The Slap on NBC...

Lavern08

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Who watched it last night (Thursday) and what did you think?

It was very well done (IMHO), and I think I'll stick around to see what happens next.

That kid was off-the-chain bratty, but the slap in the face was inappropriate - I do agree that someone should have stepped in at that point and strongly corrected him. If I had been a guest at that party, I'm 99% sure I would have grabbed him too.

I don't believe children should be hit in the face - EVER, but yep, I do believe in "old-school" spanking.
 

CrastersBabies

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So, can someone explain this show to me? I'm seeing some pretty big names on this. Is it a special event? Or, what's the deal?
 

Albedo

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The Australian original was pretty good.

Even if I wanted to slap every single character, repeatedly.

Maybe that was the point?
 

Albedo

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P.S. it's based on an award-winning Oz novel from a few years ago, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slap. I haven't read it, but it's meant to be excellent. My Mum read it and hated every single character. Apparently their punchability was toned down for the TV series, which is hard to believe.

But don't mistake this for a dis-recommendation. The Australian show was a pretty compelling drama despite my desire to inflict physical harm on all the adult characters.
 

Lavern08

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So, can someone explain this show to me? I'm seeing some pretty big names on this. Is it a special event? Or, what's the deal?

...Family and friends arrive at a 40th Birthday Party and all sorts of sub-plots are revealed as the drama that accompanies these types of social gatherings unfolds...

An extremely bratty kid (maybe he's somewhere on the Austism Spectrum? We don't know) has been behaving badly from the moment he got there...

His unruly behavior escalates as he starts swinging a baseball bat dangerously close to the other kids, and one of the adults grabs him and tries to reason with him.

The kid kicks the man in the shin, and the guy slaps him hard across the face.

The kid's parents are outraged and the two men almost come to blows.

Needless to say, everyone is shaken and upset as the guest of honor announces that "the party's over!"

There are a lot more "secrets" and quite a bit of animosity within the group, but it's way too complicated to try to explain it all.

Scenes from next week: It appears that the parents are gonna press charges while the "offender" refuses to apologize and tells them, "I'll see you in court!"

Stay tuned. ;)
 
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Lavern08

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Even if I wanted to slap every single character, repeatedly.

I hear ya. It was only the first episode, and I wanted to slap a couple of 'em too. :poke:

Talk about putting the 'fun' in dysfunctional families.
 

Helix

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The Australian original was pretty good.

Even if I wanted to slap every single character, repeatedly.

Maybe that was the point?

Oh, yeah. I think Manolis (Lex Marinos' character) was the only one I didn't want to belt about the head with a rolled up newspaper and then shove into the Yarra. I think I would have just thrown things at him.
 

mirandashell

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I remember a lot of discussion of it when it was shown here a couple of years ago.
 

Albedo

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I was about to say the same, Helix. His man-out-of-time arc was actually a bit touching and sweet.

I'm actually interested to see the American version. So much of the story was thematically very Australian (e.g. the Greek and other immigrant experience in Australia) that I imagine some changes were necessary.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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The main family is still Greek. And the American version is well done from a technical perspective. My problems were:

The narration by Victor Garber. I LIKE Victor Garber, but the narration was like a parody of some 50s noir flick (it reminded me of Little Children).

The fact that none of these people should apparently have children.

I didn't believe the relationships. On this one I will stipulate that it is early yet so the relationships may eventually make sense. But last night it just seemed to be characters thrown together to be horrible and combustible. Why would such people want to party together?
 

Jamesaritchie

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Who watched it last night (Thursday) and what did you think?

It was very well done (IMHO), and I think I'll stick around to see what happens next.

That kid was off-the-chain bratty, but the slap in the face was inappropriate - I do agree that someone should have stepped in at that point and strongly corrected him. If I had been a guest at that party, I'm 99% sure I would have grabbed him too.

I don't believe children should be hit in the face - EVER, but yep, I do believe in "old-school" spanking.

The national news approached this as, "Is it ever all right to discipline someone else's child?"

That's nonsense. That slap was not just inappropriate, it was felony assault in all states.

Telling the child to stop is fine, but no form of hitting is a appropriate. Punishment is teh job for the parents. Period.

I don't know where this is going, but I do know the slapper would be in jail, charged with a felony, and would not get out cheaply. I stopped watching because that was not discipline, and presenting it as such belittles violence against children, and could even cause more.

Had that been my child, the man who slapped him might want to stay in jail.
 

Lavern08

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Telling the child to stop is fine, but no form of hitting is a appropriate. Punishment is teh job for the parents. Period.

I hear ya and I agree, James - But, there is no way I would have stood idly by while a kid swung a baseball bat dangerously close to one of my kids.

No, I wouldn't hit him, but I'm 100% sure that I would have either quickly yanked my kid out of harms way or grabbed the bat from the out-of-control kid. ;)

Edited to Add: His parents appeared to be oblivious to his inappropriate, disruptive and destructive behavior.
 
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Albedo

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I remember the slappee in the original series being an irredeemable, out-of-control snot-monster.

Still, it was wrong to hit him. The appropriate response would have been to look the other way while the other kids tore him limb from limb.
 

Lavern08

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... The appropriate response would have been to look the other way while the other kids tore him limb from limb.

Ok, you know we're gonna get stoned, Albedo, but :roll:
 

Lord Hierarch

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I haven't watched the show yet but based off the trailers I do agree the child deserved to be slapped.

Slapped by a guest, even a relative? No. It is the parent's job to punish their child. No one SHOULD complain if one of the parent's slapped the kid.
 

Lavern08

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Episode Two - POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW...

I think this mini-series is interesting and it might spark some "conversations" about appropriate and acceptable child discipline.

However, after watching the 2nd episode, IMHO, the guy who did the slapping is a self-centered, arrogant jerk who has some major "anger management" issues. At first, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he just over-reacted and lost it, but it's obvious he needs help controlling his temper.

Just look at the way he treats his wife and son - Yuck!

I think I'll give it one more watch, but frankly, I join the others who say they really don't like any of the characters on the show.
icon_eek.gif


Edited to Add: The assaulted kid's parents are pretty pathetic - Who breastfeeds a child (who appears to be) over 6 years old??? :Shrug:
 
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Lavern08

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Well,

I actually enjoyed the Uma Thurman-centered episode.
 

Lavern08

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^ Yep, that episode could have easily been an entirely different program.
 

Lavern08

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OK,

I gotta know how this Family Circus ends,

...but I so agree with whoever said upthread: I actually wanna slap all of the adults in this family. :rant: