It’s Really a Toss-up…
…of which bothers me more. The advertisement:
“Hey, guys, I have a great idea for an advertisement for Guiliana and Bill’s next season. Infertility is so much fun because it gives you free reign to fuck like bunnies! People love it! So let’s get a picture of that zany duo smiling on a sofa surrounded by rabbits! Make sure one of them gets up there on Bill’s head. And make sure they look happy because we need viewers to know that infertility isn’t a downer. It’s fun! You get to have looooooooooooads of sex. We can make infertility the brand new fad.”
Or the scintillating coverage of her struggle to conceive.
I’m not sure who Guiliana and Bill are, and my heart goes out to them if they’re experiencing infertility. But damn…
58 comments
I think Bill is the guy who won the first season of The Apprentice. Re: the ad, ugh.
And she is/was an annoying host on E! I think her dad runs a local tailor shop, actually.
And dude, no one having trouble conceiving looks that happy…not without a lot of medication.
I have watched exactly one episode of Giuliana (an E! news reporter) and Bill (winner of The Apprentice Season 1?). I’m fairly well convinced that commuting between LA and Chicago may not be the right atmosphere for a) getting pregnant and b) raising a child. But, if that’s what they want to do…
I don’t know, though. I think Bill’s expression says “I don’t know what’s worse, a room full of rabbits, a bunny on my head, or the implication that I can’t deliver the goods broadcast on TV.” While Giuliana’s (and maybe it’s because I have some context) expression says “The stork will drop a baby on my doorstep ANY MINUTE. Or maybe I’ll just go to Africa or Asia and pick one up there.”
That looks awful. Is there nothing ‘reality’ TV won’t stick its nose into..?
LOL @ a
Oh my goodness….they spent a whole 8 months trying WOW!
That’s just wrong on so many levels….I guess infertility is the new fat-joke.
The meds LJ is talking about, must NOT be the ones infertiles take… 😉 But yea, I was intrigued by the theme b/c I thought they could have the chance at portraying IF in it’s real light – no extreme happy faces and bunnies to compare to – but this ad just makes me see it won’t be. And I don’t know, but “hoping for twins” almost hit me like, “since the other celebrities have done it, I want to do it too, since now I’ll be seeing a specialist!” I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it’s almost as if Hollywood has made it a fashion trend that you “must have’.
@a, LOL. so funny.
When I first saw commercials for their “infertility struggles” I wondered if this was going to be a “we tried for two months and are now doing IVF.” I’m actually kind of glad to hear they should technically be looking for help (35+ with 6 months of no luck).
And they look so happy because they have CHA-CHING written in their eyes. This story line might actually get people to watch their otherwise less than interesting show. 🙂
Very disappointing. Seems we can’t get a break anywhere. The press either gives us no attention whatsoever (’cause what’s so important about infertility anyhow?), they give us bad press by focusing on the few horror stories (embryo switch anyone?), or they right scathing articles about the unethical lengths we’ll go to in order to have a baby (thanks NY Times). Now it’s being made light of. It’s shameful and disrespectful. And very, very frustrating.
Lovely. As if there aren’t enough misunderstandings about IF.
They’re fertility experts after trying for 8 months?? And they’re hoping for twins… of course they are. Sad.
I’ve wanted to view the show before I cast an opinion on it, but I haven’t been able to catch it yet. It’s good that word is getting out in a more public, open light that trying to conceive isn’t easy for everyone, but at the same time, I’d like to see it shown with all the tears, heartache, and emotional exhaustion that comes with it. Infertility isn’t fluffy bunnies (especially not as bunnies are a symbol of fertility, which is lacking in INfertility) and sunshiny days in the park as shown in the picture. Still, I don’t want to judge the show off this one picture. It’s a toss-up for me, too.
I caught the latest t.v. promo for the new season of the show, and in it, they announce to a gathering of friends that they are going to try to get pregnant, and everyone oohs and ahhs and toasts the happy couple. And maybe that was their way of coming out to their friends and saying that they intend to start treatments, but I don’t know. I understand how heartbreaking it is to try for 8 months (plus a few years…) and not get pregnant, but I would have smacked my RE in the face if the best diagnosis he could muster was “you guys are old”, as Guiliana reports her doctor to have said. I mean, maybe that’s her way of saying that they have some specific age-related fertility diagnosis that they don’t want to reveal to the media, but still. None of this is doing very much for the image of real-life living with infertility…
Let’s see: you live in two different cities. Guiliana (as revealed on the Episode In Which We Reveal Our Infertility Battle) is unwilling to gain 5 pounds, as suggested by her doctor, because it might limit the number of Super Skinny Sample Size dresses she can wear on the red carpet whilst asking ridiculous questions of celebrities and trying to chase down Ryan Seacrest. And the advice they gave to themselves at the end of said Very Special Infertility Episode? They’re going to relax.
