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Sarah Palin's Alaska: Good Branding, Bad TV

At least haters can fantasize she'll get eaten by a bear

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 10, 2010 9:37 AM CST

(Newser) – Sarah Palin seems to be out for a fresh start with her new reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. “In this well-staged reboot, the less you know about her—or, in some cases, shuddered to think about her—then the better the show gets, writes Hank Stuever of the Washington Post. Then it’s just a weird outdoors show, about a busy mom with a bunch of kids and a Fox News TV studio in her driveway.

The show does manage to make Palin “about a thousand times more relatable and likable than any previous effort, which is, after all, the goal.” This is just about branding, reinforcing Palin’s “brave frontier woman” persona—even if she looks like she’s “counting the seconds until she’s back at the truck and has enough signal bars to tweet about how pretty the sky is.” But ultimately, “it's still pretty blah and rarely rises above a relative's chatty slide show of vacation pictures.”

A shot from Sarah Palin's Alaska.
A shot from "Sarah Palin's Alaska."   (TLC)
A shot from Sarah Palin's Alaska.
A shot from "Sarah Palin's Alaska."   (TLC)
Sarah Palin is shown by the family boat in Dillingham, Alaska, in a scene from the reality series Sarah Palin's Alaska.
Sarah Palin is shown by the family boat in Dillingham, Alaska, in a scene from the reality series "Sarah Palin's Alaska."   (AP Photo/TLC, Gilles Mingasson)
A shot from Sarah Palin's Alaska.
A shot from "Sarah Palin's Alaska."   (TLC)
A shot from Sarah Palin's Alaska.
A shot from "Sarah Palin's Alaska."   (TLC)
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An extended trailer for Sarah Palin's Alaska.   (youtube.com)

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Who is this woman, this fruit bat in fleece and Gore-Tex, clenching the side of the rock face above a glacier, screaming "Tahhd! Tahhd!" at her husband, piercing the tranquillity of the Alaskan paradise? - Hank Steuver

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 27 comments
rural-gentleman
Nov 14, 2010 9:23 PM CST
So the Washington Post liberal elite article writer doesn't like Sarah Palin's show. Fair enough. But the ugly things he said about her personally shows he knows nothing accurate about her, just what the liberal agenda wants people to believe. Writers like him need to take off their liberal elite donkey blinders and look at what grass roots people like me from coast to coast know for truth about her, which is completely opposite of what he said in his article. The reason why her support has grown like a mushroom cloud ever since after the 2008 election is because people see all the liberal elite attacks against her, these grass roots people see who she really is, as one of them, and join her.
janbee
Nov 13, 2010 7:39 AM CST
Most reality shows are filled with "embarrassing revelations" -- how will this "plastic woman" handle it -- there's very little that is real about her. Her life is already full of embarrassing moments -- latest being, fighting for kids to eat as much fat as they'd like figuring it's covered in the constitution.

"Psycho in Alaska" When the tv polls start hitting will she quit? Not likely that TLC will dump her for them -- there is no such thing as "Bad Publicity" -- no matter how bad reviews get -- as long as her fringe of support watch the numbers will justifiy it for a cable channel. Can't wait for those desperate Tweets to begin -- help Sarah, we have to support her show..........and don't forget to watch and vote for Bristol.......btw, Todd is now promoting a new sports energy drink look for it..........................Fox News is thinking of sponsoring a Palin Nascar Team, what do you think?....................there's also a new line of clothing coming out called "Sprigs and Twigs" make sure to sign up for a catalog -- www.sprigsandtwigs.com
surfsail56
Nov 11, 2010 2:05 PM CST
Call up your closest tea bagger relative at show time for an informal chit chat - If they bring up that you are making them miss the show act like you never heard of it's existence.. Mum's the word!
 

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