Let me put this out there: I love the TV show SouthLAnd. I haven't loved a show this much since the days I dreamed I would marry Brandon Walsh. No, I don't mean Jason Priestly (although I have since met him, and he's an extremely nice guy), but Brandon Walsh. This was clearly before my bad-boy phase (which lasted all of one crush on a bartender I worked with. He had... a soul patch.)
So. Back to SouthLAnd. Amazing show. Gritty, dirty, real. And in the news a lot lately, not necessarily for the right reasons. In the last episode, a male character was revealed to be gay*, and to say "shit hit the fan" would be a gross understatement. Said shit hit the fan, twirled around, splattered about, re-entered the fan, and repeated the process. People hit the SouthLAnd Facebook page with a feverish pitch to launch their complaints. Straight men ranted the guys-guy cop was suddenly a flaming fairy, and straight women flipped out because the handsome man in a uniform was suddenly unavailable. The amount of posts where people claimed they would never (NEVER!!!!!) watch the show again was staggering. Any attempt to calm the fray was met with sentences that began with "I'm not homophobic, but..." And in my life experience, anytime someone starts a sentence like that, they're about to quantify it with a homophobic statement. It's also in my experience that those people probably won't stop watching- they'll keep watching in the hopes of being offended. It's why some listen to shock jocks, or watch a news station with an opposing view. It's a sick part of the human genetic makeup.
*while it became obvious that this character is gay in this past episode, there's been a slow reveal including a somewhat subtle-read-between-the-lines "coming out" statement in the previous 2 seasons.
The roar has dulled over the past couple of days, but there's been more blogs and Facebook posts about a 10 second scene in a 1-hour show than there has been in the show's entire 3-season run. This is one of the best shows on TV. Ever. Period. And this is what people are chosing to focus on? A small facet of a person that we should realize and understand is no different than a person being blonde. Or having blue eyes. Or being tall. You get my point.
Welcome to 2011. Please tie up your horses outside the canteen, and check your pistols with the sheriff.
If you are a fan of SouthLAnd, TNT has not announced a fourth season yet. Please take a moment to sign the petition to keep this amazing show on the air.
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