Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Week 5: In which we learned about the Valentine's Day Jamie cooked naked

Icebergs melted, walls fell, unicorns danced in circles, bison burgers were enjoyed by all, and Alice paid Jamie a tiny bit of praise.  After months of gentle wooing, Jamie has almost succeeded in endearing himself to Alice and becoming the British person she almost tolerates*.  Our story began with Jamie and Rod from the radio telling stories, laughing laughs, and working in harmony at the morning show until Doug Shiels, the man in charge of the local hospital called into the radio station and offered himself up as Jamie's next quasi-adversary/eventual partner in health-making. After finding out that even more people were worried about how Huntington would appear on television**, Jamie cut to the chase, told some dude in a suit that his objections were really weird, and then told the group of worried skeptics how much money he needed.

With the money business put to the side for the rest of the episode, Jamie headed back to the schools to complete the cycle of the narrative before next week's episode.  In what he thought was a risky (but I thought was pretty savvy) move, Jamie apologized to a mob of disinterested-looking, texting teenagers for taking away their french fries and told them that his success or failure was basically in their hands.  In what appeared to be a response to the idea that Jamie respected them mingled with curiosity about the promise of  pasta for lunch, the high schoolers were kind enough not to destroy the show.  Oh, and some kids drank plain milk, the principal of the elementary school lost some weight, and everyone's skin is looking a lot better.

Product placement of the week:  Last week's Green Giant product placement was a little odd, but this week's mini-ad for Green Truck worked a lot better.  While it was still a little awkward because the little interview/explanation very much an advertisement, at least with Green Truck we could see it in action and actually introducing a new idea into the community.  I'm pretty sure Huntingtonians were aware of frozen vegetables in the B.O. (Before Oliver) era.

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* I sort of love Alice, and mostly because she's totally a super hard sell and generally unimpressed by everyone.  She seems like one of those people who doesn't let you know where you stand with her unless she has to, but who also has a legitimate problem with being malicious or the cause of anyone's downfall.  I thought this was especially apparent when she was honest about how Jamie's programs were working in the school (some kids like some things better than others - fair enough), but she wasn't going to submarine the whole thing, either.
** I really had no idea that Huntingtonians being portrayed as having an obesity issue on t.v. might be a deterrent for new industry.  I kind of thought that businesses that find West Virginia attractive would find it attractive regardless of how an AP wire interprets a CDC report.

16 and Pregnant, Week 9 (Lizzie): Do we have a 2010 version of "emo" yet?

Before I can say anything - and I mean anything - about this week's episode of 16 and Pregnant, I need to get this out of my system:  SERIOUSLY??????!!!!!!!! An aspiring glassblower/part-time thrift store employee named Skylar?  Who cheats on you, like, the same week*  you get pregnant and then cries sincere emo tears and gives you the space you need until you decide to take him back?  IF WE CANNOT LEARN FROM THE 1990s, WE ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT THEM.

Ahem.

On this week's 16 and Pregnant, we learned that babies mean giving up your dreams of becoming a flutist for the Virginia Symphony, that parades are generally boring for teenagers**, and, that contrary to popular belief, the pregnancy belly-button ring does exist***.  For the majority of the episode, Lizzie fluctuated between being responsible (congrats - for real- on finishing high school five months early through home school), being an entitled only child (it's a known fact that parents know nothing and teenage children are always smarter), and oddly ridiculous (Seriously, you didn't keep up with your birth control because you didn't want a pelvic exam?  Yeah, I can see how having a kid is less invasive than an hour in the stirrups.).

I did like how Lizzie and Skylar were really trying hard to maintain some independence through careful budgeting and planning in the very small space of Lizzie's bedroom, but I felt as though their experience of the  world didn't extend beyond those walls.  When Lizzie was out with her friends at the midpoint of the episode and was bragging all about her perfect baby, her perfect life, and her perfect relationship, I couldn't help but think that she was both insufferable and hopelessly naive****.  And I think I was right on both counts.  While I've been worried for the past couple of weeks about the general feeling of unbearable weight at the end of recent episodes, this time I was worried about the larger context for Lizzie's behavior after the baby was born.  Lizzie - while in some ways, just run-of-the-mill 18 year-old mixed with a little only child for good measure - took on a new, and very unexplained pattern of behavior when she became more and more adamant about not wanting to be physically separated from the baby (even when Skylar was holding her).

