I'm noticing the "second mention" silliness in "Unapologetic Roseanne Barr returns, blasts critics: ‘I’m a goddamn American’" (NY Post).
Anyway, she's in the news because there's a documentary about her — “Roseanne: Kicked Out of Hollywood.” We're told it's "on Reelz." I have maxed out on streaming services, if that's what it even is. How are we supposed to keep track?
It used to be when something was on, it was on the TV that came through the air for free. You had to be careful to find out what time and what channel, because if you missed it, you missed it. But now what's on stays on, but the question is do you get the thing that it's on? And do you have room in your head to care?
But back to the second mention problem — the needless belief that after you've written someone's name, if you need to refer to them again, you can't just use a pronoun or repeat the name, you have to say something like "the mother of five" or "the 'She-Devil' actress."
The next article I clicked on at the NY Post — "Fans shade Viola Davis’ ‘cringey’ Michelle Obama portrayal in ‘The First Lady’" — did the same thing: "Michelle Obama... former President Barack Obama’s wife... the mother of two...."
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She mocked an Obama Oligarch.
Never mock an Obama Oligarch.
Watching the trailer before I thought to myself she's got the Michelle Obama look down, girl.
What Roseanne said was funny. She is a comedienne. If what she says got her cancelled from HER OWN SHOW...then Whoopie, Joy Behar, and the Spew Crew should have been fired years ago for some of the things they called Trump and his supporters. Somehow the only comediennes they cancel are on the right...and the things the cancelled have "SAID" (not done...ala Kathy Griffin) are innocent compared to the AWFUL things said about the right.
Reelz is free on Directv. Channel 238.
"Reelz is free on Directv."
In other words, it's a channel on service that you have to subscribe to.
Should we make a small distinction between the use of second mention in the Barr article and the way it was generally described as "the needless belief that after you've written someone's name, if you need to refer to them again, you can't just use a pronoun or repeat the name..."?
The general description of second mention classifies it as "needless" or perhaps 'useless', and is intended only to make the repeated instance more interesting (which, as noted if often fails at - it usually makes the reading more irritating).
I think that the intention of second mention in the Barr article is to provide additional information about the subject in an informal way. They author wants us to know that Barr is "the outspoken star", "mother of five", "actress 'She-Devil'". Instead of inserting a small bio of Barr in the article, the author sneaks it all into the article in the form of second mentions. This is also preferred to repeated use of subordinate descriptors: "Barr, a mother of five...", "Barr, a old comedy legend...".
I'm not saying that I like the apparent overuse of second mentions in the article, but only making the distinction that these particular second mentions also serve to provide more information, and not just to make the writer sound more interesting.
The second-mention problem: "you can't just use a pronoun".
How in the world would you ever know what pronoun to use? It's gotten so complicated! You have to consult a biologist, I guess. Ought to be high market demand for that profession.
Unfortunately, any TV you watch now you have to pay for. And most of it is crap.
I don't think the punishment was proportionate to Roseanne's offense. Roseanne had said and done far weirder stuff prior to that. I vaguely remember that she had accused her parents of sexually abusing her when she was a baby. That wasn't political or racist and it was passed over with a shrug. It was this joke that did her in? Spock would have trouble understanding the logic of cancel culture...I don't think that they'll ever be quite able to cancel J K Rowling, but Roseanne has been successfully erased. Will Smith and Louis CK will go on to second acts, but Roseanne's career is dead.
You can openly ridicule and lie about Trump (using the fake Hillary created Russian collusion lie) but don't you DARE mock a holy and precious untouchable member of the Elite Democratic Mafia.
2nd mention is fine, after that, it should simply be 'Barr.'
They ought to do a sociological study on how stuff gets filtered in the sense of reaching a wider and wider audience. Classic examples are from politics: Trump continuing to reach his audience; Hunter Biden's laptop story not reaching Democrats. But there's also how shows such as the Mandalorian expand an audience so you sign up with the service to see it. And drop it afterward. Or the difference between an interview like Roseanne's which might be a slow-release (in that it takes months for it to percolate but it might reach a large audience ultimately) and fast-release shows like CNN news (which over months slowly reaches smaller and smaller audiences.) Oh, we live in interesting times. The wars are "hybrids" with a propaganda aspect and you have to know this or you're just media fodder.
"The beloved actress/comedian"
"The successful television producer"
"creative force behind two of the most successful sitcoms in TV history"
All possible 2nd mention descriptions that were not chosen because the writer chose to use second mentions to harp on biases.
"Unapologetic wrongthinker" is another good one.
I was under he impression that the correct term is now "the birthing person of two".
Reelz is on my Verizon cable package. It's home to "The Last Hours of..." on celebrity deaths, and other uplifting fare.
Green Party member cancelled from Hollywood society for being insufficiently woke and making a primate joke.
She did have the best comeback ever, "I thought the bitch was white."
It's easier to pay by the word than pay for quality.
As soon as you mock a holy and precious leftist, you will be trashed henceforth. Soviet style.
Prof A: "...It used to be when something was on, it was on the TV that came through the air for free. You had to be careful to find out what time and what channel, because if you missed it, you missed it. But now what's on stays on, but the question is do you get the thing that it's on? And do you have room in your head to care?"
Thank you. You've made me feel a little less alone!
The typical newspaper style would be start with the person's full name, then use their last name in every subsequent mention ("Barr says...," "according to Barr..."). But that would be weird when discussing someone who's famously known by just her first name, Roseanne. Maybe the NY Post editors got caught up in that, and decided to avoid the situation entirely by barely using her name at all.
Cancel culture is far more discriminatory than the people who get cancelled for discrimination.
In most cases, it's just a way to add more descriptors without cramming them all together at the beginning of the story.
'President Barack Obama’s wife, mother of two, nutrition advocate, 15 handicap golfer...'
You get the point.
The WSJ makes it easy. It's always something like 'Comedian Roseanne Barr' and then 'Ms. Barr' after that.
'In other words, it's a channel on service that you have to subscribe to.'
You can still get network TV over the air in most places if you have the proper antenna.
In many cases the HD signal is better than from the cable or satellite folks because it's not nearly as compressed.
But stations like Reelz will only be available either separately or bundled with cable or satellite services...
"In other words, it's a channel on service that you have to subscribe to."
Your reaction is understandable, sorta right and sorta wrong. It's a crazy quilt out there.
According to a LinkedIn page for REELZ, "REELZ is available in 70 million homes on DIRECTV channel 238, DISH Network channel 299, Verizon FiOS TV channels 233/692HD, Time Warner Cable channel 128, AT&T U-verse channels 799/1799HD and cable systems nationwide" REELZ is affiliated with St. Paul, MN broadcast pioneer Hubbard Broadcasting.
It's also available as a streaming service for $6.99 a month, or $1.99 a month if you have Prime.
Television has been carved into, inter alia, SVOD (e.g., Netflix), AVOD (e.g., Hulu), linear cable (e.g., TMC, REELZ),and linear broadcast (e.g., over the air affiliates of Fox, CBS, NBC, CBS, and various independents). License agreements draw Talmudic (and rapidly evolving) distinctions among these and other categories. I suspect that consolidation among these many outlets and technologies is coming.
"she had accused her parents of sexually abusing her when she was a baby."
Ehh 1991 wasn't it? Smack in the middle of the big "recovered memory" fraud. Most of those very public allegations are best forgotten IMO.
Wait! What? Michelle Obama is married to Barack Obama?! And she has kids. Whoa! I must have missed that. Second mention sure is helpful.
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