HIS REVIEW
Seeing the rollout of “Satisfaction” for the USA network was exceedingly thought provoking on so many levels. It blew my mind. Chicago is not as sexy as LA or New York, so the opportunity to see a new show that is working it hard to be sexy and thought provoking was a thrill. The evening was beautifully orchestrated and the venue was sexy with stunning views of the city overlooking Buckingham Fountain as the sun set. The place had a plethora of exceedingly HOT men in tight, Black T-shirts with “Satisfaction” stamped across their chest. Each greeted you at the door slinging cocktails and amazing hors d’oeuvres that were delightfully prepared for the evening. There was a performance piece of art behind the bar that was like a silk tent hiding bodies bumping and grinding like they were under a bed sheet. Models strode through the audience taking a quick IPad survey about relationships and sex with the results given in a very cool panel discussion. The panel was composed of 2 couple therapists, the show's producer and a moderator. The panel component was where the night shined!
“Satisfaction” centers around a late
thirty something (perhaps early 40ish) man and his wife. He is a stock trader/hedge
fund manager and she is a housewife that has just recently taken a job staging
real estate for sale. Overworked,
he has lost connection to his wife and missed out on much of his 16-year old
daughter's growing up. Under pressure, he finally cracks,
quits his job in a highly preposterous manner, finds his wife having an affair
with a high priced gigolo and decided to become a call boy himself. I did
mention he was a workaholic stock broker right? Personally,
I don't know that many men who work 70 hours a week
and can still have the bod to pull off being called a "$5000 a weekend” experience. Maybe
a couple of hundred after a couple of drinks…
but 5K really? But this
is not the only place this show was dubious. To be blunt, I found so much of
the show’s casting and script amazingly dubious if not sickening. While
I can take for granted the show is exceedingly white while most of America is
not; that the couple is in the upper 1% of American earners while the American
middle class is shrinking, that they have a teenage daughter who isn't pining for a car or at least a driver's license and needs to still be chauffeured? Ok
— can we have a reality check please? I found the back story full of holes big enough
to drive a truck. Can a wife hire an expensive escort on a regular basis
without her husband questioning the deduction in the checkbook (hello — he's a numbers guy).
Would a person dismiss a Full bright Scholarship Award (aka a full ride) and put their career on hold completely for 16 years because she got knocked up? Ask yourself this; how does a couple manage in the world today? I don't know any couple of 20 year olds where both don't contribute to the bottom line financially. The kid usually goes to daycare or a grand parent. I found it really difficult to buy into the validity of their existence! It’s not to say that a couple can't pull apart because of lack of interest, time and understanding of the other person, but there has to be more reality to the show. The show felt like a fairy tale and I found it almost impossible to like the characters because they were so flat and two dimensional. If I was the husband, I would be bored with my wife too if she viewed me as nothing more than a walking wallet and saw me as a means of carrying her existence.
And conversely, I would kick my husband to the curb if he didn't see me as desirable and fun to be with other than just a mother to his teenage daughter. But instead she goes to a 20 something year old gigolo for sex and he dumps his job to become a gigolo? Not buying it USA network. Oh, and did I mention that the 20 something gigolo drives a Porsche? Really? A Ford Mustang perhaps but a Porsche and not the Boxter either.
The show could be so much more but it's not exactly on Showtime or HBO so the attention to detail just isn't there. The show's producer was brilliant in the panel discussion when she mentioned that for a couple to work, both people have to be interesting unto themselves to be interesting to their partner. When a person gets bored with themselves, they loose interest and look to another to essentially validate their existence. I think she nailed the subject on the head. Stagnation and routine leads to boredom. Unfortunately given this brilliant insight, why didn't she give the viewer characters that we would actually like to want to watch. I can watch paint dry on my own. I guess what blew my mind on this experience was how such amazing fodder for a show could be so boring given the talent and in sight of such a brilliant producer.
-Thom
HER REVIEW
Ok, I am not as a detailed (seems like all details) writer as my counterpart Thom is. Instead I will say that I enjoyed the actual preview party! It was fun and like Thom mentioned, the models/waiters/bartenders that were hired were incredibly HOT! I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the event!! As it goes for the actual show, hmmm....I did enjoy the risqué scenes (although they do not compare to shows like True Blood, but hey Satisfaction is on USA network). The story concept for the show was awesome, it is something that happens to most couples (if they are willing to admit it or not), that sometimes in a marriage or relationship, it just gets stale. Hey that explains the over 50% divorce rate in this country!
