Polyamory: Married and Dating - Premier July 12th

WaywardDruid

New member
FYI

See more at Polyamory in the News:

"The Showtime cable network has (finally) issued a press release and posted trailers announcing its reality series "Polyamory: Married and Dating." Among the people the series will feature are poly-community organizer and tantra teacher Kamala Devi, her husband Michael McClure, and their extended pod. Seven half-hour segments will air Thursdays from July 12 through August 23."

http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/showtime-announces-polyamory-tv-series.html


Just Me,
Tim
 
Sadly, the videos aren't available from my location. I'm cautiously interested though.
 
I'm hoping it doesn't turn out to be quite as sex-focused as the previews make it look.

No doubt it will be interesting.
 
What ISN'T sex-focused in tv/movies/etc anymore? :(
 
Here's the teaser for Polyamory: Married and Dating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gORoIA4FnQw
This summer spread the love. Don't miss the series premiere of Polyamory: Married & Dating beginning July 12th at 11PM ET/PT. This provocative reality series takes an inside look at non-monogamous, committed relationships that involve more than two people. Lindsey and Anthony are married, but live in a triad (three-way relationship) with their girlfriend, Vanessa. Husband and wife Michael and Kamala (who have a young son) are adjusting to having two of their lovers, fellow married couple Jen and Tahl, move in with them. This explicit look at modern-day polyamory follows characters grappling with the emotional and sexual drama of sharing their hearts, as well as their beds.
 
Now that I have seen the trailer, I agree that it looks framed in a sexual way. It's weird though, the people talk about love, the images show sex.
Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
 
It's cool to see poly in the more mainstream media in general but I do agree, this looks very sex-focused and there is a bit of a disconnect in the overtly (almost exclusively) sexual imagery in the promo but the talk is about love. While I am all for sex-positivity, I think it can be a very fine line to toe with something like this and I fear the media may err on the side of exploiting the sex over really exploring the full intimate relationships. We'll hafta wait and see on that. I've set my DVR and will definitely check it out.

I'm not crazy about the "Married and Dating" subtitle, personally. I guess if it were part of an ongoing series where each 'season' had a different focus or something that might be cool but I don't like the insinuation that poly = open marriage. And I'm not nuts about the triad appearing to be represented by a 2 + 1 dynamic. I hope that's not how it is presented. If so, would like to see a 1+1+1 dynamic represented in addition.
I guess I take personal exception to that as a bit of a "unicorn" myself. Last thing I need is for that to be people I know's mainstream intro to a poly triad. Lol. It's already hard enough for them to wrap their brains around it being a relationship that happens to involve three people, not a couple plus me.

I'm very curious to see how this show is presented. I have my reservations but would love to be proven wrong and see it done well. I just think that poly needs more than a few 30min shows about a couple of open marriages to be given a fair shake.
 
Well, I had never heard about Showtime before, so I had no expectations in particular.
 
Yep-way sexual visuals that don't meet up with the word choices. Hell, don't even match my real life poly experiences... :rolleyes:
 
Married & Dating Review

My hubby and I just watched the first in the Showtime series POLYAMORY: Married & Dating (we recorded it on DVR, and watched it over morning coffee). It had pluses and minuses, but it was disappointing, really. Sex sells, I guess - and that is what it emphasized. It moved TOO QUICKLY, showing two poly families moving in together and having drama - all in a 22 minute segment.

The first show covered way too much ground, with too much drama for me, and I'm a poly person. The show was not an ideal way to introduce poly into mainstream culture.
 
I want to see this! Even if it is super sexualized. I know it will probably make poly look bad, but honestly the people who don't get it, aren't going to watch a tv show and have their minds changed. People are just way to hateful, scared and judgemental about things that are different. This show was being discussed in one of my mommy groups and I had to just walk away from the computer. I try not to argue with people about it because I know it gets me no where but ugh!! And that was before the first episode even aired.....
 