It’s all a little too “infertility is the new black” for me. I’ll take no publicity over this kind of crap.
Wow, that ad is in poor taste! It’s so disturbing to me how infertility is portrayed in the media. I was just watching an episode of The Good Wife, a new show I really like, when a throwaway line at the end revealed that a kidnapped child had been taken by a childless couple who spotted her in a grocery store and snatched her. Because, you know, that’s just a natural explanation–we infertiles are babysnatchers. Obviously. It made me so mad, I ranted about it to my husband for the rest of the night, poor guy.
And, trust me: I’ve watched the show, and I’ll tell you right now – you can go ahead and judge the show just from this ad. This is as thoughtful as it gets.
Im speechless. . .
Perhaps we should invite them into our homes. Cranky from hormones? Screaming at your husband? Throwing random toys? Doctors appointments? OH—and don’t forget the joy of holidays…AND let’s add in the family members that conveniently FORGET that you Have No Uterus, and mention that you should have more children…
What were we talking about? I forget…
The ad and the followup interview makes me a little sick to my stomach.
Something about this line “and while doctors haven’t found anything out of the ordinary…” really disturbs me. I understand a lot of people have unexplained IF.. but coming from her mouth.. it just sounds like.. Of Course there’s nothing wrong with me or Bill.
I am glad to see I am not the only one annoyed with that ad.
I tried to understand the show by googling it, but I’m afraid I still don’t understand what the show is or why it is on TV or who they are or why that ad exists. All I can tell is they were on TV before, they got married, and now there is a TV show about them being married. Not sure why anyone cares.
So far from reality and truth. I wonder if they will show the crying fits and the late night hurry-up-and-give-me-a-deposit sex because I am tired and we have been doing it all week.
I wonder if they will show any of that?
UGH
OMG!
I’ve never even heard of this show until Mel brought it to my attention. This is DISGUSTING! Did you read the comments on Celebrity Baby Blog? They’re making fun of her for it only being 8 months and applauding her for being willing to talk about Infertility. Whatever!
UGH!
These people aren’t worth my time! Do a reality show at one of our RE’s offices – THAT’s a reality show!
Ewww. Gross. I threw up in my mouth. No more of this, please.
Clearly, they don’t get it. Or their ratings and a “cute” ad matter more to them than making thier infertility struggle something that brings more awareness to the topic. Sad.
I have never seen that picture and am actually quite shocked by the connotation! Little do those people know that infertility isnt about doing it whenever, whereever…its more like scheduling meetings …NOT FUN!
I have caught their show a few times, last season she thought that she might but but wasn’t… and now she wants to be. They really haven’t been trying so they are basically beginning the process. That was my take on it though, but I don’t watch it regularly …
Never heard of this show, although the name Bill Rancic did ring a distant bell. And now I wish I hadn’t heard of it.
Another reason NOT to watch reality TV. Ugh.
Like Kym, I didn’t want to judge until I saw it for myself. Luckily, a fellow blogger posted a play-by-play, so I had an idea of what to expect. Still. . . I had to leave the room. Hubby came in while I was watching, and refused to change the channel, because he “wanted to see how it turned out.” I told him, “Well, duh, they end the episode with her getting a positive pregnancy test. Because THAT’s how it happens for fertile people.”
Add Guiliana to the list of celebrities who will be pregnant before I am. *sigh*
If they needed some real reality TV of what infertility treatments are like, why didn’t they come see me over the past 10 years. I could’ve given them their money worth! And maybe I’d be much better off financially too.
I almost puked reading this
I’ve been watching the show since they started the IF theme and am giving them the benefit of the doubt. The vapidness and airheaded-ness is part the “charm” of Giuliana. She is like that on E! and was like that on the first season when IF was not the topic. Like others, I thought they would draw us in and announce a pregnancy right away, but they are already 4 shows in and she is not pregnant yet. The show has shown them struggling and arguing about whether they tell their family.
They may still be at the early stages of IF, but that confusion and late to realize that there was a problem was part of the process for me at least and it seems for them too.