The lack of discussion about this seemed larger than the conversations about it,  as did Lizzie's lack of self awareness and her immaturity, which was immune to even the most pithy attempt to permeate the thick teenage skull in 16 and Pregnant history: (to paraphrase), "I wish I had been as smart as you when I was younger.  Because everything I thought I knew, I turned out to be wrong about."

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

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* Math is mine, not MTV's.  But, seeing as Lizzie is about 8+ months pregnant when she finds out that Skylar looked up with some girl named Krista (or something) 8 months ago, I think if we use my patented "counting backwards" method, we can construct a timeline that supports my hypothesis.  On another note, why was I the only person nodding "yes," in response to the question, "Do you think he would cheat on you?"
** This was puzzling.  I would have thought that most teenagers had already discovered this when they realized they were too old to have candy thrown at them and too young to be publicly drunk in the name of St. Patrick/America/the Harvest.  While my brother may have had a buttload of fun marching with the band in high school at town parades (I'm not sure, I haven't asked), when I was Lizzie's age, I really liked that parades meant that there was an empty house for sleeping in late and having some alone time while the rest of my family was out standing in the street.
*** Again, have these kids never heard of the '90s?  Aside from learning about the existence of pregnancy belly button rings, I also learned that people still get belly button rings.
**** Most people over the age of 18 can tell you that the second you start letting a little of that "my life is so perfect business" fly, you might as well throw the shit directly into the fan yourself.

The Celebrity Apprentice, Week 5: Did Bret Make Us Feel Something Real?

This week was all about family and commitments outside of The Celebrity Apprentice: Sharon Osbourne still had the black plague (which Trump wasn't so ready to forgive), Cyndi Lauper got to meet President Obama and prove that she's not just Tenacity's lovable screw-up, Michael Johnson left the show for undisclosed reasons related to his son, Bret lost his shit over and over again because his daughter might be diabetic like him, and Goldberg showed us that he's really uncomfortable when other men cry.  Okay, so that last bit didn't have anything to do with a player's attention being drawn away from the game, but in all honesty, Goldberg did look like he wanted to be anywhere else than with a sobbing Bret Michaels.  We also watched Donald Trump clean the floor with all the contestants (except Maria and her major boots) in the saddest game of H-O-R-S-E ever  televised (I mean, it's for charity, people!  You can't even hit the rim?) while Ivanka looked on in cold disinterest.  In other news, we learned that Summer and Holly are still going strong in their mean girl love fest, Selita doesn't know that her type of pretty doesn't last forever (and apparently, doesn't cloud George's vision), and Maria has been marked as the snake in the grass on team Tenacity.  Over at Rock Solid, Curtis showed us he could lead (with Clyde Drexler co-starring as his personal chorus of common sense) as his team literally dissolved around him - in terms of numbers AND pools of tears*.  When it came to firing time, Selita** was unmoved by the termination of her fake employment and appeared to be willing to engage only with the very unnecessary Trump elevator operator.  My favorite part of the episode, however, was noting how everyone was trying to think of a new way to say "throw under the bus" without saying the actual phrase: "push off a dock," "throw under the car," "crush with my velocipede," "toss under a truck," "perambulate all over," and so on.

Unsolicited prediction:  Everyone on the women's team keeps talking about how Maria's the person to watch out for, but I think Summer Sanders is the real one to keep an eye on.  While she's tight with Holly, that's going to change the longer they're in this game together.  We can't forget that Summer tried to get rid of BOTH Sharon and Cyndi by pretending that she forgot they had passes and good reasons for not participating.  Basically, Summer tried to play it all nice girl and eliminate one player that annoys her and another player that could be a competitive obstacle.  Summer's playing it cool and pretending to be - as Sharon put it "little Miss Perfect" - but this is an act a blind man can see.  You can take me out for hot dog when she literally pushes Holly in front of a New York City taxi trying to out-fundraise*** her. 


