Bromance and Reality TV: The Real Reinvention of the Soap Opera - Page 2

In this episode, Brody admits that he is "looking for a friend who has balls and willing to try anything". (I think he really meant crying in front of millions of viewers, but brought out the bikes instead.) So the group embarks on a ‘significant’ challenge of ramp jumping small pink bikes with tassels. Predictably, the guys who wiped out at less than two feet were booed and ridiculed. Most laughed at themselves. Subsequent scenes were littered with attractive women, guy games, and the curvy blowup doll.

Later in the show, just like the female stereotype, Brody stirs the pot by asking his guest, Gary, to gossip about the others behind their backs, which he did. Gary ratted out Femi for getting angry and causing trouble. Then Brody encouraged Gary to air his feelings directly with Femi, which he did. And so it went. Femi took great offense, got angry, and terminated his friendship with Gary. Intimate cameos of Gary with voiceovers revealed his tears and pain over being rejected and hurt by Femi. Shades of soap opera?

Brody decides he needs to spend one-on-one time with each of his guests in order to bond. The scene is an elegant fire pit on the patio with drinks and appetizers. Very cozy and bromantic? Short clips of Brody with each guy cast Brody in the role of superior interviewer instead of just having a good old guy talk.

One of the guys (I forget which) commented to Brody that the conversation they were having was "just like therapy". I could not have said it better myself, except Brody ain’t no therapist, for real. Around the pit, and in stereotypical style, Brody asked Gary if he was gay because Gary is a dancer and admitted he had lots of female friends as a teenager.

In their one-on-one with Brody, all the guys were trying excruciatingly hard to say the “right things” and to "relate" to Brody at a highly personal level. Brody's family tree of step and half siblings was drawn on the screen, detailing a chaotic story of multiple divorces, shifting family life, and painful abandonment by a stepfather. A couple of the guys claimed they could really relate to Brody on that and scored big. But who is listening to the dialogue? The guys are so adorable.

Stiffly and without emotion, poor Brody tried too hard to get inside each of his guests' heart and mind, but found that Chris P. wasn't hanging loose enough. So what does he do? Well, he invites Chris P. (who is to pick another guy to go along — Femi) out to a swank vodka bar, of course, to get them drunk and loosen up. Then Brody insists he doesn't want anybody to get drunk. Chris P. gets all wasted and both grosses out and amuses the others the next morning. He was hanging loose all right — still puking. Shades of a fraternity?

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2 — Page 3

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Article Author: Dr. Coach Love

Patt H. Pickett, Ph.D. is the author of Dr. Coach Love's Wedded Bliss: Top 7 Healthy Marriage Tips. As a Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist and Certified Professional Coach, Dr. Pickett has been a relationship expert for 20+ years. …

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