Episode 15: Runaway Bride

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Even if you've never seen the abysmal Runaway Bride, Shana and Mike implore you to listen to this episode of For Better or Worse. In the short lifespan of the show, never have they encountered a movie that insults its audience more and has zero redeeming qualities. As a matter of fact, it's so bad, one of the hosts outright removes a main character for the remake. [ 1:05:25 || 31.7 MB ]

To listen, click here: http://www.earth-2.net/podcasts/forbetterorworse/episodes/forbetterorworse_015.mp3

[Missy]

Sorry about the audio glitch around the 50-minute mark.

[Stavros]

S'okay, I just had a minor panic attack thinking my ipod had given up the ghost.

Good episode guys, Mike I think you might have set a new earth-2 record in facepalming.

On the satire thing I often don't think genre is helpful because so many great films are shades of grey anyway. Like how Pretty Woman only turns into a chick flick at the end, but that doesn't define it.

[slothian]

What's the likely recording date for Episode 16? I do want to start watching along, but the earliest I'll be able to (legitimately) source & watch My Cousin Vinnie is Thursday night.

But without getting further ahead of myself, this ep confirms my natural scepticism of Julia Roberts' films, in the same way episode 14 asked me to look past it. And not to jump on Tom's bandwagon, but I think I paused slightly at the "anyone who thinks Network's a satire..." line as well, although I was busy moving rooms at the time so the remark didn't linger. Satire is certainly mostly associated with comedy, often because it makes the satire more palatable, but satire does not have to be comedic. The 18th century Irisih writer Jonathan Swift, most famous for Gulliver's Travels, published an anonymous satirical essay which is best known by its short-form title "A Modest Proposal". Said "modest proposal" was that poor people should sell their children to the wealthiest Irish citizens as food in order to ease their financial hardships. The satire is not comedic in the modern day sense of the word, but dates back to similar writings found within Ancient Greece.

So whilst I understand where you were coming from when you quantified it as not being a satire on reality TV, it still is very much a satire, and Tom's MP3 says why this is the case better than I could. Probably because I was born in the 80s!

[Missy]

We'll be recording either this Sunday or Monday.