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* For a cool/interesting discussion of how Bret Michaels actually brought reality to The Celebrity Apprentice through his relatively raw displays of emotion this week, check out Dalton Ross's recap at Ew.com.  He says it better than I ever could and, I believe, admits to being moved to tears by the increasingly complex lead singer of Poison. 
** Yeah, I'll admit I learned her name.  But she's gone now, so it doesn't matter.
***There have been no fundraising challenges so far this season.  I think we need one, because that type of challenge tends to really bring the out the nasty.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Week 4: All We Eat Nowadays is Beef Stir Fry

And they were cookin', cookin' in the streets...because Jamie was trying to win a bet.  This week's episode* took a break from the will they/won't they tension between Alice and Jamie in the elementary school kitchen and focused on Jamie's work in the larger Huntington community.  I was too young for Moonlighting, but I imagine that the chemistry between Jamie and Alice is like watching Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis all over again. While I'm glad we escaped the tedium of the permit office at town hall and spent more time capturing the magic of a Marshall University dance program flash mob, I would still like some more reality in this particular reality program.  We did see Jamie promoting the Cook-a-Thon and Jamie's Kitchen through interpretive dance, the shortened format of the show doesn't allow us to actually appreciate the enormity of Jamie's task and the popular opposition he faced in Huntington.  The quickened pace of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution gave us a story arc that threw up plot flags at every turn:

• Jamie grows sad and frustrated with Rod from the radio, 
• Jamie attempts to win Rod over by ordinary means, 
• But Jamie must resort to extraordinary means,
• And managest to win Rod over with emotional appeals and boyish British charm, 
• And by Friday everyone feels good and completes a giant picture wall.  

There's a lot to like here; I just wish we could slow down a little and see how it actually all happens because I'm worried that the Huntingtonites (?) (Huntingtonians?) only know how to make beef stir fry.

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* We also learned that it's been two months since episode one, which means that time flies when you're having fun in West Virginia.  Do I have to contact Ryan Seacrest directly to get some answers about the collapsed pace of this show?  Because I WILL write him a letter.

16 and Pregnant, Week 8 (Leah): Exit Ex-Boyfriend, Pursued by Bear

Having never been one, I'm no expert on teenage boys, but from what I understand, they tend to get really weird about being eyed as father material for other people's babies.  In this week's plus sized episode of 16 and Pregnant (more than one baby = more story), we met the super fertile couple Leah and Corey, the participants in an "I'm sure my Depo shot still has some juice left in it" rebound encounter in Corey's beloved truck.  While we saw a few tender moments from the newly formed but now permanently linked couple when Leah peed her pants, the rest of the hour and a half was a slow-burn of pain*.  Though I thought it went on a bit too long at the time, I'm beginning to appreciate the length of the episode for the following lessons learned:

1. It is necessary to keep up with the maintenance of one's birth control**
2. Denial is nasty (the lies Leah and company told themselves include, but are not limited to: at school, it's like I don't have have babies at all; when she's at school, I pretend she doesn't have babies because she seems the same to me; he'll love me just the same if I want him back; senior year of high school is super important)
3. For better or worse, it is impossible to select a different father for your children after the fact
4. If you attempt to do #3, the consequences will be painful.

Until I took a step back and realized that Leah was a very young 17, I started to get angry with her as she took a flamethrower to her personal life and threw herself into a social world of friends who seemed to get off on being terrible enablers (Where on earth was that Kayla girl for most of this episode?).  Having taught for a few years, I can spot trouble, but Leah doesn't have my superpowers and was thus completely blind to the fact that Robbie was the bad, selfish kind of trouble that you look back on at 25 and pat yourself on the back for leaving behind and Corey was the redeemable, somewhat disappointing kind of trouble.  Leah's episode was exhausting - from her hard, hard pregnancy to the emotionally draining way she carried on and then was smacked with the consequences - and even though I said it last week, I'm still worried that the kids are not okay.

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

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* And yes, most episodes of 16 and Pregnant are studies in pain and sadness.  But this week was a new animal entirely. 
** While MTV is good at giving definitions of what's going on medically on 16 and Pregnant, I feel  like the gesture towards getting more information about birth control by running those commercials that sends viewers to a website is a little half-assed.  I think there's room for definitions of birth control and their proper use and potential for misuse when it inevitably gets discussed during the whole "how I ended up a pregnant teenager" part of the story.  For example, in Episode 5, I know how and why Lori got pregnant by mixing her birth control with antibiotics.  In fact, my exact words were, "Well, shit, that will do it."  But it was such a short moment in the episode that it seems like a casual, less well-versed teenager might not put all the pieces together.  This week, I knew how and why Leah could have forgotten to get a shot (outside of probably thinking she didn't need to keep up with it because she wasn't with Robbie anymore) because Depo Provera (which I'm assuming is what she was on when she said she got shots) lasts for 12 weeks, and the gap between doses can make it easy to forget when you're due if you're not super on top of it. 

