How dark can it go? And can Frank find redemption?
― Three Word Username, Friday, 24 August 2012 16:08 (8 months ago) Permalink
six sexy americans
― ciderpress, Friday, 24 August 2012 16:09 (8 months ago) Permalink
Frank's only shot at redemption would be if he somehow is the key to their escape (note, not at all convinced they will ever escape).
Has there been much buzz/discussion about this elsewhere on the internet? The casting/editing is so spot-on I forgive occasional lapses in funniness.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 16:10 (8 months ago) Permalink
i think the host is actually becoming the most intriguing character
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 24 August 2012 16:43 (8 months ago) Permalink
The ominous speaker and mist really don't pull back the curtain any further, do they?
― your native bacon (mh), Friday, 24 August 2012 16:45 (8 months ago) Permalink
Has there been much buzz/discussion about this elsewhere on the internet?
recent episodes have between 100K and 200K views -- we should feel ashamed as a nation and as a culture that it's so low
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 24 August 2012 16:46 (8 months ago) Permalink
this started out great but i feel like they really exhausted these characters by the third or fourth ep
― mellow, groovy, chilled out, cool (k3vin k.), Friday, 24 August 2012 16:47 (8 months ago) Permalink
It's not about the characters anymore, or at least not as much. It's about how weird the circumstances continue to get.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 24 August 2012 16:55 (8 months ago) Permalink
"to call this place 'evil' implies a clarity of purpose that i do not want to attribute to anyone involved"
― rent, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:06 (8 months ago) Permalink
I'm pretty convinced at this point that the humor is being used to deliver some seriously dark Sarah Kane-style nihilistic theater of the absurd and not vice versa.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:20 (8 months ago) Permalink
xpost Yeah, Derek keeps getting all the best lines, still dying over "This definitely...isn't a house. I think we might be underground, or on a ship of some kind."
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:21 (8 months ago) Permalink
Kind of a grim irony that the smartest dude is also the only black guy and the only gay person in the home.
― your native bacon (mh), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:26 (8 months ago) Permalink
uh....what?
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:27 (8 months ago) Permalink
this should have been The Prisoner remake and not that amc thing.
― Philip Nunez, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:28 (8 months ago) Permalink
Smart gay black men are almost a reality show trope at this point.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:28 (8 months ago) Permalink
(btw, I AM AWARE THERE ARE PLENTY OF SMART GAY BLACK MEN IN REAL LIFE AND THEY EXIST EVERYWHERE)
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 24 August 2012 17:30 (8 months ago) Permalink
Being a double-minority and being smart so you really understand your plight in this hellhole
― your native bacon (mh), Friday, 24 August 2012 17:44 (8 months ago) Permalink
yeah, haha re: nihilistic theatre of the absurd - seriously, it's verging on social experiment gone horribly wrong. and/or horror movie. let the darkness descend!
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:05 (8 months ago) Permalink
i have nothing against frogs, but i find all the gruesome, close-up frog death pretty hilarious
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:06 (8 months ago) Permalink
I just love the collision of generic reality-show tropes with really weirdly specific, arbitrary oddities, like the frogs and the mountain of bananas and the sealed-off mold-filled room, none of which are cliches of either the reality genre or nightmarish creeping horror theater. Nice to see a parody that actually stakes out some new ground.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 18:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
mold room = best supporting actor
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
I thought maybe some of that stuff referenced fear factor and survivor and the like.
― look at this quarterstaff (Hurting 2), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:18 (8 months ago) Permalink
Hrm, probably right on Fear Factor, and there's definitely elements of both in the challenges and that kind of stuff but I dunno...still feels really out of the clear blue imagination of the Onion people somehow.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 18:21 (8 months ago) Permalink
I thought the underlying gag w/the banana thing is just that whoever is producing the show is desperately mismanaging the budget and not buying food for the house so they found a sponsor who will supply free bananas as long as they are incorporated into the show as much as possible - seemed like a pretty general jab at reality show contests & sponsorship, not referencing any particular show
― oprah gangnam style (crüt), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:26 (8 months ago) Permalink
i'm with Doctor C, this has long since transcended being a parody of something and is now its own magnificently insane thing. it is no more a parody of reality shows than twin peaks was a parody of cop shows.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:31 (8 months ago) Permalink
though I don't get tired of the reality show editing/music
― Legendary General Cypher Raige (Gukbe), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:34 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yes, that and the deliberately insipid descriptions of the videos on youtubeake it clear that this is a mighty complex piece of work.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 24 August 2012 18:37 (8 months ago) Permalink
reminds me of palahniuk's haunted, though the threat's external, not internal
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Friday, 24 August 2012 18:54 (8 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, definitely a huge source of the humor/weirdness is that even though they're getting this increasingly creepy and awful footage, it keeps getting edited and tagged and pop-up-videoed as if everything were proceeding according to plan. The machine's left hand is oblivious to the warnings coming from the right. (Like, the host and the authority he represents are clearly not pleased with how things are going, but tell that to the musical cues!)
