-grade spiritual warfare and advertising is, and I will always maintain this, pernicious and willful psychic terrorism, as I have never once - not once in my entire existence - ever wanted to or asked to be exposed to an ad. I have to stop myself from going on a screed about how the modern marketing system is perhaps at the root of all of our problems (or at least an immense proponent of it) and truly, genuinely, evil in the most base way.
When does Dirty Dan arrive? Was he not dirty up til now, or will we get a retrospective on his dirtiness throughout at some point?
I think he's definitely been dirty, but the full scope of it will be explored in an article unto itself. There's one more about Sam and Cat and the end of the Bakeryverse, one about Dan and the accusations, allegations, and stories about his behavior on set, and I'd really like to give Drake Bell and Jeanette McCurdy their own retrospectives as well because they are both interesting in their own rights, and also the premier examples of how the entertainment system takes these children, puts them through the ringer, and promptly discards them. Bell's case is of particular interest to me - he's not just a cautionary tale about child stardom, but a dark look at the cycle of abuse in the entertainment industry and how being abused often leads to the abused abusing others. In truth, the recent revelations about his life, his experiences working for Nickelodeon, and the praise he's been receiving by the media is what spurred me to write this series, because it seems like everyone completely and conveniently forgot that he was charged with sexual impropriety with a minor the moment that documentary about Nickelodeon came out. I'm on the fence about doing it, though, since the amount of research I've already put into this series is not insignificant, and to make sure I do them right and tell their stories accurately it will take a lot of time (and probably re-reading McCurdy's book, which, at that point, it's kind of like... well, why not just tell people to read it themselves?)
But that's all a discussion for the article when and if it comes. Point is - Dirty Dan's dirtiest deeds will follow shortly.
This post inspired me to read McCurdy's book. 100 pages in, I'm ready to declare it the best horror story of the 21st century.
It's a good read. I genuinely found myself thinking, "This poor fucking woman cannot catch a break" every time I turned the (digital) page. On one hand, I want to do a follow-up about her alone because I think her story and connection to the deeper misdeeds at Nickelodeon are quite important to the overall story, but on the other hand, I feel like I should just encourage more people to read her book and hear her story in her own words.
Thank you for combing through the wreckage to bring us the story. Sounds like next one will be an even bigger crash. I always enjoy your writing and thoughts!
Once again you've made me soooooo glad I got rid of that satellite dish yeeeeeeeaaaaarrrrrs ago.