Seven Sentence Review: Celebrity Apprentice, "Muggles and Wizards," (Week 4)

I am coming to realize that when I settle down for an evening of competitive celebrity reality television, a show like The Celebrity Apprentice forces me to confront several key issues in today's infotainment.  The harsh reality of the world we live in that I faced this week was this: When is the attempt to rehabilitate or improve one's image by starring on celebrity reality show so futile that it actually reinforces and adds dimension to one's already questionable reputation?  On an unrelated note, should I be identifying with Bret Michaels as much as I do, especially when he notes that some people on his team are starting to sound like child molesters in the dark, smoke-filled, Harry Potter-themed room they've lured a group of children into?  Much has been made of Rod Blagojevich's technological incompitance and Donald Trump's nearly desperate (and correct*) attempt to fire Bret Michaels instead of getting rid of the governor, but today I'd like to speak about my favorite aspect of Rod Blagojevich's character: he cannot stop simultaneously lying and telling the truth. In the boardroom, NOTHING was the incompetent project manager's fault.  According to Blagojevich, honestly assessing your boss like Curtis Stone and Michael Johnson did is part of an elaborate personal vendetta, but he absolutely refused to put blame on the person (Bret Michaels) who absorbed his incompetence and who was the most likely target for Trump's firin' hand**.  The best and most demonstrative part of the show (meaning it shows both why Rod Blagojevich is probably the person most of us think he is and why he makes compelling television): When Donald Trump asked that really ambitious Victoria's Secret model*** what the former governor was doing on the plane home from Florida and she answered that Blagojevich was sleeping, Blagojevich's response was not to own up to the fact, but to note that while this whole thing happened on camera, he was wearing sunglasses, which means no one can prove any of this beyond a reasonable doubt.

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* It was noted in a recap at EW.com this week that Trump's attempts to get Blagojevich to bring Michaels back into the boardroom for firing time was a self-interested move.  And I think that recap was dead on.  Because Rod Blagojevich makes for far more interesting television than Bret Michaels does.  Next to the former governor, Michaels looks like a down-to-earth everyguy who just likes to hit on anything vaguely female, like your high school friend's really creepy dad.  Or in my case, the orthodontist.  And that doesn't really bring The Celebrity Apprentice party.  Working for RockSolid, the governor is a hot mess; Michaels is just vaguely annoying.
** Even Bret appeared confused about not being held accountable for being the de facto project manager and admitted that he should be up for firing.
***I am still not going to learn her name.  She was good, but she's not long for this show.  Sharon Osbourne's bronchitis or plague or something is going to clear up soon and she's going to become even more powerful.  Telling the other women that without Cyndi, watching Tenacity work together would be like watching ice melt was just part of a much longer, multi-level plan that knocks out good, but boring players.

Seven Sentence Reviews: Behind the Times Edition

I watched a lot of television last week, but wrote very little about it.  I'd like to say I was digesting what I had seen and mulling it over in order to craft intelligent and interesting responses, but that would be a lie.  I'd also like to blame my tardiness on my intensive Easter preparations, but since the holiday was less than 24 hours ago, it seems too soon to make up lies about it.  But now that I'm back, here are my reviews of the reality shows I watched and learned from this week.

16 and Pregnant: Week 7 (Nicole)
New week, new Nicole, whose friends are forcing me to issue the following public service announcement: If I am ever pregnant and at your slumber party and am experiencing discomfort, PLEASE CALL THE HOSPITAL or, at least, LOOK CONCERNED, because I might be watching your ass on MTV someday.  Oh, and if I am like, two seconds away from being someone's mom, please make sure I'm not caught on camera prank-calling prostitutes.  This week, we defied the standard 16 and Pregnant formula of immature father/rapidly maturing mother and went with an immature/immature dynamic with mixed results.  Everything was sort of strange, with both Nicole and Tyler appearing to be both ready for parenthood and far too young to understand what it meant, Nicole's mom being oddly supportive, and Tyler's mom being the only voice of reason (things were getting a little strange with no one having a problem with those two reproducing).  In contrast to last week's pregnant-child-of-a-teenage-parent dynamic that came off as supportive and helpful, this week Tyler's mom Farrah, who had him at 17, was rightfully and fully pissed at her son for most of the episode.  She softened when he went back to school, but the episode made it clear that unlike Nicole's mom, Farrah would not be giving herself over to the baby party and would be the one who was unafraid to set the kids straight on some of the finer points of baby-raising (like how all the adults were sick of having a baby foisted on them in a relatively predictable rotation).  After a hour long game of musical baby, we seemed to realize that babies have bedtimes, need stable homes, and that in this instance, the kids might not be okay.

