NBC cancels its mail-order bride sitcom less than 72 hours after announcing it

[Rob L 3,811]

http://www.avclub.com/article/nbc-cancels-its-mail-order-bride-sitcom-less-72-ho-243435

NBC has pulled the plug on its new sitcom Mail Order Family, less than 72 hours after the show was initially announced. Written and executive-produced by Superstores Jackie Clarke, the show was based on her own experiences growing up in a home with the mail-order Filipina bride her father purchased from a catalog, just a few years after her mothers death.

Social media protests against the showwhich many perceived as making light of the inherent inequality and rampant dangers in the mail-order bride industryarose swiftly after its announcement. One widely seen online petitioncirculated by Philippine womens rights group Gabriela USAoutright called for the show to be canceled for what was expected to be its relatively light-hearted depiction of the practice, noting:

Mail order brides are victims of human trafficking as they are forced into sex slavery and domestic servitude. Mail order-brides are vulnerable to violence because of the fundamentally unequal nature and imbalance of power where money is exchanged for an arranged marriage. Many mail-order brides become vulnerable to violence because they may be financially dependent on their husband, are isolated in a foreign country, and husbands can easily threaten them with deportation.

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Maybe websites like Cherryblossoms should be banned as well

Exposing those vulnerable foreign women to exploitation hahaha

[Boiler 45,516]

Not sure if this is best moved to PI forum or VAWA?

[yuna628 9,676]

That's just ugh.

But that sort of pings my memory about how popular the 'fantasy' of mail order brides were in 90s Christian fiction marketed to girls (and still are). Remember vaguely a book where a young hunky unChristian cowboy dude puts out an ad for a lady from lands afar, and some Irish gal gets on the boat and shows up at his house, to be his pure pious bride. Doesn't like him at first and is all feisty. Major attitude he has to control or something while she teaches him the ways of gentleness and blah blah blah converts him and lives happily ever after.

[Rob L 3,811]

That's just ugh.

But that sort of pings my memory about how popular the 'fantasy' of mail order brides were in 90s Christian fiction marketed to girls (and still are). Remember vaguely a book where a young hunky unChristian cowboy dude puts out an ad for a lady from lands afar, and some Irish gal gets on the boat and shows up at his house, to be his pure pious bride. Doesn't like him at first and is all feisty. Major attitude he has to control or something while she teaches him the ways of gentleness and blah blah blah converts him and lives happily ever after.

You missed the sequel where the cowboy dude takes long fishing trips with his boyhood friend and conflict begins when the cowboy dude is unable to articulate the conflicting feelings he has for family, mountains, horses, storms and rodeo stars.

[JayJayH 546]

We had a show like this in Norway. It sounds like a travesty to make entertainment out of these things.

But to be honest, it brought more attention and debate to the topic of mail order brides than glorify it.