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Sillycalimomma
Member
11-13-2003
| Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 11:57 pm
Wow. just watched tonights episode. That Frankie girl....my goodness does she have issues. I hope they take care of this girl and not make her just some big ratings-go-getter
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 12:44 am
It kills me that Frankie smokes, but then, it kills me to see anyone start smoking that young.. probably from seeing how it affected my mom (emphysema not being a kind way to die). She definitely has issues and I'm sure the piercings are a way to handle the urge to cut. Cutting is just one of many ways to attempt to be in control, like anorexia/bulimia, mindless sex, mindless drinking or drugging.. I know cutting freaks people out but it is really no more self-destructive than other methods and less destructive to others than some of the methods. I don't know what MTV would do.. the only times they have intervened was when David struck Irene in Seattle, he had to take anger management, or when Ruthie drove drunk, possibly endangering others, she had to do rehab. Heck, we haven't even gotten to the date rape by the friend of a castmate in the house (not that they will show that) yet.. and they go to Mexico right after that, so we are likely to see much more smoking and drinking Frankie I just want to scoop up and save, not that this is really possible, of course. And no, I'm not a cutter but I've had some very close friends who were and I can assure you it is preferable to suicide, which I've been thru with a friend. Yikes.. too much rambling.. I must need sleep.
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Frogichik
Member
06-11-2002
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 6:18 am
I started out really liking Frankie (and for the most part I still do), but she is starting to rub me the wrong way. She gets mad at Robin being a drama queen, but that's what I think about Frankie. She got mad at robin for wanting to keep the mouse in a cage, saying that they should let it go and the mouse would rather be free. Hello, I'm sure that snake would rather be free too! About Frankie taking meds, I think she mentioned during a drama queen moment with her boyfriend that she tends turn away from things that are good for her, including medical treatments. I took it as there are pills and treatments she could be on, but she choses not to. I see this girl's whole life as a cry for help. To me she wants to be more carefree like Robin, but she can't due to her medical condition and it pisses her off, so she lashes out. I could be wrong and Robin could be a complete pain in the ass, who knows!!!

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Lauram
Member
07-13-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 7:44 am
OK call me ignorant but . . . What is cutting?
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Azlen
Member
08-27-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 10:14 am
Cutting is where a person will take a knife or something sharp and purposefully cut themselves. I believe Frankie does this so she can feel she has some control over the pain in her life to compensate for the CF which she has no control over.
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 12:25 pm
As can often be seen by our own reactions to things we see on 'reality' shows, sometimes the people or actions that make us the most upset are the very ones that mirror ourselves or some negative experience we've had. I think there ARE similarities between Frankie and Robin and that those similarities are the very traits each of them dislikes about themselves. That's why they rub each other the wrong way. It's like looking in the mirror and only seeing your flaws. As Frogichik pointed out, there are also points of envy between them, although I doubt you'd ever get either of them to admit that. For me, the cast this season is pretty pathetic. Most of them seem more focused on drinking and finding sex partners and getting in fights than doing anything at all constructive. This is the kind of focus on young people that gives us older folks a bad taste in our mouths. I know there are TONS of young people out there who are doing so much and focusing on positive things. Too bad MTV keeps going for the lowest possible denominator on these shows. Wish they'd show us someone with ambition and drive. People who exude the passion of youth for possibilities and political change or something. At the least, people who wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth like this group does. That said, it does seem that Ja and Jamie are much more grounded and responsible. I suppose that's why we hardly ever see them except when they are acting as confidants and advisors for the other kids.
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 2:20 pm
Yes, I believe Frankie and Robin each act out in ways that aren't helpful.. we know the source of Frankie's pain.. she's know all her life that even if she does follow all the rules for her disease, she isn't destined to live long. CF treatments, at least the last I knew, aren't as simple as just taking a pill.. usually can involve daily pounding on the chest and back to loosen the crud inside that then must be coughed up. Certainly she shouldn't be smoking or drinking. I don't excuse her actions at all but I do see that she's going for life in her own way. I have a harder time with empathy for Robin, she presents herself as loud and obnoxious and always looking for a fight, but I realize that isn't fair to her. And I agree, RW has moved more and more to casting more and more self-centered people.. I thought the high point was San Francisco and those people have moved on to be AIDs activists (Pam and her now hubby), doctor (Pam), illustrator/cartoonist/author (J...) , teacher (Cory), mom with masters who came close to a spot on The View (Rachel), talented singer/poet (Mo). And of course they had Pedro who I'm sure would have continued to shine had he lived. But MTV apparently felt they got more bang for their buck with PUCK and have gone in that direction all too often.
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Upstate
Member
01-16-2004
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 6:57 pm
this weeks' episode showed a lot of what brad is all about. 23 years old with a degree and was pouting mommy and daddy were saying support your self son. he was actually mad that they wanted him to get a job and make his own living! LOL gee what a shocker he blamed dad! what does he want to do besides live off mtv, mom and dad?
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Sillycalimomma
Member
11-13-2003
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 8:26 pm
What I wondered is why he would spend all of that time (and parents money, i'm sure) getting an accounting degree if he had no intention of getting a job in accounting afterwards. What a waste!
