Proving that the race to the bottom is now in freefall, Ch4 is currently showing a programme based around people who have difficulty finding partners.

We've opened with a young man with Aspergers. I believe there's someone with Tourette's later. This should be wonderful and not at all a "laugh at the freaks" piece of TV.

The producer was interviewed on Front Row this evening, I only heard a bit of it but it didn't sound exploitative at all. I'd hang fire until you've seen the programme before judging it.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Im pleasantly suprised so far. A lot of people on FB this morning were venting their outrage. The guy with Tourettes seems really pleasant would love to see his stand up show.

Ok it was above expectations. I still think featuring someone with Aspergers is somewhat taking advantage, but the other two were reasonable.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts.

To expand:

People with Asperger's typically lack the ability to understand social cues. They won't be able to interpret body language or voice tone. In some ways their social skills don't really go beyond that of a child. It's somewhat irresponsible to therefore take someone like that into a TV programme.

Beyond that, the other two were ok. It did peeve me that they decided to show someone with the quite rare swearey Tourette's rather than the more common types - I think this shows that they're really more interested in ratings than 'raising awareness' or any other noble venture.

It's C4, what else can you expect from them?

I never understood them. I think I mentioned this on the site before, but C4 are very inconsistent. They'll do a show about subjects like this, transgenderism and so forth - and it'll be perfect. Respectful, human, well-made. And then they'll show LOOK AT THESE FREAKS right after it.

Boggles the mind, it does.

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Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Or they'll do a show that is basically respectful, but has a title that makes it sound like a freakshow.
Channel 4 always makes me think of this sketch...

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"Stop making up quotes and attributing them to me" - Voltaire

Bang on the money there, I think.

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Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

The undatables was preceded last night by 'supersize vs superskinny', another show which is ostensibly about issues of anorexia and overeating, but really is just there so people can say "jeez, you see how much food that fat fuck puts away?"

I can only assume there's a lot of behind the scenes advice and management from dieticians/other health professionals, or I'd have serious concerns about the doctor who sort-of presents it.

See also Big fat gypsy wedding etc, and any other show that's supposed to 'shed light on n insular culture' but is actually all about laughing at people with fake tans and no taste.

The media is a very snobbish/elitist profession - not in a traditional class structure way, but in that anything that's outside the coccoon of Soho/Hoxton is just there to be sneered at.

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

You're all missing the point if you're blaming Channel 4, let alone singling out individual programmes, these are mere insignificant symptoms. The cause is vast and ancient.

Laughing at freak-shows and the less fortunate in general long pre-dates television. It's not so long ago that our ancestors would throng to see public hangings or to poke fun at the "freaks" (the disabled, the mentally ill, ethnic minorities or the simply unusual) in the circus. The Romans delighted in watching people being savaged by lions and I expect cavemen thought it was fun when someone else stubbed their toe on a rock.

The media take business decisions - shit sells because people like shit.

All the X-Factor/Pop-idol/BGT shows are about jeering at the deluded and the untalented -see what fools they are. Big Brother/TOWIE/Geordie shore are an opportunity to sneer at the working classes - see how common they are. I'm a celebrity/dancing on ice/Strictly are about how the mighty have fallen (literally in some cases) "Look there's the former shadow health secretary, flat on her arse and showing her drawers" - guffaw, guffaw.
They are exercises in smug superiority to comfort insecure people.

It's not just TV - look at the most successful print media The Mail, The Sun, The NOTW etc are all about sneering at the misfortune of others in one way or another.

It's an uncomfortable truth but human society is shot through with schadenfreude and has been throughout human history.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

I thought of this thread again when I saw the name of this C4 documentary: "The Turtle Boy." Couldn't they have thought of a less freakshow-y title?

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"Stop making up quotes and attributing them to me" - Voltaire

Was working with two guys today, and they brought this show up and proceeded to talk about how it's "hilarious".

I said nothing (I know, I know...).

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Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

It's not only Dacre's Drip that's corroding public morals.

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Where there is great doubt, there will be great awakening; small doubt, small awakening, no doubt, no awakening.