March 2021 archive

07
Mar
2021

The problematic optics of CW’s Walker: part four.

categories: television shows; word count: 127 words

This problematic optic may not be as widely known by those who… don’t live in Texas, haven’t lived in Texas for awhile, or don’t know Texan history, but the Texas Rangers were widely held to be racist during their original tenure. So it blows my mind that a producing company would want to remake a show whose occupation was deeply core to the show itself when this information isn’t difficult to find at all. To be honest, this seems like another attempt to rewrite Walker himself and the Texas Rangers… oh, look, they’re not racist any more, they “reformed”, or however people say it to themselves to help themselves sleep well each night.

Congratulations, though, seriously, on rebooting an old show whose occupational histories are literally racist.

06
Mar
2021

The problematic optics of CW’s Walker: part three.

categories: television shows; word count: 374 words

One of the things that Walker desperately tries to push, or make the audience see, is the “good cop” image.

In a world with Black Lives Matter and after the deaths of so many African-American men at the hands of law enforcement, this is another thing that has made me… for lack of a better way to say it, not watch the show. This is not something that we need right now. My feelings on law enforcement aside — I support defunding the police, do not like how our law enforcement system is set up in regard to police, and think the best cop is one who is no longer working — this is not a show that needs to air right now while so many tensions are still high. But the executive producers were, and are, desperate to push the idea of a “good cop” onto viewers… and, well, anyone who might even remotely watch the show. It’s bad enough that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic and shows are still being produced (why can’t we wait the pandemic out and then get on making new shows?), but now we have the show that the CW has sunk the most money in to advertise desperately trying to show us an example of a “good cop”… and to be honest, they aren’t even getting that right. (As it also stands, Texas Rangers are also inherently racist. There’s that to deal with.)

Barely out of the gate, Walker was renewed for another season, but I don’t see it lasting an awfully long time. Either that or I see it being drug along like a dead horse because the CW is desperate to make this as popular as Supernatural was. And Supernatural originally came over from WB. The CW could never conceive of a show like that on their own, and it became evident with some of the decisions that were later made in regard to the show (#SaveCastiel season seven when they wanted to kill him off, dumping character Charlie Bradbury dead in a bathtub purely for shock value having had a literal Nazi kill her).

These are also sentiments widely held by people who question the CW on… well, pretty much everything.

05
Mar
2021

The problematic optics of CW’s Walker: part two.

categories: television shows; word count: 201 words

Jared Padalecki is one of the executive producers of Walker.

That in itself is not a problem.

However, where inspiration was allegedly drawn for the show… is a problem. It’s a big problem.

Executive producers have admitted that they drew inspiration from Walker from the pain and suffering that migrant children caged at the United States-Mexico border are experiencing. They drew inspiration for a completely unrelated show from the pain and suffering of these children at the border. For some reason, they thought that this was good information to… put out there regarding the show. Every time I hear about it, see it, or have to tell someone about it, I am bothered that much more by how awful that truly is. That alone would have gotten me not to watch or support Walker, because not only is that disastrous from an interview standpoint, but the fact that it is now public knowledge makes it even worse. I’m sure that the caged children down at the border really appreciate being used as a PR gambit by the executive producers of Walker, because like I said… that’s all that really has to be said. And quite frankly, I find it sickly abhorrent.

04
Mar
2021

The problematic optics of CW’s Walker: part one.

categories: television shows; word count: 399 words

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me, as far as I was concerned with the CW, was actually a series of straws in succession — Castiel’s literal deathbed confession (“Bury Your Gays”), probably meant to bring viewers in to the show, Sam and Dean forgetting about Castiel by the second half of “Inherit The Earth”, Sam not calling emergency services or trying to do anything to save Dean, and the CW using pictures of Misha in their promotion of the final two episodes that Castiel was not actually in to try and keep those viewers watching who were only tuning in due to him. After Supernatural concluded, I decided that I disagreed with so many decisions that the CW had made — remember the #FreeCastiel hashtag when he was originally supposed to die, and stay dead, during the Leviathan era? remember how Charlie Bradbury had unceremoniously been dumped in a bathtub, killed by an actual Nazi? — that I would no longer be tuning in to any of their shows. And then they begin airing a “reboot” to the old Walker, Texas Ranger… but in this case, simply Walker. Jared Padalecki, Sam Winchester’s actor, would be starring in it, taking the lead role.

One of the biggest things that turns me off from this show is the fact that Walker has historically been a Native American character. To the best of my knowledge, Jared Padalecki isn’t Native American. So what does the CW do? They rewrite Walker’s entire backstory to sidestep this and make a white man attempting to fill a Native American man’s shoes more palatable. And for the most part, those who are faithfully tuning in, those who are major fans of Jared’s do not seem to mind this. But I mind this. I mind it a whole lot. Really.

It just seems like the CW wants to make Walker into their cash cow however it is lucrative for them.

A Native American man should’ve played that role. Walker’s backstory should not have had to be rewritten.

I am beyond done with the CW. Unless they stop making the mistakes that they make, I won’t be tuning in. It’s gotten to the point to so many disillusioned fans of Supernatural, and so many former fans of the CW, that this will continue unless it is harshly brought to the CW’s attention. I really don’t like writing these posts.

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