Greens See Red Over 'Sarah Palin's Alaska' on Discovery's TLC
Palin Alaska-Tastrophe for Discovery Network
Email, Facebook boycott of Sarah Palin's Alaska
Unless all your friends are dittoheads, chances are you have received at least one invitation to sign an online petition asking TLC's parent company, which also owns the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, to cancel Palin's upcoming Alaska travelogue show before it even airs or join one of the campaign's Facebook or MySpace page groups, which are popping up faster than mistresses in a celebrity affair scandal.
Sarah Palin is stripes to the Discovery network's plaid: the two just clash. Discovery Communications is a media company conglomerate that prides itself on celebrating nature and the environment; Sarah Palin is a media darling whose favorite mantra is "Drill, Baby, Drill!" and who support the aerial killing of wolves and other behaviors that are abhorrent to many animal and nature lovers.
Sarah Palin's controversial environmental record
The uproar over Palin's new show on Discovery's TLC stems from the former Alaska governor's controversial environmental record when she was in charge of America's most scenic natural wonderland, Alaska--a state that includes a 19 million acre wildlife refuge. Seen more as a Cruella Deville than a Mary Poppins of the animal set, Sarah Palin was an odd choice by Discovery to serve a tour guide for the state's wildlife and natural beauty.
University of Alaska professor and marine wildlife specialist Rick Steiner lambasted Palin's environmental record in a guest editorial on the Seattle PI website, citing such examples as her lawsuit against the Bush administration for listing polar bears as a threatened species (an "extreme position" Steiner wrote that "put her to the political right of the Bush /Cheney administration"); expanding Alaska's aerial wolf and bear shooting programs in which the animals are hunted down from airplanes; and allowing Alaska state biologists to "drag 14 newborn wolf pups from their den and shoot each of the pups in the head at close range," among other questionable activities.
Discovery sells out "Greens" for green
Discovery may regret selling out for money, especially since Sarah Palin's Alaska may not be the money maker the network had originally hoped. According to a Huffington Post story, ad buyers are not "buying" the concept of the show. An inside source described their reaction to viewing a promotional video for the show at a Discovery sales event to Huffington Post writer Cenk Uygur: "When the promo was over, people (employees and buyers) were rolling their eyes, snickering, and even laughing. People were laughing and it's not even a comedy. No one took it seriously."
Even Discovery's own website discussion forums generated comments from unhappy former fans. "This woman as host of a nature-related program is a joke," complained a woman who identified herself as zooladytoo. "Will you show her clubbing seals? Shooting at wolves from a helicopter?"
Ironically, Sarah Palin's Alaska is being produced by Mark Burnett, the creator of such iconic reality TV shows as Survivor and The Apprentice. Whether Sarah Palin will be voted off the airwaves or fired by the very television viewers who have helped Discovery Communications grow into "the world's number one nonfiction media company" (according to the company's own self-aggrandizing press release) will soon be known, although it seems unlikely the network will admit to having egg on its face from its own programming blunder. Some media strategists predict instead that Discovery will cuts its losses by placing the show in a weak time slot and allowing it to quietly become extinct after the eight contracted episodes.
What's up with Discovery?
With television networks striving to attract advertisers that want to capitalize on the passion and disposable income of the green community (see article on NBC Behavior Placement strategy) it is puzzling that the Discovery Network would go out of its way to irk this high-income and well-educated demographic by airing a wildlife series hosted by that group's nemesis.
Sources:
http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/03/25/discovery-officially-acquires-sarah-palins-alaska-taints-own-soul/
http://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-news/discovery-communications-acquires-sarah-palins-ala/
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8081928318/m/19719837401
http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/sarah-palin-alaska/sarah-palin-alaska.html
Published by Nancy Tracy - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Nancy Tracy is a Yahoo! Featured Contributor for arts & entertainment. She enjoys writing about a variety of topics from psychology to politics to popular culture. Her article on "Transient Global Amnesia" w... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentSarah Palin's Alaska is, I believe, in an alternate dimension from Actual Alaska. The good thing? She's no longer in charge of EITHER ONE.
Great work!
I wish Palin would just disappear from view for awhile. I can't stand all the hate that she manages to generate by just being everywhere. Like we don't have enough of that already. I'm not saying it is all justified. It isn't but hate in any form is just toxic.
Palin is a failed experiment with creating a 'compassionate conservative.' Most oxymorons, whether ideas or people, tend to die on the vine... unless the American people, in their greed-driven wisdom are foolish enough to elect them
Having seen the video of her talking to the camera while people are beheading turkeys in the background, I fail to understand how Discovery could have let this go ahead.
sarah palin is a catastrophe happening in real time
It sounds like a setup for disaster! Surprising choice by Discovery!
I have no use for Palin, but I think if I did admire her, I could see the absurdity of this. Thanks.
Why don't these people getting their panties all in a bunch boycott other graphic violence on television shows...against people ??
When I first heard about this show, I thought it was an April Fool's gag. Then I found out that the Discovery Channel really intends to go through with this obscenity and realized that I had indeed gone through the looking glass. I will miss Cash Cab, Myth-Busters, and Planet Earth and their advertisers will miss me.