Show of hands, how many of us are still watching this weekly? Just curious. For those who don’t get Showtime (or too lazy to search YouTube) you’re in luck cause we now have a Valentine’s Day Massacre episode video recap:
.
Still with me? Okay. We also have some lost footage from our favorite spin-off, Tracy & Stamie Plus 8. In this episode, Tracy & Stamie take the kiddies to Trainland! It’s not called Trainland but that’s what it reminds me of from my childhood.
.
[in the midst of kids hell]
Stamie: I miss you.
Tracy: I miss you too.
Stamie: Wanna make out later?
Stamie: I think we should have your 30th at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate how the rest of your life’s gonna be.
Guess what else is happening in this clip? Stamie is STILL WEARING that same fucking black shirt with the wings seen in every single episode so far. Which clearly means all Tracy/Stamie/kids footage is from the same day, which actually makes me feel A LOT better about their lives. Cause that shit was bananas, with the kids screaming/crying/cock-blocking every ep.
In fact Showtime has been remarkably lax with letting its talent blog on the Showtime website about the magic of editing (thanks to reader Lucy for pointing out Mikey’s latest blog!):
Mikey on Episode 103: So, this episode was very interesting, as the only thing accurate about this episode in regards to me, is the fact that I did play tennis with my friend Lisa in the morning on Valentines Day. Raquel did indeed have to work, as did I, however, we did end up spending the night together after we were both done with work. My aunt’s day of beauty and meeting Whitney at the Abbey happened two weeks prior to Valentines Day. Also, when I go to bed alone, that’s another completely different day than Valentines Day and my aunt’s beauty day. This, my friends, is the magic of TV!
[Meanwhile Whitney seems content to go with the flow, claiming what was shown as happening on Valentine’s Day was indeed Valentine’s Day]
Tracy on Episode 103: Contrary to popular belief, I do venture outside of Stamie’s house! I mean, I know I’m transitioning and all, but I’m not a hermit. Once again, the magic of editing!… Take [moving, puppy-sitting and kid-having] – add seven crewmembers, sick kids, and a boom mic that looks like a puppy play toy – shake it up – and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. You too would look like a deer in headlights!! What you don’t see in this clip is that Leo managed to escape the chaos, only to be found running down the center yellow lines of Ventura Blvd! His momentary sense of FREEEEEDDOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Tracy on Episode 101: When I first met [Whitney] at Crown Bar she was followed by a camera crew and a small posse of women, all vying for her attention. Since I knew we were both on the show and would eventually meet during our 10 week shoot, I took the cue to go up and introduce myself early. Ahhh the magic of editing!!! What you don’t see on camera is that I was there with my girlfriend, sisters, and some friends. I also met Rose and Natalie that night. I won’t bore you with the details since you’ve seen most of it play out, but I got the idea early that I was on Whitney’s radar. We made plans to grab a coffee (as castmates, not a date), but with the craziness of production and life, we didn’t reconnect for a few weeks.
Nikki on Episode 102: This of course leads me to Derek’s visit and it being placed in the same episode as our sexual fluidity meeting. Ah the convenient power of editing!… Derek and Jill have always had a very special friendship… [and never dated] … I am not threatened by this relationship in the least. I love and adore Derek and I and love and adore Jill and trust her feelings for me. Her “fluidity” doesn’t make her more likely to search out other partners, male or female… Jill being affectionate to Derek as I stood across the street was taken out of context. Prior to me crossing, I had just had a business call and the camera caught my reaction to my frustration. Jill had just gotten out of the driver’s seat from the airport and was greeting Derek for the first time. If I saw my best friend for the first time in 6 months I would have been just as affectionate. Don’t misconstrue affection for chemistry. They are not one and the same.
Jill on Episode 102: That being explained, tonight’s episode was a bit disturbing to me because it strongly “suggested” that my fluid orientation is threatening to Nik — that because I don’t identify as a definitive lesbian, that somehow I’ll have a wandering eye. I’m actually not sure if I find the insinuation offensive or simply silly. The reality is, I am in love. I am fulfilled. I am happy. Sure I have a past, everyone does. But I found my future in her.
So there you go: it’s all the magic of editing, and Showtime doesn’t seem to be censoring its stars (at least on its website). Reading all of their blogs — even the go-with-the-flow complacency in Whitney and Rose’s accounts — you see that the stories these women are telling are far more complicated and multi-dimensional than what’s on screen. But we know how Ilene feels about making people three-dimensional! After all, we’ll always be here to fill in the blanks for anyone searching for something a little extra — and, in fact, The L Word (OG) earned its second-season pickup early from Showtime because the online interest from lesbians garnered record-breaking stats for sho.com, including a 26% increase in “Buzz Log Traffic” and L Word clips made up the top 10 video clips streaming on the site. Oh, it’s all so meta, isn’t it?
My hand is raised. Digitally of course. I’m not sitting at my desk at work with my hand raised, that would be weird.
C-Money as in D-Money? Ha!
Um, I don’t know what D-Money means. My name starts with a C, and I’m a wannabe gangster white girl, so I put CMoney, because it’s my rap name. Even though I don’t rap.
Nikki & Jill’s friend Derek must also be a wannabe gangster white boy cuz they referred to him as D-Money last week.
Ahhhh. Missed that part. But yeah, Derek and I should start a group.
My rapper name is EDAWG. Where my bitches at?
My rapper name is Cro’nique and I’m also a drag queen.
I would like to set up a play date for my daughter with Tracy and Stamie and their kids.
I was wondering if Stamie had a closet like Doug Funny or if Illene or however you spell her name thought we wouldn’t notice she was always wearing the same outfit!! Now, Doug, that was a good show.
lol.
True that. I wonder when she’ll whip out her Quailman get-up. Those were the days. I had such a crush on Patti Mayonnaise.
I’m glad they can address the issue of poor/reality tv editing, nonetheless.
Good eye Jess. Editing is a powerful thing and so is changing your clothes every once and a while. Tracy doesn’t always look like a deer in headlights.
Keep writing..we love reading your magic.
Chiming in here as a reality TV junkie/wannabe scholar: w/r/t the cast on the magic of editing, this isn’t an entirely new thing. Reunion shows for everything from The Real World to Real Housewives often give castmates the chance to address if and how they were edited.
For example, at the reunion for RW Hollywood, one cast member brought up the fact that MTV has to clear all the locations where they film ahead of time to explain why the roommates were always going out to bars and clubs even after one of them returned from a 30-day rehab program. He said he tried for weeks to organize a day for the roommates to volunteer at an animal shelter, but it just couldn’t happen — and this was all on the reunion show that MTV produced.
Using Twitter/blogs to address these issues is new, but networks seem to be okay revealing the seams of filming a reality show, I think because the days of people believing that there is some semblance of truth/reality to these programs are far, far gone.
Also: OMFG Brightcove sucks!
Switched players.
Oh thanks! I thought it was a Showtime thing, I didn’t realize they posted the videos on YouTube also.
Still watching but need Autostraddle to hold my hand through it. No strong feelings bout the show either way. But I like to indulge my weak feelings too.
on a geek note i’d love to see the metrics of their video streams & completion rates of the real l word eps vs. Nat’s show which is eons better.
this show makes me just wanna date trees.
Would you rather …
1. date a tree or share a cab with Whitney?
2. talk to your own ex or watch this show?
Well, I wouldn’t want to share anything with Whitney for fear of catching something itchy that would require antibiotics.