Category: Hoosiers

Another Indiana sitcom

by Craig Fehrman, posted in Hoosiers

. . . another slap in the face. After NBC’s awful Parks and Recreation—what’s really surprising is that a show can copy The Office so closely and still avoid any redeeming qualities—ABC gives us The Middle. It will premiere sometime this fall, in the made-up town of Orson, Indiana. It will star the ever-attractive Patricia Heaton. And, based on the trailer, it will suck.

I could give this show the same treatment I gave Parks and Recreation—arguing that, in fictionalizing the town, it blows any chance at authenticity or at helping out a real Hoosier community—but I don’t think The Middle will be worth even my underemployed time.

[UPDATE, 2013: For reason only Google understands, this throwaway post keeps getting tons of hits. That’s regrettable because this post sucks. Parks and Rec was pretty awful in its first season, but it’s amazing now — one of the few shows I watch live every week. Also, I’ve never watched The Middle, but I hear good things, largely from angry commenters on this post. My only point back in 2009 was that both shows looked like they were going to rely on lazy stereotypes. Seems like both of them have managed to transcend this concern — I know Parks and Rec has. Regardless, if you all want to keep filleting me in the comments, go for it. I deserve it. I got this one way wrong.]

Cornfed Comedy

by Craig Fehrman, posted in Hoosiers, TV and Movies

[The Shield]

Tonight at 8:30, NBC will premiere a new comedy, Parks and Recreation, which is ostensibly set in Indiana. This show comes from the people behind The Office, but where that show takes place in the real-life locale of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Parks and Recreation will occur in the fictional town of “Pawnee.”

Believe it or not, this might actually matter, and I try to explain why in an op-ed for my old college paper, The Shield.

(Hint: it has to do with Elkhart—and with my hope that the city will one day be known for more than being the birthplace of that modern-day Abraham, Shawn Kemp.)

N.B. (updated)

by Craig Fehrman, posted in All History is Local History, Features, Hoosiers, Politics

[Culture11]

I grew up in a tiny Indiana town, where, each political year, we bonded over a latent jealousy toward Ohio for its constant visits and stump speeches and attention; all we got were the commercials, since our TV channels came from Cincinnati.

Of course, this all made sense. Politicians and reporters ignored Indiana because, as a state, it had already cast its ballot. (This year may prove to be an exception, which is why we’re getting covered.) But this doesn’t mean that every county and town mirrored the state’s worldview—Bloomington, I’m looking at you—and I’ve long held the theory that there’s just as much to learn from a man-on-the-street piece on Indiana as from one on Ohio.

A few weeks ago, Culture11 gave me a chance to turn theory into praxis. I don’t live in Indiana now, but the same principles should apply to a true-blue state like Connecticut. Check out my dispatch from North Branford, one of that state’s independent small towns.

UPDATE: If my story inspires you to do some electoral digging of your own, check out this Google map, which includes the results from the last seven presidential elections. Unfortunately, it stops breaking down the results at the county level, so you’ll have to trust me on North Branford. (h/t Marc Ambinder)