I just tried watching the first episode of Polyamory: Married and Dating (we taped it at a friend's request), and could barely get through it. If it had been a full hour, I wouldn't have been able to.

The best way to describe this show is as the "16 and Pregnant" of polyamory. I wasn't aware that it was classified under "late night" Showtime, or else I might have gotten a clue.

The show is nothing more than a puerile soft porn erotic attempt at a romp, and a rather unsuccessful one at that, with drama thrown in for additional bad measure. Explicit shots of group sex abound (at best, questionably real), and of course all the participants are toned, rock-hard eye candy who have the brains of five-year-olds when it comes to communication.

The show was obviously written for a target audience of drunk horny teens, or mindless adults, who love such drively drama. Other comparable shows are "Cheaters", "Fifth Wheel", and Jerry Springer. And have just about as much connection to actual polyamory as the other shows, or sitcoms, connect to real life.

So honestly...unless you're in the mood to laugh at sheer absurdity or enjoy silly soft-core porn stuff...skip this program. You're not missing anything.
 
Thanks paul16451 for making me feel better for not subscribing to Showtime for the purpose of watching this. I'm poly curious and had hoped this would be an honest attempt to represent polyamory in a modern world. I must say that I was reluctant after seeing the previews and with your honest critique, I'm glad I steered away.
 
You're welcome. The show uses the term "polyamory" as a flimsy excuse for showing wannabe swingers trying to live together and show off their strange sex (by soft core standards) and bodies while Big Brother cameras watch.
 
In fairness, I did want to add that one of the women did say ONE thing at the end of the show that did resonate with me as something of a single redeeming value:

"Yes, I make love all the time. When you make love all the time, you need to consider it a celebration of life."
 
After watching the show my reactions were a bit mixed. On the one hand, it wasn't as bad as I feared it had the potential to be. It wasn't quite what I expected from the promos (which were nothing short of awful).
On the other hand, I was still not impressed and felt it was not a good representation of polyamory or something I would want to be associated with, as a poly person.

I liked the bits which showed the groups communicating. Unfortunately these scenes were brief and blown through to get to the next sex blurb. The whole show feels choppy, random, and poorly edited. The 'sex scenes' are not well integrated and don't add value to the show in any way. Most take the focus away from the actual relationships and basically sexploit poly like I expected (making it seem like orgy city). But even as pure entertainment, they fail because they're not long or involved enough to be terribly interesting or exciting. Either way it just doesn't work. The only redeeming part was when the two couples were together at one point and one of the women showed signs of discomfort, so the other stopped and asked her what she was feeling and what she needed. I thought that was positive. Otherwise, it was just out of place, failed, contrived barely soft-core pornyness.

One scene particularly annoyed me. The triad was having a discussion about their issues surrounding one of the women's new relationship. The issue clearly wasn't resolved for everyone but suddenly they jumped up and ran off to get naked in a very forced manner. It was like someone stepped in and said, "This is boring. Go get it on instead." So the segment skipped straight from actual relationship issues and communication straight to how awesome these three model-esque people are in bed together. No resolution or segway to speak of (unless you count the awkward "I won't be happy til she's naked" comment as a transition).

So, it wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was still uncomfortable and very disappointing/embarrassing.

Most of the interactions with the triad group seemed contrived and staged. The quad's interactions came across as more genuine and positive, but the editing prevented the viewer from getting a clear look into the dynamic and inner workings of these poly relationships. That's what I want to see. Otherwise "Polyamory" should not be the title of the show, IMO. It should just be about group sex, show better sex scenes, and get on with it. (I'm not saying the people involved aren't poly or in multiple loving relationships, I'm just saying that Showtime isn't letting that remain the true focus or be explored to an appropriate extent for a show *titled* "Polyamory".)

One good thing that came of the show... My frustration with the whole thing led to an interesting conversation with my mother about what poly is and isn't.
 
Back
Top