I didn't relate to any of the characters, and yes I am married! I understand that marriages take effort and sometimes there are many issues! But in this show it was just unrealistic. I'm not going to go hire a $1000+ a day gigolo just because my husband doesn't talk to me...really? Us 99%ers cannot afford that! I don't expect my husband to just quit his job and become a gigolo and make a fortune sleeping with multi millionaire women who have to pay for intimacy. My gosh, just writing this down, the story concept is ridiculous. So writers of this show, please make this more realistic if your goal was to make this show relatable to us everyday folk who don't live in million dollar mansions! Also give the characters some personality, right now they are as stale as their marriage.
-Stella
Make sure to Check out Satisfaction on USA 7/17 at 9pm Central!!!!
Seeing the rollout of “Satisfaction” for the USA network was exceedingly thought provoking on so many levels. It blew my mind. Chicago is not as sexy as LA or New York, so the opportunity to see a new show that is working it hard to be sexy and thought provoking was a thrill. The evening was beautifully orchestrated and the venue was sexy with stunning views of the city overlooking Buckingham Fountain as the sun set. The place had a plethora of exceedingly HOT men in tight, Black T-shirts with “Satisfaction” stamped across their chest. Each greeted you at the door slinging cocktails and amazing hors d’oeuvres that were delightfully prepared for the evening. There was a performance piece of art behind the bar that was like a silk tent hiding bodies bumping and grinding like they were under a bed sheet. Models strode through the audience taking a quick IPad survey about relationships and sex with the results given in a very cool panel discussion. The panel was composed of 2 couple therapists, the show's producer and a moderator. The panel component was where the night shined!
 |
| The Panel: Photo courtesy of Jeff Schear/USA Network |
Would a person dismiss a Full bright Scholarship Award (aka a full ride) and put their career on hold completely for 16 years because she got knocked up? Ask yourself this; how does a couple manage in the world today? I don't know any couple of 20 year olds where both don't contribute to the bottom line financially. The kid usually goes to daycare or a grand parent. I found it really difficult to buy into the validity of their existence! It’s not to say that a couple can't pull apart because of lack of interest, time and understanding of the other person, but there has to be more reality to the show. The show felt like a fairy tale and I found it almost impossible to like the characters because they were so flat and two dimensional. If I was the husband, I would be bored with my wife too if she viewed me as nothing more than a walking wallet and saw me as a means of carrying her existence.
And conversely, I would kick my husband to the curb if he didn't see me as desirable and fun to be with other than just a mother to his teenage daughter. But instead she goes to a 20 something year old gigolo for sex and he dumps his job to become a gigolo? Not buying it USA network. Oh, and did I mention that the 20 something gigolo drives a Porsche? Really? A Ford Mustang perhaps but a Porsche and not the Boxter either.
The show could be so much more but it's not exactly on Showtime or HBO so the attention to detail just isn't there. The show's producer was brilliant in the panel discussion when she mentioned that for a couple to work, both people have to be interesting unto themselves to be interesting to their partner. When a person gets bored with themselves, they loose interest and look to another to essentially validate their existence. I think she nailed the subject on the head. Stagnation and routine leads to boredom. Unfortunately given this brilliant insight, why didn't she give the viewer characters that we would actually like to want to watch. I can watch paint dry on my own. I guess what blew my mind on this experience was how such amazing fodder for a show could be so boring given the talent and in sight of such a brilliant producer.
-Thom
HER REVIEW
Ok, I am not as a detailed (seems like all details) writer as my counterpart Thom is. Instead I will say that I enjoyed the actual preview party! It was fun and like Thom mentioned, the models/waiters/bartenders that were hired were incredibly HOT! I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the event!! As it goes for the actual show, hmmm....I did enjoy the risqué scenes (although they do not compare to shows like True Blood, but hey Satisfaction is on USA network). The story concept for the show was awesome, it is something that happens to most couples (if they are willing to admit it or not), that sometimes in a marriage or relationship, it just gets stale. Hey that explains the over 50% divorce rate in this country!
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I didn't relate to any of the characters, and yes I am married! I understand that marriages take effort and sometimes there are many issues! But in this show it was just unrealistic. I'm not going to go hire a $1000+ a day gigolo just because my husband doesn't talk to me...really? Us 99%ers cannot afford that! I don't expect my husband to just quit his job and become a gigolo and make a fortune sleeping with multi millionaire women who have to pay for intimacy. My gosh, just writing this down, the story concept is ridiculous. So writers of this show, please make this more realistic if your goal was to make this show relatable to us everyday folk who don't live in million dollar mansions! Also give the characters some personality, right now they are as stale as their marriage.
-Stella
Make sure to Check out Satisfaction on USA 7/17 at 9pm Central!!!!
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