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ricardo amanueces Lacey Donohue 12/19/13 02:01AM

I read this "strong preference for vagina" as "strong preference for duck vagina". I need to get my vision checked, also ¡yay Lacey Donohue!

Lacey Donohue ricardo amanueces 12/19/13 12:39PM

Thanks for the yay! And yay you, Formerly Known as BurninAlive!

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filmgirl Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 11:56PM

You should read the comments about his suspension on blogs and news outlets. The people who are defending him are the exact same people who believe in Fox News and you know freedom of speech and right to bear arms y'all. It's not only disgusting but vile and embarrassing.

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Lacey Donohue filmgirl 12/19/13 12:48AM

When I saw Sarah Palin and the Duggars jump in, I knew we were in for it.

filmgirl Lacey Donohue 12/19/13 01:42AM

Well it wouldn't be the same without their involvement. It's just gross.

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JRW Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 08:31PM

I don't get it. Why should he be punished for being the person that audiences wanted to see.

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Lacey Donohue JRW 12/18/13 08:34PM

Because A&E is now ashamed that the "rest of the world" has figured out the secrets of the #1 show on cable.

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GregSamsa Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 08:27PM

I'd rather they put him front and center, and let him say every hateful thing he's thinking.

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Lacey Donohue GregSamsa 12/18/13 08:31PM

I totally fucking agree with you. A&E's whole "we support LGBT causes" while KNOWINGLY employing well-known bigots (Dog the Bounty Hunter, anyone?) to help grow their network is disgusting. They'll employ racists, homophobes, and Jesus freaks for the ratings, but when their stars show their true colors, they pretend like it's so shocking. I'd like to see A&E stand by their own "reality" programming, but that'll never happen.

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GregSamsa Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 08:32PM

Preach.

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GregSamsa Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 08:35PM

Incidentally, back in the Stone Age as a gayby in high school, A&E kept me sane. They showed wonderful stuff—it's where I first encountered 'House of Blue Leaves,' and tons of other plays and musicals and operas. Jack Perkins, who did a Sunday morning show focusing on news in the Arts, was my favorite non-related grandfather. Peter Graves' Biography helped me learn about dancers and writers and performers.

Now? Ugh. Just... uuuuugh. Fuck A&E.

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Lacey Donohue GregSamsa 12/18/13 08:45PM

It's funny how a network could go from "commercial counterpart to PBS" and Biography to the cable network conservatives watch when they're not watching CBS or Fox News. Actually, it's not funny, but there's probably some argument in there somewhere about how the network's original programming—especially in the reality division—has nicely followed American politics in that right when Obama took office in 2009, we begin to see the development of the down-home Storage Wars, Shipping Wars, etc. They've done a good job of appealing to those "marginalized" white and working class folk who need a reason to keep paying for cable in a shitty economy, and these faked shows about regular awww shucks families auctioning and duck calling their ways to riches seem to fit the bill just fine.

I have even more to say about the hours I wasted recently watching the whole first season of The Governor's Wife, but I'll probably just start embarrassing myself more than I already have.

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Every Time I die Lacey Donohue 12/18/13 11:57PM

God I love you lacy so fucking true..and I mean love in a non creepy guy on the internet sorta...you get what I mean.

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Lacey Donohue Every Time I die 12/19/13 12:46AM

I love you too. In a totally creepy way.

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brotherparish Lacey Donohue 12/19/13 09:19AM

As does Bravo's gay vice president Andy Cohen, who employs homophobe Joe Giudice ("Real Housewives of NJ").

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Winn Lacey Donohue 12/19/13 12:16PM

This is SO true, and I am amazed I never made the connection in the working-class shift in their programming to Obama's election. The channel I used to watch "Yes, Prime Minister", "Blackadder" and documentaries on The Royal Opera House on has turned into a hot mess of people fighting over parking tickets and bidding on storage lockers. History, Bravo, TLC and even Discovery did the same slide into reality mediocrity at about the same time. Cable television's collective IQ has dropped and television as a medium for performing arts programming is once again reduced to PBS and the few people who get Ovation. Pathetic.

Lacey Donohue Winn 12/19/13 12:31PM

I wouldn't even call it a slide into mediocrity as much as I would call it a slide into demographic warfare. TLC slid, but they slid into (what I would argue) is a largely more liberal agenda (even if the programming is "trash"). But I'm working on a longer piece right now about how cable networks are actively trying to politicize themselves to get a piece of the failing basic cable pie and the result is just as obvious as a FoxNews vs MSNBC one, but it's not often talked about in terms of that split.

I thank ALL of you guys for helping me push my arguments and think through this shit because I do think it's important and interesting.