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 18:58 (8 months ago) Permalink
Cont: yep, I thought of Haunted and Kane's Cleansed.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 24 August 2012 18:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
aren't bananas and mold-filled rooms staples of reality tv though?
― Philip Nunez, Friday, 24 August 2012 19:02 (8 months ago) Permalink
no, you're thinking of actual reality
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 24 August 2012 19:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
i do know real-life people who own settlers of catan and bananas... maybe should warn them to check their rooms.
― Philip Nunez, Friday, 24 August 2012 20:01 (8 months ago) Permalink
Can't remember, have they made any attempt to go out of the windows and/or found them to be fake?
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 20:09 (8 months ago) Permalink
yes (just watched ep 2 because of this thread)
(they were boarded up)
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 24 August 2012 20:10 (8 months ago) Permalink
Ahhh yeah. Figured there was some moment like that but couldn't pull it out.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 24 August 2012 20:42 (8 months ago) Permalink
share a heated fruit cup with your lover tonight!
― scream blahula scream (govern yourself accordingly), Friday, 24 August 2012 22:06 (8 months ago) Permalink
really brilliant show.
― The muted sensation feels amazeballs. (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 25 August 2012 00:44 (8 months ago) Permalink
feel like this last episode jumped the shark, always happens when 'drugs' are introduced
― jack chick-fil-A (dayo), Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
would love for the whole thing to end in some sort of resident evil/silent hill opening FMV sequence (the makeup is already getting there)
― jack chick-fil-A (dayo), Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:15 (8 months ago) Permalink
that's what I'm totally thinking too
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:19 (8 months ago) Permalink
I do like how nebulous they make the production of the show. Like, are things designed poorly on purpose? Is that part of the show? Is the host in on it or just clueless? Did they pick such a mismatched bunch on purpose, are are they just incompetent? Are we on some Bunuel level can't leave "Exterminating Angel" plane, or is it supposed to be funny that they just don't try to get out? Will the show actually allow the pregnancy storyline to play out? How far is it willing to go?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 August 2012 16:10 (8 months ago) Permalink
w/ the exception of frank (part of what makes him hilarious) the mismatched bunch is standard reality show boilerplate
― balls, Saturday, 25 August 2012 16:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
In the intro episode, it was just awkward that there was one gay man. After you figure out it's a sealed house, it just became... worse.
― your native bacon (mh), Saturday, 25 August 2012 16:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
the heating/cooling system was the first point at which i realised I didn't have a handle on this at all.
― Legendary General Cypher Raige (Gukbe), Saturday, 25 August 2012 16:23 (8 months ago) Permalink
wd not be surprised to see "a game of sexy russian roulette" at some point
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 25 August 2012 16:27 (8 months ago) Permalink
The lone gay guy and locked doors/blocked windows in Ep. 1 were pretty good clues that the writer(s) were fans of Sartre's No Exit.
Don't know how long they can keep the descent into Hell funny.
― The Painter of Blight™ (Sanpaku), Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:07 (8 months ago) Permalink
finally watched this last night. yikes.
― catbus otm (gbx), Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:14 (8 months ago) Permalink
yeah, figured it was a horror movie p much from the start. but i watch a lot of horror movies.