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Blacksheep
Member
10-18-2003
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 8:59 pm
sillycali - very true, though I have plenty of friends that do not have a job related to their degree. In Brad's case it was a waste cause he's not motivated at all except to have no responsibilities and have a good time. Wish my life was so simple! lol
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 9:36 pm
He also seemed irate that they wanted him to deal with his own bills.. or sell his bike.. I'm betting mom and dad also PAID for his degree..
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 8:53 am
I'm betting mom and dad have paid for everything...
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Sweetmelissa04
Member
03-20-2004
| Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 8:54 am
I know a great number of people who are living like Brad right now. They "claim" that they don't want to have a job in there degree feild anymore. Being a recent college graduate myself, I can understand that. The problem lies in the fact that there is no work ethic period. I wonder if Brad was made to have a job to support him in college. My family didn't pay one single cent for my college education so I was forced to work until my hands and feet fell off to support myself. I don't "use" my degree although just having a degree in anything can get you a fairly decent job! But I could not imagine going back to mommy and daddy and not working. I would feel like a total waste of time. I think this is something that many young people lack today. They want to be "independent" but don't want to put forth the effort that you have to put out to get there. They want what there parents have. But most of the time, it took there parents 10-20 years to get to that point. In my life, I have realized, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up the ever so growing ladder! And I agree, MTV has lowered itself to pick people who only drink and have sex. I used to be a Real World addict, but the past couple of seasons, I've been over it! Maybe I'm growing up too!!!
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Ohiomobprincess
Member
11-07-2003
| Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 9:49 am
I think I'm actually growing up too. In the past I made it a point to watch RW on the first day it aired, now I catch the repeats. I guess I'm getting tired of the same type of people B/M casts every season. I am enjoying the challenges though.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 5:38 pm
Doesn't it look like (from the preview anyway) that Frankie drops that knife purposely in front of them?
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Danas15146
Member
03-31-2004
| Friday, April 02, 2004 - 7:25 am
I have a lot of sympathy for Frankie because of her illness - but she has a heck of a lot of nerve calling ANYONE a drama queen. I hate listening to her call Robin a drama queen and the way she talked am Cameron when Brads girlfriend was there. I agree with Mamie - it does look like she dropped it in front of them on purpose. I think alot of the stuff she does is to get attention. Looks like next week is another "Dave - I was drunk and I blacked out. I don't remember what I did"
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 11:25 pm
Okay, so now I think that MTV has either sunk to new lows of using people to further their own agendas or they have absolutely THE WORST background check people in the business. Let's see... You take a girl who has a life-threatening disease (cystic fibrosis), whose only apparent support system is her boyfriend, and who has what appear to be VERY apparent "issues" with dealing with life in general and put her into a situation that will cause her the most stress possible. This is a girl who smokes even though she has a lung disease that kills many people well before they reach her age. She has panic attacks when she sees large ships. She gets so drunk that she blacks out and she does this on a seemingly routine basis. Now, we find out that she's a cutter, as is her boyfriend! Come on, MTV! Is this REALLY what you want to do?? Were you HOPING that she'd cut herself in the house so you could get Dr. Drew on air giving us an advisory about how serious a situation it is? Did you REALLY want to put her roommates into the position of playing psychologist for such a serious problem? I applaud Jamie for how she handled everything, but I think it's really out of line to put her in that position. I hope to goodness that they had a producer or two working with her to help her deal with the situation and just chose not to show us that part. This is truly a new low for MTV and Bunim/Murray productions, IMHO. If you want to shed light on the problem of cutting, do an episode of "Real Life" where you can really examine the issue instead of throwing a kid like Frankie into a situation that will push all her buttons and start the cycle over again (from what she said, she had been having pretty good success at stopping the cutting before she came to the house -- or at least not doing it nearly as often as she had previously). ARGH!
