Small Town News

[aghst]

Just came across this, wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Was it satire?

No, it’s a documentary series about a news station in a small town called Pahrump, NV, near Vegas.

The episode I watched was called Erectile Dysfunction but in fact takes place on Election Day and a few days beyond.  The anchor persons and the reporters out on the streets are older women.

A group of Biden supporters won’t do interviews with the station and Vern, the owner of the station, offers to buy them a flag.

Vern is a hardcore Trump supporter and the town is conservative.  He says Biden seems like an okay guy but he’d destroy his business, kill ad sales and he’d have to lay people off and shut down.

On election night, their election coverage consists of Vern looking at his lap top on Bing and predicting Trump would win.

The commercials they run are funny.  First, Verns ambition is to tap into viewers in the Las Vegas market.  So he advertises that spots on his station are just $5 each.

One commercial is for Big Dick’s Pizza and they say “when was the last time you had a Big Dick in your mouth?”  ☺️

when Biden is declared the winner, Vernon is morose.  Then he gets a call from a viewer in Vegas who wants to buy an ad and he’s all chipper.  He points at self-improvement materials from Tony Robbins and a couple of others, says he’s not a quitter.  So presumably there are no layoffs.

[chediavolo]

I thought this was a mockumentary.  If it was supposed to be true, it was done so strangely I could not watch. Very odd choice. 

[One Imaginary Girl]

A review of this series didn't like that it didn't seem to have a narrative arc, but I didn't mind that. It wasn't a big commitment, and as someone who's lived in a large northeastern city for most of her life, I appreciated having a look at life that's basically the opposite. They can keep the tarantulas out there, though.

One thing I wonder about documentaries is whether you have to let the subjects say what they want, unedited, or can they be challenged? I wish someone could have asked Vern if his business had suffered during the Obama years, since he seemed to think  the election of a Democrat would automatically mean problems for the station.