Episode 31 - Catfish: The TV Show
1 hour Posted Jan 7, 2019 at 2:00 am.
Mike outs himself as victim of celebrity podcast catfishing scheme
Introducing this month’s show
Concept and structure
Our impressions of Nev and Max
Dual roles of hosts – investigation and therapy/counseling
Show’s tone ran contrary to JS’s expectations, particularly for MTV reality show
Nev’s personal controversies
The order in which we watched the episodes
Ep 1 – Sunny and Jamison (Chelsea)
Ep 3 – Kim and Matt
Ep 7 – Joe and Kari Ann (Rose) – Watch this one!
Ep 2 – Trina and Scorpio (Lee) / Ep 8 – Tyler and Amanda (Aaron)
Ep 4 – Jasmine and Mike (Mhissy)
Our initial impressions of show’s authenticity
How much we bought the narrative in Ep 7
Are motivational narratives for catfishers genuine?
How authentic are investigations by Nev and Max?
One moment of authenticity – catfishee’s reaction to meeting catfisher
Finding out how show was actually constructed undermined its ethical justification
How much did inauthenticity sour us on the show? Could it have been done another way?
What JS wanted from the narrative
Mike pushes back a little – thinks it would be easier for catfisher to not go on TV
Thing that irritated us most about the show’s ethics – it’s false front of ‘helping’ people
The broad thesis of this month’s article and overview of its main themes
What Mike thought was most interesting
JS also found emphasis on self-acceptance as substitute for traditional markers of success interesting
Mike liked analysis of catfishing as being on the continuum of online activity and not apart from it
Coming back to the usage of hand-held cameras as marker of authenticity
What did we think of the contention that reality TV narratives are ideal for constructing ‘good’ social media behavior?
Ending on where appeal of show lies
What specifically in the narrative captured JS’s interest before finding out about its inauthenticity?
Mike didn’t enjoy it as much, but that also insulated him from being crestfallen
Mike thinks part of appeal is due to inherent uncertainty of online relationships and our fears surrounding them
Introducing the show for our next episode
Mike’s half-hearted holiday well-wishes and our plan for the rest of the season
Usual stuff: email, rate/review, subscribe (or tell your friends to subscribe!)
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Show notes
Intro/outro music: “Gay Bar Videogame” by The Wildbunchhttp://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Wildbunch/Gay_Bar/Gay_Bar_videogame
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