Review: 'OMG! With Peaches Geldof'
I was dreading to hear what Peaches (daughter of Bob) Geldof would ask a bunch of furries — in the end it was more what Dom Joly said which was annoying.
For those outside of the UK, OMG! With Peaches Geldof is a TV show on the digital network ITV2 which does not have a good reputation. It is considered by many to be cheap, tacky, low-brow infotainment, as is most of ITV2's output.
It was this cheap material that I had to wade through before they got to furries. For most of the time I as flicking between channels hoping that these fame-obsessed idiots would soon get off the screen. As a result I did not have high expectations of their coverage of the furry fandom.
I was expecting the usual stuff about having sex in fursuits to be trotted out. However, I was pleasantly surprised.
The item began with footage of several furries out in the street, some in full fursuits, some in partial fursuits, embracing each other and members of the public, while also talking about their fondness of the fandom. Not a bad start I thought – rather see them talking than Peaches.
Then they brought the same furries into the room, one of whom, called Nightwind, was still in his full fursuit and sat next to Geldof. The discussion of the fandom was on the whole good. It covered the media coverage of furries, fursonas and fursuits. Many of the studio regulars and members of the audience got hugs from Nightwind. It certainly was not as bad as I had feared it would be.
In terms of the sexual side of the fandom, this came up because of studio guest Dom Joly, the comedian behind the TV series Trigger Happy TV which often features sketches of people in animal costumes. His contribution was more what I was expecting. It was he who brought up the dirtier side of the fandom, although he was wrong in his comments.
For example, he said that in America furries were known as "plushies" and made references to them, which as a furry I know to be wrong. A furry can come from anywhere in the world. Furries and plushies are different people, but as one person quoted: "There's more definitions of furries than there are furries."
Overall, I would say that this show was better than my expectations. Mind you, I did not have any expectations to start with.
Editor's note: For other UK furs' impressions, see the UKFur.org forum thread (registration required)
About the author
The Chained Wolf — read stories — contact (login required)a journalist and Grey Wolf from England
I have worked as a journalist formerly for The Furtean Times.
Comments
Hey, it's not horribad!
Let me guess. FA's turned it around into something bad.
That time of the year when shows start noticing us again, ratings crunch time?
Interview a "furry" without a fursuit in possession, and I'll be interested.
This. Getting really tired of "furry" being assumed as "person who dresses in animal costumes." But I guess it's not as attention-grabbing to just have somebody there wearing jeans, an animal T-shirt, and a con badge or two.
Agreed, but come on, the media too intellectually handicapped to figure out who the furry is if they aren't wearing the suit :)
EDIT: Replaced "Retarded" with "intellectually handicapped" because it is too demeaning to be compared them to the media, no one deserves that kind of comparison, the retarded are far better then them, and claiming they're comparable gives the media more credit then it deserves.
It's part of media capitalism that they'd be interested in the sensational. The fursuiter gives more material and requires less creativity to turn into a show.
Dude, ain't just the media.
People who've known I'm a furry for over a year still ask about the fursuits. I have a stock list of fursuit jokes so I can cover the ground quickly so I can get to the interesting part of the conversation.
Most of these people have no contact with furry other than me and Google.
Right, and the results they get from Google counts as media.
So basically what I read was: It isn't just the media, it's just the media.
We're all a part of the media.
So, uh, yeah, I guess.
That guy in the background really needed a bitchslap. Interrupting is annoying on its own, but for him to have the nerve to tell people who are PART of the fandom that he knows more about it than them (correcting them on, and then argueing about America's terminology and activities in the fandom)is rediculous. Did they invite them on the show to tell the furries what furries are? Otherwise, good stuff.
I thought furries trying to tell furries what furries are was quite common, to the point where it's probably easily source of developing drama in the fandom.
Yes, but Dom Joly is presumably not a furry, and is just going by something he read on the Internet.
I think he might have come across something related to furries/plushies during his time making "Trigger Happy TV", which as I said does feature lots of sketches of people in animal costumes. I'm guessing he is getting mixed messages.
One of the furries on PoE-News I don't like seemed to believe him being a furry made him the expert there.
I could've told him it made his opinions on the subject moot to the other posters on that site. It is backwards logic, but it is common for an outside group member to feel they "understand" the "real" reasons behind another groups' activities, especially when they are critical of the group.
Dom Joly: Neither furry nor (for the last few years) funny.
Interesting to see how Grace Dent defines furries in her review of the show for The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/12/grace-dent-tvod-omg-with-peac...
I watched the furry section now and mostly enjoyed it, except for every time that Dom opened his mouth. He was a complete idiot and didn't know what he was talking about. I wish the furs on the show had done more to correct him.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
We did, but it was edited out :P
Lol. I suppose that's always the risk of these things. No way of knowing how much has been edited and cut out or rearranged.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
Post new comment