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Week 3 ("Jamie cooks for Huntington High School")
I am pleased to announce that no British chefs were harmed in the filming of this episode's critical french fry-removal scene.  While continuing to sow the seeds of discontent with Alice over at the elementary school (while also making some very positive changes), Jamie headed off to Huntington High school to see if he could build a rag-tag group of junior chefs who could help him change the food culture for the bigger kids.   After a quick cooking lesson and a few scenes of Jamie listening to the teenagers tell their stories, Jamie asked the Bad News Bears of cooking to help him prepare a fundraising dinner for local dignitaries, a senator, and their parents.  And the kids rose to the occasion, even though there were bumps along the way, which made the show seem far sunnier than it actually is.  While Jamie made significant inroads with the group of kids he surrounded himself with at the high school, it seems as though there's plenty to still be done and that the food guidelines by which he must comply are absolutely ridiculous (not enough veggies in that pasta?  are you kidding me?).  Like I said during the premiere, this show is setting up clear heroes and villains, even though some of those villains are reluctant bureaucrats and workers who are actually just trying to do the jobs they're good at.  The main silver lining to everything, though, was that it was genuinely nice to see teenagers on prime-time television voice valid opinions and be accepted by their community as having something of value to contribute.

Seven Sentence Review: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Week 2

Back in my America's Next Top Model days, I used to settle in with a big old plate of cheese and watch people much taller than me learn how to smize and not look commercial and buy into the myth that Tyra Banks is the best and only model in the world forever and ever, amen.  During this week's two hour official premiere event of Jamie Olvier's Food Revolution I found myself once again sitting in front of my television, watching Jamie Oliver try to fix Huntington, West Virginia, while eating the most godawful crap (with dipping sauces!) I could get delivered to my house (note: if you are toying with the idea of eating something terrible for you that you can order online, DO NOT call my brother and see what he thinks).  And while my dinner has me thinking I'll change my ways, after Friday's episode I've decided I will, in fact, stick with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and not just because I need to mend my ways.  While I still think there are elements of the show that are simplified a bit too much (where did he get that pea costume?  when  and how did he put sneakers on before running through the playground?  this stuff keeps me up at night) after reading Tood VanDerWerff's review at the A.V. Club I did have to admit that there are plenty of interesting things going on on this show, and the most interesting thing of all is that that no one is wholly right or wrong.  Oliver is a pesty outsider who clearly oversteps sometimes, but he's trying to do good while his lispy British toddlers miss him terribly.  And for the people who live in Huntington, it's really easy to see why things are the way they are and why a stranger's interference - regardless of how well-intentioned - is not always welcome (especially when, in the case of Alice and her tough-as-nails band of elementary school cooks, he's creating more work and interfering with a system that works and that they do very well).  But the real reasons I'm sticking around are these:  1.) I like what Oliver is doing in working with Justin Edwards (aside from teaching that kid how to get ladies through cooking) and  2.) I'm really, really curious to see how, exactly, this all plays out because if it took that long to get those kids utensils for lunch, I don't know what kind of timeline you need for real change.

Bonus: Stickers ALWAYS work.  I'd STILL try something new if I got a sticker for it.

Seven Sentence Review: 16 and Pregnant, Week 6 (Samantha)

