Are we over our romance with trans- people?
I got to know my first trans- person in 1990, so you’ll pardon me if I yawn through the gossip sites that cover every outfit Caitlyn Jenner wears or every breathless review of the Amazon-produced TV show, Transparent.
That’s not to say that I don’t love the show, because I do. My husband and I were riveted to both seasons, binge-watching as much of them as possible before we absolutely had to go to sleep. And M. is not a binge-watching kind of guy.
Our fascination with the show had nothing to do with the trans-topic.
Nor did it involve the excellent acting.
It had to do with the utter selfishness of every single character on the show.
Every single one of them.
It’s like watching a car-wreck. You know you shouldn’t be so fascinated with the accident scene, but you can’t take your eyes off it.
What we loved about this show was that the trans-topic was pretty trans-parent.
These could be any people in LA. Anyone.
Because selfishness and self-centered behavior cross all lines. Especially in LA.
As it turns out, trans-people are as trans-selfish as any other kind of people.
Fancy that!
Transparent has been renewed for a third season. The shows should drop some time this year.
We can’t wait.
Because there’s no substitute for good TV writing. Just ask Shonda Rhimes.
Interesting take. The selfishness of ALL of the characters is why I never took to Seinfeld, although I LOVE his stand-up.
Would you believe I never saw a single episode of Seinfeld? None?
That’s blasphemy about Seinfeld. Good portrayal of the show I might actually have to sit down and watch this now.
You must watch it. Yeah, I know, even my husband has watched it. And my nephews.
I love watching a well written and well acted character. I haven’t seen this show, it does sound binge worthy.
Embarrassed to say I have never watched an episode of Seinfeld. There must have been something else on at the same time back then:)
Well thank goodness there is one other person ignorant of the various story lines on Seinfeld!
I grew up on a chicken farm. LA isn’t for me. Me, I live in Tucson, where every other person is a writer, some for TV. Selfish is the new black.
Yes, it really is the new black. Unbelievably true.
I loved Transparent too, but will have a hard time watching a third season of people behaving so badly (though I seem to have made it through four seasons of House of Cards). I used to make the same complaint (selfishness) when my daughters watched Friends!
Now that is pretty funny, Kim! At least we’ll have had a break.
I’m going to have to finally start watching this. I need a month of doing nothing to catch up with TV!
I was really shocked that Michael took to it as he did, it’s usually not the kind of thing he watches.
You know, I don’t follow any of that celebrity stuff, so I have no idea what Caitlyn is up to. Haven’t seen transparent, but I always say I’m going to watch it. So now I will!
i didn’t have a trans-romance to get over in the first place – i’ve been keepin it straight my whole life 🙂
Now I have another reason why living in Australia is great – I’ve never heard of Transparent and I think that might be a good thing! Self-centredness is worldwide though so not missing anything there!
I’d not heard of Transparent before. May have to at least give it a try. Although between The Arrow, The Walking Dead, The Flash, and watching re-runs of The Office we have plenty to choose from.
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Haven’t heard of it, Carol. But wondering if I will have the patience with people acting out. We have an Indian version of Big Brother here, called Big Boss and it’s absolutely idiotic. I watched a couple of episodes back when we had television and perhaps that’s one reason why I realized I could do without television!
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See I couldn’t watch a show like that. Not because of the topic, but the selfishness of the people would make me so unbelievably angry. Like Roz commented above I couldn’t do Seinfeld for this exact reason.
Wow I love Seinfeld, but never seen it from this point of view. You have great insight.
I have never seen or even heard of this show! I am a big fan of binge watching on Hulu and Netflix. Sometimes I am drawn to things that have a train-wreck effect like you were saying, but eventually I am ready to be done with the drama!