I never watched this show until this plot line started. Now I am glued to it. The way a film critic can’t not watch new releases. I sit there ready to make snap judgments about the show and I feel imminently qualified to make said judgments. But I find myself humbled and taken down a few notches by the frustration that they must be feeling. Whether or not the show chooses to show many (any?) of the downsides, I know they are there. And the feelings of sympathy and empathy tend to distract me from how irritated I am at the glee with which the show presents their situation. I would never wish IF on this couple and I don’t know the extent of their struggle. It all seems like sunshine and roses so far – a “maybe we’re not doing it enough” kind of thing. But if it does get bad, my hope is that it will be impossible to gloss over the struggle. That people will see this situation for what it is and for what it does to people. My fear is that it will only show what it does to celebrities who can afford, well, anything necessary. In any case I applaud them (Giuliana and Bill) for laying it all out there.
UGH I saw the commercials for this, although what I saw didn’t indicated infertility…it was them telling parents they were going to try for a baby…and I seem to remember commenting to my hubby that “just watch they’ll get preggo right away and then go on and on about how easy it was UGH!” I kinda feel bad about that now, but not too much if they’re glorifying IF. If only they would show the TRUTH about it in more TV shows and movies, maybe it wouldn’t be so taboo and people would actually TALK about it!
I definitely threw up in my mouth a bit. Also, I seem to remember an episode of “The Soup” – from at least 5 months ag0 – during which they played a clip from that god-awful show. She made some snarky comment about Bill not having sperm, and blaming him for not being able to conceive. I felt pretty bad for the dude. Methinks this has been going on for longer than 8 months. Oh, and that she has issues.
Wow. Hadn’t seen that but I’m horrified…so does it make more horrible for wanting to watch this train wreck that I know will fire me up??? Or just a glutton for punishment???
I don’t know, man. I feel like we’re being a little harsh on them. The article and ad are both really dumb, but that’s not necessarily their fault. Sure it seems crass to make light of what most of us have experienced as devastating, but maybe it’s they’re way of coping. And the media are just exploiting the situation. I feel sorry for them.
This is just one more reason why I don’t watch much reality tv. (OK, yeah I do, but I try to keep it to cooking shows.) Shows that capitalize on the struggles, pain, and deficiencies of others just make me angry. I don’t find watching a family disintegrate, a person make a complete fool of themselves thinking they can sing, or someone sweating like a stuck pig to lose that last 10 pounds entertaining. I feel sad that someone, somewhere, in some network office thought that following an atypical (economically speaking) couple through infertility would not only be entertaining, but even amusing. **sigh**
O.M.F.G…this is just (ugh, I can’t even think of the right word to put in here).
This is an actual show somewhere? Seriously?
Is it cool if I pick my jaw up off the floor now? That is the worst, most insensitive, f-ed up ad I have ever seen. I can’t believe anyone would even actually agree to that! I’m just… WOW.
How completely tasteless. And of course we need another depiction of what infertility truly looks like and who better to show that than some reality TV star who’s tried for 8 months. She should get some tips from Octomom, or maybe her doctors phone number. Before tonight I’d never heard of this show before. I will say though this is why I refuse to watch reality TV. Because you start off with something funny and “interesting” and then you get to the point where it all is funny and interesting no matter how whacked it really is. And no I don’t think this is the only horrible example of how people will be entertained by absolute garbage.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
G and B go out to dinner in one of the episodes with this couple and they tell this couple that they are trying to conceive and before the other woman even opens her mouth she gives this look (we have all given it) and then calmly tells them they have been actively trying for five years and have done four rounds of IVF, she should have just told G. to shut the eff up.
ha! just scanned the comments and see I’m not the only one. ugh.
The ad isn’t that bad after you see the clip from The Soup that Wifey mentioned.
I rolled my eyes when I first saw this ad. I also raged against ABC’s Find My Family, but my DH watched that show and the advertising was pretty disconnected from the reality of the show. I’m currently also pissed off at the CW’s advertising campaign for “Life Unexpected”. “When a girl finds her real parents…” like the 7 foster parents who cared for the girl growing up were what? Oh, and Private Practice spent 2 whole episodes using the word “Implantation” instead of “Transer” *argh* Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, while I’m glad that the infertility and adoption worlds are getting attention and exposure, I hate the ads and misinformation. Double edged sword I suppose.
Oh wait, PP ALWAYS uses the wrong word, it was just especially bad in one story arc.
I have yet to hear anything in the media that comes close to the reality of what IF is like than what I find on your site and around blogland in general. It seems like a lot of people don’t want to be informed, they want to be entertained while maintaining their bias and misconceptions of an issue and the media is happy to oblige.