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Azlen
Member
08-27-2000
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 10:22 am
Josh Wolk does a hysterical weekly review of each Real World episode for Entertainment Weekly and most of the time they are better than the show itself. I was wondering how we would handle this week's "special" episode and he didn't disappoint. The second I saw Drew Pinsky's face before the April 6 episode of ''The Real World,'' I knew the show would be difficult to mock. MTV execs don't call the Pinskeroo unless they're about to unveil a very grave problem that they wish to seem sensitive about. No, not binge drinking or casual sex: That's considered entertainment on MTV. No, Pinsky and other serious warnings only come out when an episode depicts something like AIDS, Lyme Disease, or, as in tonight's episode, cutting. Frankie is a cutter, and I'm not going to get into the play by play of this revelation, because I'm in no position to make any judgment on her: I'm no Drew Pinsky. (Although, to be fair, some have said that I have the confident swagger and shapely hips of a young Dr. Ruth.) No, instead I will dwell on just what the hell ''The Real World'' was doing casting someone like Frankie in the first place. Mind you, I don't think that someone with Frankie's problems should be kept off the airwaves. In the right hands, a documentary on Frankie could be very sad, touching, and enlightening. But after this show has spent the past few months fetishizing dumb people drinking, humping, and generally being irresponsible, then any random, serious Life Lesson moment seems comically discordant. Especially when it's such a one-shot: As the coming-attraction segment showed, next week we're going to go right back to seeing Brad dry-hump some girl while the rest of the roommates peek into his room. It's like splicing an afterschool special into the middle of a ''Girls Gone Wild'' marathon. ''Show us your boobs! Show us your boobs! Hey, wait, that girl's got bulimia, and she needs therapy. But hey, girl behind the girl with bulimia, show us YOUR boobs!'' On TV, if you're trying to make an audience sympathize with and understand someone with Frankie's extensive problems -- a life-threatening disease, morbidly low self-esteem, and now cutting -- you want to focus on them in their natural environment. Why does someone with a lung disease smoke? What does she experience in her daily routine that makes her feel so bad about herself? But what you DON'T do is stick her in a house with six people she has nothing in common with and add a lot of alcohol. This isn't documentary filmmaking, this is sadism. Tune in next season when they cast someone deathly afraid of heights and make him live in a treehouse! And if that doesn't work, they'll give the roomies jobs as tightrope walkers. Or put 'em on a roller coaster, make them clean the Seattle Space Needle, toss them out of a plane, whatever it takes to make sure that that kid eventually snaps on camera. ''But we're just keeping it real!'' the producers will say. ''Frankie wanted to tell her story!'' And she clearly does. There was something creepily straightforward about the way she explained to everyone exactly why she cuts herself, not to mention her apparent weird satisfaction from having her therapy session taped. (And then, of course, there's the fact that she practically dropped the knife on Jamie's foot after her cutting session. This couldn't have been a more public cry for help if she had cut herself with Jamie's steak knife while Jamie was eating a ribeye.) Again, I'm hardly Pinskamatic, but I don't think her exhibitionistic tendencies should be rewarded by being put on television. Yes, she wanted to tell her story, but at a certain point the producers have to squeegee away the saliva they've dribbled onto her submission form, and politely decline her application. Here's a thought: Why not cast one of the other 400,000 kids lined up at the door with a slightly less serious problem. Like, say, just being an ordinary idiot? I assume that when Brad showed up for an audition, he brought a friend who wanted to see how the producers could shrink Brad to fit him in a TV: Why not cast that friend? I'm not saying ''The Real World'' can't be a force for good. How about this? Before every episode, have Drew Pinsky appear and gravely warn: ''Lazy-ass kids who lack any kind of work ethic are a serious problem. Hopefully tonight's episode will raise awareness of the terrible epidemic of tragic self-absorption.'' Then again, MTV can't risk possibly solving that epidemic: it would mean the end of ''The Real World'' forever.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 10:51 am
Oh Azlen, thanks for the laugh. I am going to have to start reading EW every week so I can read this column. This guy is too funny but also dead on to the whole Real World mess as it is.
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Not1worry
Member
07-30-2002
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 12:14 pm
I've pretty much given up watching the season at all. I read the recaps at TWoP and see the posts here. I just can't watch the sad and annoying goings-on anymore. The EW writer is dead on, I'm going to have to keep up with the recaps there.
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Watching2
Member
07-07-2001
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 1:22 pm
I pretty much gave up too, Not1. Last night was the first time I deliberately didn't watch when I knew it was on. I've missed it before and didn't care. I did forget it was about the "cutting issue." It sounds like MTV has gone very LOW. Maybe I'll see if I can catch a rerun only to see what they did. I've had experience dealing with "cutters." As a matter of fact, a friend just emailed me that she discovered her college-aged roomie might be one and I pretty much confirmed with her she was before the girl admitted it. Frankie should have never been cast. It's as if they're asking her to implode for the viewing audiences "pleasure." Uggh.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 1:27 pm
I thought Vegas was too skanky and I think this season is too....pathetic. Maybe I've finally outgrown RW or maybe it's finally gotten too desparate for me to derive any pleasure from it.
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Luvmykitties
Member
01-02-2004
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 1:59 pm
Max - I totally agree! I don't understand why there wasn't an intervention by the production staff. I thought if someone was in danger of harming themselves or others, the crew can/will intervene. I know that a cutter usually is not attempting suicide, but they are injuring themselves, and the cutting could be dangerous if it's too deep or becomes infected. Not to mention that this girl also has CF (although I have a friend in his 30's with CF and lives a pretty normal life and appears very healthy), and anxiety/panic attacks. And we still have an upcoming episode with an "alleged" rape! helloooooo...
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 3:24 pm
It used to be that I would religiously watch Real World the night it aired. I don't do that anymore. I also switch to other channels while it's on and I never would do that before. Of course, with MTV, you can see the show 50 times during the next week but regardless, there is nothing that draws me to it. Maybe I am getting too old to watch these kids, and that's what they are, act with so much stupidity. I don't know...
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 11:59 pm
Wow, I thought, consdering they were this far into the season, that they handled it pretty well. Frankie's cutting is far less life threatening than the the amounts of alcohol consumed by several of them, Frankie included. I'm thinking that most of the kids go on RW or RR mostly so they can get on the challenges these days, and exgtend their 15 min and go for some money and prizes (oh yeah and more sex, drugs and booze..)
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