The screaming; oh, the screaming.  I know this show is supposed to be informative (and possibly preventative), but if Samantha's labor didn't make a whole bunch of teenagers rethink awesome condomless make-up sex (Jenelle from Episode 1, I'm looking in your direction), I don't know what will.  (Public service announcement: the clip below is a short peek at Samantha's back labor before the doctor finally decided 1.) she could have an epidural and 2.) that the baby was only coming out via C-section.  Do NOT watch this clip if that viewing of The Miracle of Life in high school still haunts your nightmares.  Because that calm, '70s natural childbirth lady doesn't live on MTV.)  But anyway, before Samantha was an oxygen mask-ripping ball of screaming pain, she was this season's pregnant daughter of a  pregnant former teen mom (who was cool through, but gave her daughter an eyebrow raise when reminded that she was going to be both a mom and grandma at 33 that would have stopped me mid-syllable).  This teen mom raised by a teen mom business was actually handled pretty well, as both of Samantha's parents were able to offer her really good advice and guidance based on their own experience.  MTV doesn't always have a deft hand when it comes to class issues, but this week we didn't play rich mom or poor mom as much as we sometimes do; Samantha's family was clearly not well-off, but the economic cloud that sometimes rolls into an episode of 16 and Pregnant didn't seem to linger as much this time.  But what really stuck with me - aside from the screaming and that baby's crazy hair - was Samantha's final interview.  There's always a sad moment in every episode of 16 and Pregnant, but when the teen mom talks about how her new identity has changed her self-image and makes her feel like a disappointment (even though she loves her baby very much), I can't help but try to wrap my arms around the t.v. and tell her it's going to be okay.  

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Seven Sentence Review: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (Sneak Preview)

Back before he was a vintage truck-driving British crusader in West Virginia, Jamie Oliver was a pretty fun, sorta goofy Vespa-riding Naked Chef, who I freely admit I miss (that show where he hangs out in his English country kitchen and cooks things sitting down doesn't do much for me).  While it's got an interesting message of nutrition and change behind it, something's a little off in the Ryan Seacrest-produced Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and it may have a lot do with my problems related to the most famous show Seacrest produces.  Like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution comes off as an over-produced mission show about healthy eating with no story about how or why the project came into being aside from the government statistic that Huntington, West Virginia was the most unhealthy town in the United States.  Simply put: in the same way we don't really know why the Kardashians are interesting enough to to be famous and on television, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution's tells us nothing about how his work in Huntington fits into the real world of multiple viewpoints.  While there's talk of controversy surrounding Jamie Oliver coming to town to mess with how people eat, there's no explanation of how he gained access to any part of Huntington or his struggle for general acceptance.  We see the problems he faces in little ways - most notably in the rightful disdain of the cooks at the local elementary school and his early interview with the local radio DJ - but there's nothing else that really shows, rather than tells us, about what Oliver is up against.  The show casts clear heroes (Oliver, Pastor Steve) and villains (everyone who is skeptical of or plain against Oliver) which doesn't ring true for a reality show; we see life, but only a little of it.

Verdict:  Will I keep watching?  Probably, but I think we're all going to need a little more meat with our salads in order to really become active viewers who care about what's at stake.

Seven Sentence Review: 16 and Pregnant, Week 5 (Lori)

After watching this week's episode of MTV's 16 and Pregnant, I was asking the age-old question: how much can you know another person, especially if you're watching her teenage pregnancy and open adoption unfold on MTV?  This week's episode about Lori, that followed her indecision about whether or not to choose adoption for her son, followed last week's lead and presented a functioning parent-child relationship that dealt with the struggle over what to do about an unexpected teen pregnancy.  What really struck me, though, was how this episode presented the viewing audience of 16 and Pregnant with something new: subtlety and nuance. The most interesting parts of this episode were the things we didn't - and couldn't - know about Lori, her family, and why adoption was so strongly advocated by her parents (though it was really easy to infer from her mother's reaction to the idea of a baby shower and some of the comments that her parents made that Lori's own immaturity and general misunderstanding of the gravity of the situation played a HUGE role).  The stress in the episode was palatable: from Lori's parents' insistence on adoption and stress at the prospect of watching their daughter make a bad decision (and then having to deal with those consequences) to Lori's own struggle to decide the right course of action for her son, which was complicated by both her desire for a blood relation and her ex-boyfriend, Cory's, pipe-dreams presented as a life plan (the television audience would also like to send a big thank you to Lori's mom for her whole "why don't you two try living together idea" that seemed to last all of about 5 minutes).  And while the episode was unbelievably sad as we watched Lori struggle with feeling pressured to give up her baby and finding out that keeping him wasn't an option either, all I could think about was the running theme of "parental decisions" that stretched throughout the episode as we discussed Lori's mom's own decision to put her up for adoption, Lori's parents' attempts to steer everyone onto the right course, and that final moment where Lori handed over her baby to his adoptive parents.  No ugly text messages this week, only the struggle to do the right thing and deal with with sadness that sometimes comes with that path.

