The GOP family was a missed opportunity. The “why them” seemed to be that they were influential in their local GOP segments and community which would have been a great way to bait them into some of their views. Instead it stuck with SBC making them uncomfortable with a one way street.
The art dealer was pretty classic Borat style though, in just finding random people to troll.
Were they, perhaps, to “balance” the show by poking fun at left-wing stereotypes?
Whatever the case, those segments were crude and cruel. And, yes, the GOP couple was a sadly missed opportunity. Sacha Baron Coehn had a couple of Trump supporters ripe for the skewering. Instead, he sat there doing sketch comedy while they watched.
-Tom
I agree with that. That is why I think it may have been an attempt (very poor) at balance by shoehorning those segments where they really didn’t seem to fit. Though I may be biased, there really isn’t the opportunity to skewer the left given the outrageous positions on the right. With the GOP couple, there may have been a hesitancy to really lay into local-level no-name supporters as opposed to those everyone can get behind really humiliating (not that I don’t think every Trump supporter should be publicly shamed).
We’ll have to see whether they still include those types of segments going forward or if they stick with the fertile ground available with some of the heavier issues and national politicians/personalities.
So far the first episode has bombed.
Having generated a lot of chatter recently, Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime may take The Importance of Being Earnest author’s words as some cold comfort today. They may have to. Because, for all the hoopla around the debut of Cohen’s Who Is America? series, the 10 PM premiering satire offering attracted a pretty meager viewership on July 15, at least on the small screen.
Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on Sunday night to see the Borat star spoof Senator Bernie Sanders, gun activists, Trent Lott, supporters of Donald Trump and more in the first episode of the series. Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America? in the hinterland of the 70th highest-rated original show on cable on July 15.
Exactly. I know that productions like Sacha Baron Cohen’s usually use tricks and deceit during the filming to get these people to comply. Like rushing introductions, rolling the cameras without much time for prep, changing questions on the fly, giving misleading credentials, etc.
But fuck man, there are some lines that you shouldn’t cross, and a lot of these people spend a lot of time in the media, and should know better.
I think it is important to put that in perspective that this is a new show on Showtime, we learned about it 2 weeks ago, and it had more viewers than the new season of Twin Peaks did.
Vulture breaks it down a bit more
That said, the actual audience for the debut of America is already much larger. Including four reruns of the premiere on Sunday night and early Monday morning, the Nielsen tally has already jumped to 702,000 viewers; throw in the 301,000 viewers Showtime says streamed the series, and the number edges just past 1 million. Once delayed viewing kicks in over the next few weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising if America — like many premium cable shows these days — ends up quintupling its premiere-night ratings to score an actual audience of 2 or 3 million viewers. Showtime also notes that a ten-minute preview of the series has tallied 10 million views on YouTube since Sunday and that Baron Cohen’s controversy-courting comedy contributed to the biggest day of sign-ups for the service’s streaming offering (as well as the third-biggest sign-up day since the network began offering a direct-to-consumer option).
I am sure Showtime is pretty happy with that bolded part too.
I watched it on the app. You can get 30 days free, and it’s easy to cancel.
The actual movie selection for showtime is trash though.
While you have Showtime, you should watch Homeland - an excellent show.
Watched the first episode on Showtime via Amazon Prime last night. Not a terrible start but maybe a little underwhelming. I’m assuming it’ll ramp up quite a bit.
Edit: Am I the only one having an uncanny valley experience when looking at these disguises? Maybe it’s just because I’m so well acquainted with SBC and know going in that he’s in disguise, but they scream disguise to me. I have to wonder if anyone who didn’t know what he looked like has ever seen through the ruse. Not that we’d necessarily hear about it, but it has to happen at some point, right?
Especially in the gun infomercial (first one) where his eyebrow was clearly separating away from the front of his face lol.
I also thought the makeup wasn’t too good.
This is why I haven’t subbed yet. I am just going to wait until the season is done and binge them all in the 1 month trial.
Not worth the money a month for one show.
I think it is due to the fact his Israeli character looked just like Robbie Rotten.
Yeah, with that make-up showing as poorly as it does on film, imagine how it looks in person. I wonder what the people sitting in the room with him are thinking.
“Did this poor man have facial reconstruction surgery? Should I say anything? Should I ask? Should I just pretend not to notice?”
-Tom
Very NSFW clip:
Racism aside, this guy is too stupid to have any responsibility for others.
I am gonna have to start watching this show won’t I. This is amazing…ly horrific. Good argument for anarchy.
I liked the second episode much more than the first. Adopt a child soldier today!
Yeah, this episode was exactly what he does best. Punching up at the vapid, the ignorant, and the powerful. I was a bit worried that the Kingman, AZ segment was just going to be mocking a small community. That wasn’t the case at all. What a great way to call out a roomful of bigoted racist trash.
More of this stuff.
-Tom