― i know your nuts hurt! who's laughing? (contenderizer), Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:16 (8 months ago) Permalink
I mean, I wonder if it will develop that getting the cast to have sex is not really the premise of the show? Because lone gay guy, married with kids guy, virgin ... and the two cast to be most sexually compatible have yet to have sex, mostly due to the house or the producers. I def. am getting more of a Bunuel vibe than a Sartre vibe, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 25 August 2012 18:35 (8 months ago) Permalink
porkin' is now darker than sex house if you can believe it; probably deserves its own thread
― (alternatively, “Respec’”) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 29 November 2012 21:38 (5 months ago) Permalink
Wow.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 November 2012 21:52 (5 months ago) Permalink
Porkin and Sex House feel like they're trying to go beyond satire into furious indictment or something
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Thursday, 29 November 2012 21:58 (5 months ago) Permalink
Holbrook's site says there are 8 episodes of Porkin'. Also, I didn't realize Today Now! was another actual Onion production (probably because I don't have IFC).
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 November 2012 21:59 (5 months ago) Permalink
i don't think i can handle it. i watched a random porkin' (ep 4 i think) and could barely make it through the darkness, not to mention the 'pork salad'.
― have a sandwich or ice cream sandwich (Jordan), Thursday, 29 November 2012 22:01 (5 months ago) Permalink
Now I feel like a dope...there are Today Now! clips on youtube going back five years.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 November 2012 22:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
the pork salad is easily the worst thing in the show, Jordan
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Thursday, 29 November 2012 22:13 (5 months ago) Permalink
porkin is really hard to watch. so is sex house, which I couldn't finish.
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Thursday, 29 November 2012 22:20 (5 months ago) Permalink
both are amazing
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Thursday, 29 November 2012 22:21 (5 months ago) Permalink
yup. made it through two eps of porkin and even tho neither was awful at that point, there was a palpable sense of doom and I just said nah
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:06 (5 months ago) Permalink
I think it'd be much easier to take if I weren't watching them by myself
nb at this point I don't even know what the ~turn~ in porkin is!
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:07 (5 months ago) Permalink
also agree with this---even though I am a weak baby that can't take the darkness, I applaud them for going...wherever it is they are going
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:09 (5 months ago) Permalink
porkin' is hilarious and amazing
― Mordy, Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:43 (5 months ago) Permalink
how many episodes of porkin are left? i want to watch them all in one go.
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Friday, 30 November 2012 00:04 (5 months ago) Permalink
This was the 7th, so there's one more.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 30 November 2012 00:08 (5 months ago) Permalink
"thought you was one of the pig freaks"
this show feels like an underground project cooked up by an anarchist character in a pynchon novel.
― s.clover, Friday, 30 November 2012 03:04 (5 months ago) Permalink
just reading "cloud drink kills frog" makes me nauseous now, what is wrong with me
― well if it isn't old 11 cameras simon (gbx), Friday, 30 November 2012 03:11 (5 months ago) Permalink
Sex House and Porkin' are total emocore socal satire. Behind the make-up is a disfigured face screaming eternally. Let's put the make-up back on.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 30 November 2012 09:38 (5 months ago) Permalink
social, although Southern California may also be involved.
my wife and I watched all of SH in a blast two nights ago. so good.
― da croupier, Friday, 30 November 2012 13:15 (5 months ago) Permalink
love sex house. some elements of porkin' are too dark for me -- killing the dog in the second episode was too much too soon. once the 'turn' starts it gets more palatable.
― abanana, Friday, 30 November 2012 22:18 (5 months ago) Permalink
"palatable".
― s.clover, Friday, 30 November 2012 22:58 (5 months ago) Permalink
sort of astonished that a google search for this series and "Circe" has no hits.
― s.clover, Sunday, 2 December 2012 18:40 (5 months ago) Permalink
The dead dog was the funniest part of Porkin. The way the woman on the phone said "he's dead now" cracked me up for some reason.
Lake Dredge is hilarious though. Lake Dredge > Porkin > Sex House
― wk, Sunday, 2 December 2012 19:27 (5 months ago) Permalink
what do you like about lake dredge? seems very one-note. watched a bunch of episodes -- does it get better, or are they all sort of the same?
― s.clover, Sunday, 2 December 2012 22:05 (5 months ago) Permalink
It's really undercooked (and I say this as someone who would love a better takedown of Antiques Roadshow), but then its probably the Onion's lowest budget production. The finale "Kim's Dark Mirror" is the only one I think's a keeper:
― Chinchilla! Chinchilla! Chinchilla! (Sanpaku), Sunday, 2 December 2012 22:21 (5 months ago) Permalink
i love pilferin' pete
― GAY HIPSTER BATMAN ON HIS WAY TO A CIRCUIT PARTY (donna rouge), Monday, 3 December 2012 00:10 (5 months ago) Permalink
also the sound the little boat makes as it displays the appraisal cost is really funny
― GAY HIPSTER BATMAN ON HIS WAY TO A CIRCUIT PARTY (donna rouge), Monday, 3 December 2012 00:11 (5 months ago) Permalink
Not sure how I feel about this last episode.
― s.clover, Sunday, 9 December 2012 19:05 (5 months ago) Permalink
aaaaaaaa the producer wearing sunglasses at the end is my old roommate!!!!
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Sunday, 9 December 2012 19:51 (5 months ago) Permalink
Last ep is quite a dud.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 9 December 2012 20:09 (5 months ago) Permalink
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Sunday, December 9, 2012 2:51 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
!
― she was giving it to two friends ...Aaay! (crüt), Sunday, 9 December 2012 20:10 (5 months ago) Permalink
it's funny because I know some Chicago actors and so all the way through sex house and porkin I was keeping an eye out for anyone I'd recognize and then there he was in the last scene
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Sunday, 9 December 2012 20:12 (5 months ago) Permalink
I like the last ep a lot!
― Simon H., Sunday, 9 December 2012 22:00 (5 months ago) Permalink
yeah, it seemed kinda weak way out to me
― THE NATIONS YOUTH DANCED TO THE MACARANA (innocent) (forksclovetofu), Monday, 10 December 2012 20:40 (5 months ago) Permalink
― s.clover, Monday, 17 December 2012 00:27 (5 months ago) Permalink
That dude is a hero.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 17 December 2012 01:25 (5 months ago) Permalink
http://jacobinmag.com/2012/10/sex-house-and-the-refusal-to-fuck/
― Mordy, Thursday, 3 January 2013 14:38 (4 months ago) Permalink
already posted itt
― rap steve gadd (D-40), Thursday, 3 January 2013 15:33 (4 months ago) Permalink
The major problem for reality TV is that real life is too dull to make for compelling television
Stopped reading at this point. GF stopped at the paragraph before when the writer tried bringing Tronti into it.
― give me back my 200 dollars (NotEnough), Monday, 4 February 2013 13:49 (3 months ago) Permalink
dunno if "america's best" is going to turn into something spectacular or not.
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 13:56 (3 months ago) Permalink
seems kinda weaksauce right now
― it was very clear that it's a sarcastic song (forksclovetofu), Monday, 4 February 2013 18:23 (3 months ago) Permalink
is it more one-offs like lake dredge appraisal?
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Monday, 4 February 2013 18:29 (3 months ago) Permalink
yeah it feels sort of tossed-off and directionless. but they're only three eps in, so i'll see where they take it.
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 19:09 (3 months ago) Permalink
This was a step up
― forks is lucky he didn't get stabbed over a marilyn monroe cd (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 21:28 (2 months ago) Permalink
good way out i thought
― the 'dirty sprite' is implied (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 12 March 2013 21:22 (2 months ago) Permalink
(moved from other thread)
I just watched the pilot of Onion News Empire on Amazon Prime and thought it was pretty solid, didn't blow me away, but a lot of good laugh lines skewering both the news and the genre of the newsroom drama. Was hard not to think about the fact that the criticism of Big Corporate Media was being funded by a Big Corporate something else that is trying to compete with Big Corporate Media, and that took a little of the bite out of it for me.
― huun huurt 2 (Hurting 2), Saturday, April 27, 2013 9:27 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― huun huurt 2 (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:44 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
had sort of a 30 rock feel to the writing, although didn't seem likely to produce characters anywhere near as good as jack doneghy and liz lemon
― huun huurt 2 (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:45 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
so it's not on youtube?
― ְ֮֠֓֟֬֩ (gr8080), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:51 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
it's free if you have amazon prime, don't know if it costs otherwise or what.
― huun huurt 2 (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:54 (2 weeks ago) Permalink