(Extra sentences:  Thanks to MTV for showing us a teenager who had actually heard of - and been on - birth control.  A second thanks for making to super-clear that those warnings about not mixing antibiotics and the pill are for reals.)

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Seven Sentence Review: 16 and Pregnant, Week 4 (Chelsea)

On this week's episode of 16 and Pregnant, the maturity gap grew wider as Chelsea struggled to figure out how to be a teenager and a good mom (stressing over being a bad mom when she decided to go to Homecoming even though her father was in full babysitting mode) while her boyfriend Adam struggled to spell his vile text messages correctly. Chelsea - who went into labor in math class on the first day of school - appeared extremely grounded and fortunate in this episode as she had the familial resources to adjust to motherhood and have open discussions with her family and friends about how her life has changed and what personal goals (like finishing high school) she should be meeting.  While her boyfriend led her into an increasingly downward spiral of stress and sadness as he pretty much acted like himself, Chelsea's episode didn't have the same heaviness and sadness that some episodes do.  While editing obviously plays a role in everything on television, there was something even-tempered about Chelsea and her life that decreased my stress as a viewer and made me think she and her daughter were going to be all right.  With four episodes aired, I've noticed a few recurring patterns in this season of 16 and Pregnant:
1.) More attention to troubling/controlling relationship behavior especially related to the way that cell phones and technology escalate those situations
2.) Some more explicitly stated reasons for keeping babies, particularly, but not exclusively, related to family pro-life stances (though not in every case since abortion has been explicitly mentioned)
3.) A discussion of high-risk scenarios related to birth and infant health (we saw a little of this in Season 1 with Amber and Gary's daughter's respiratory issues, but both Valerie and Chelsea's babies experienced unexpected health issues at birth).
Also, I wondered last week about whether or not MTV would portray the legal issues related to this type of situation (if they arose), and it's like the television gods heard me.  This week, MTV took us inside a lawyer's office so that Chelsea could change her baby's last name to match her own after Adam's (again, terribly spelled and vile) text message that alluded to him surrendering his paternal rights.

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Six Sentence Review: 16 and Pregnant, Week 3 (Valerie)

I'm a few days behind on my TV viewing, but when I was watching this particular episode I couldn't help but wonder if a certain participant was advertising his many talents - general fertility and an ability to beatbox (call me, music industry!).  I'm probably too jaded, since I tend to think that most periphery figures on reality shows have ulterior motives that have nothing to do with the actual story being told, especially when the media exposure for a teenager comes in the form of an MTV camera crew.  I've also noticed what seems to be a stronger presence of the otherwise unseen producers in this season of 16 and Pregnant with family members and friends in obviously scripted moments designed to reveal information about how the pregnancy occurred, the status of inter-personal relationships, and thoughts about impending parenthood.  This technique might work better on both 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom (where I first noticed it) if someone either 1.) figured out how teenagers actually ask questions or just allowed them to put the questions in their own words, or 2.) did some slightly slicker editing, or 3.) acknowledged the role of outsiders in the process, or 4.) gave the "interviewers" a little more prepping.  I do have one burning question about 16 and Pregnant, though, that's been bothering me for a while: This season especially, but even in the past, many of the girls featured on the show are 15ish with significantly older boyfriends.  While I don't know exactly what I want to say about it, in many of those relationships there seems to be age of consent issues that MTV does not address - possibly because the participants are not making an issue about it or because it's a very tricky matter in general - but I am surprised that with all the honesty seemingly involved in the show, there are gaping holes about legal issues, particularly this one (child support, custody, and paternity, which we saw a little of in this episode, are a couple of others off the top of my head).

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Five Sentence Review: 16 and Pregnant, Week 2 (Nikkole)

The theme of this season so far: DTMFA.  If his mom is over his shit, you should be so far away from him he has to call Canada for Information.  Condoms are your friends; always use condoms.  A teenage boy should not make me want to throw my TiVo remote at the television, nor should I have an overwhelming desire to shake the sense into a pregnant teenager and then cry with her over her situation.  If I ever get anywhere near having a baby and the father of that baby is dumb enough to text during that appointment rather than hold my hand while the doctor attempts to see if he or she can find my tonsils, I will smack that phone out of that fool's hand so fast he'll think I developed crazy pregnancy lightning speed.

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows