I received a screener for a new show called Pregnant in Heels and I was intrigued, mostly because the title really didn’t tell me what to expect about the show so I had to watch to find out for myself.
The show is about Rosie Pope, who describes herself as a ‘Maternity Guru and Maternity Concierge’. She lives in New York which she describes as the home of the million dollar mama where women pay thousands of dollars to enroll their children in preschool before they can even sit up. She discovered that there was a business opportunity there so she decided to create the 24/7 maternity concierge service. According to Rosie:
'Women are bitchy anyway, so take a rich bitchy woman and put a baby inside of them and there you have my client’
OMG as soon as she uttered those words I was hooked on this show. Rosie doesn’t come across as very likeable in the beginning, but then again her first clients – Sarah and John, aren’t very likeable either. They want Rosie to help them design a nursery that isn’t too ‘baby’. They want a clean and modern nursery. Yup, that's what we're dealing with. These are people who own a loft in Tribeca, who obviously have more money than they know what to do with and who want a non ‘baby’ nursery. Suddenly Rosie becomes much more likeable as she even goes so far to bring a therapist in to work with the anti-baby couple.
Then there’s Samantha and Mitch – a self described ‘power couple’ who hire Rosie to help them come up with a ‘Marquis Name’ for their third baby. First of all, I really only thought people like this existed in movies and on those 'Real Housewives' show, - I am now frightened to realize that these people are very real, and that Rosie has built an entire business on servicing them!
Samantha is a ‘bestselling author’ who writes about branding strategies and she and her husband are intent on finding just the right name for their son. The goal is to find the right name that will brand him for a solid future. I kinda wish I was making this up. I’m not. Some people really do have more money than brains. Without ruining this for you, let’s just say that this involved focus groups and think tanks – to come up with a baby name. Good TV people, good TV!
Needless to say, I was mesmerized by this show! Watching Rosie, who herself is a mother, cater to the every whim of these million dollar mama’s is fascinating. Even more fascinating that she can pull it off!
Pregnant in Heels debuts tonight on TVTropolis at 8pm. Please watch this show, and then find me on twitter so we can talk all about it!
Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy
Yesterday was Oprah Winfrey’s last episode ever of her iconic daytime talk show and instead of making it the star studded extravaganza that was the previous 2 episodes, the legend decided that for her final show it would be just her and her audience.
In wanting to show her gratitude to those who made her who she was, Oprah decided that the best way to do that was to simply take her last hour on television, and speak to her audience. And I liked it. I don’t worship at the Oprah alter, truth be told. And as much as my husband would like to believe otherwise, the last time I sat down and watched an episode of her show was probably around 6 years ago. Or something like that. But you’d have to be living under a rock to not know the impact that Oprah has had on popular culture, so when I was presented with the opportunity to attend a viewing party for her last show I was excited.
Local radio station Majic 100 hosted an amazing viewing party that Oprah herself would have been proud of that included prize giveaways valued at more than $20000! Morning show hosts Stuntman Stu and Angie Poirier invited 500 lucky listeners to the newly renovated Ottawa Congress Centre to experience Oprah’s last show together. Because that is what the Oprah show has become – an experience.
Majic 100 had the most coveted viewing party in town, with listeners begging for access, and I was invited to cover it and report on it for our local A Morning Show! So there I sat, in a room full of 500 (mostly) women, watching what Oprah herself called ‘a love letter’ to her fans. And we were all captivated. It’s hard not be in awe of Oprah, especially when you think back over her career that started with her as a news anchor and as what she said ‘a jheri curl and a bad fur coat’. Oprah has grown into one of the biggest brands in the world and it’s all because of her hard work and determination. In this Kardashian and Teen Mom era, it’s nice to see that there are still bona fide stars who can command an audience.
For her last show Oprah ditched the huge audiences of the United Centre for her regular studio and filled the audience with friends, colleagues, influencers and just those lucky enough to be picked. And I have to tell you, that the moment she appeared on screen, tears started – both in the studio and in the Ottawa Convention Centre. She looked magnificent, in a stunning pink dress, radiating serenity and peace. She was done, and she was ok with it, because she was done on her terms.
Was her send-off a bit self indulgent?! Sure it was, but she’s an icon, a legend, a brand – she can afford to be a bit self-indulgent. She spoke about the importance of her audience and reflected on a time when she had none. She told us how in 25 years, she never missed a day of work because she felt it was a calling. And the overall message behind her perfectly delivered monologue was that we need to just be better. And even though I’m not an ardent Oprah fan, I think that this world could do with more of her.
She signed off telling us to drop her a line at her new email, [email protected], and that she wasn’t saying good bye, just ‘ until we meet again’. I have a feeling it won’t be long until we see the next project that Oprah will ‘wow’ us with, but it will be a very long time before we see another Oprah.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
Cartoons have certainly come a long way from when we were kids. Nowadays anything and everything is animated using state of the art computer graphics, and almost always there’s a moral to the story or a valuable lesson to be learned. Political Correctness has invaded our children’s programming to the point where the cartoons we watched as kids are almost non-existent today. While I have no problem with it, I think that constantly trying to deliver a ‘message’ sometimes takes the pure fun away from television.
Remember when we were young and we watched the Wile E. Coyote endlessly chase the Road Runner before inevitably being crushed by the ACME anvil? Or watching the rivalry between Tom and Jerry as they mercilessly went after each other? We would never see this on television these days for fear that some parent group would be outraged and get the show banned for causing emotional harm to our children.
Often I don’t think we give our kids enough credit to use their own brains to determine what’s right from wrong when watching a television show. The last time I checked it was not only our job as parents to monitor what and how much television our kids watch, but also to teach and guide them down the right path, that responsibility didn’t lie with television. Not to mention, I grew up watching Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner, Tom and Jerry, and even Gargamel plot the demise of the beloved Smurfs, and I turned out pretty good!
Just today as I was making breakfast for my kids I noticed they were unusually quiet. I stopped to check and see what they were watching and realized it was Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny on TELETOON Retro. They loved it! Then they proceeded to watch She-Ra Princess of Power followed by Thundercats. They’d never seen these particular shows before and were mesmerized by them. Even with the old school animation and lack of ‘messaging’ they were actually enthralled by the cartoons themselves, and I must admit I found myself being sucked into watching an entire episode of Thundercats!
Instead of condemning these classic shows for being too violent or not providing our kids with the right ‘message’ or capitalizing on a learning opportunity, we need to give them some credit. Many of them are being remade for the current generation because they’ve lasted the test of time. There’s a big screen version of The Smurfs heading to theatres this August, and even Tom and Jerry have gotten the makeover treatment. Warner Home Video started creating new Tom and Jerry movies in 2001 and are still making them to this day. So if you want to feel like a kid again you can enjoy Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes this Saturday on TELETOON’s Big Ticket Movie.
I bet your kids will love it (almost as much as you)!
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
More upcoming TELETOON Big Ticket Movies on
Saturdays at 7pm ET/PT:
- June 4: Madagascar 2
- June 11: The Pink Panther
- June 18: The Pink Panther II
- June 25: Double Bill - Scooby-Doo: Curse of the Lake Monster & Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins
You can check out www.teletoon.com for more details.
This blog proudly sponsored by TELETOON Network
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