promotional images of failtasticness. or just badness.

Multiple times today, I have seen this promotional image for The Tudors.  Click on the link if you want, but it's basically Henry VIII sitting on a throne made of naked people.   Had I hads an interest in the series before, I probably wouldn't now.

Anyway, it got me thinking about shows that I was completely turned off of by promorional images alone. 

First up, we have Caprica, which first had this:



I know the actress is older, but we have here what appears to be a sexualized, naked teenager with strong woman = temptation into evil imagery going on.

It was followed by this:



Lookit!  Powerful seeming men staring sternly at the apple that has been connected to the naked teenager, ever-so-subtly connecting the choice the men hae to make with the temptation represented by the naked teenager.  (Note:  I am specifically referring to the imagery and themes in the pictures, not the show itself.)

Would I have watched Caprica without these?  Probably not, as I wasn't fond of the bit of BSG that I saw, but still.

The kicker, though, is this Glee image:



So, we have 2 non-white teenaged girls and a disabled white boy in a dumpster.  The disabled boy's wheelchair is overturned and mixed in with the trash.  All the confident-looking white people are surrounding the dumpster, but not in it.

Would I have watched Glee without seeing this all over the place when it was first getting attention?  Probably, as I like things where people randomly burst into song and dance, but from what i've heard, not watching was probably the right choice.

I'm sure there have been plenty of other things that I haven't watched that I may have without promotional images, but that will do for now.

So, listies, what are some shows/books/movies/etc. where you've been alienated from the actual product based on the cover/promotional images, whether it's for Fail, awfulness, or a squick or implied trope that turns you off, etc.?  (Romance novel covers aren't allowed, unless you have something Special up your sleeve.)

the good and the bad

The bad:

1.  I'm watching season 4 of Bones.  It has reached the point where I'm surprised when the killer isn't a woman killing someone for cheating on her or planning to leave her.  But at least it stopped with Booth's angsty hallucinations.  (Also, I now understand why people who started with this season were complaining about the mansplainin'.)

2.  I'm giving up on the kdrama Time Between Dog and Wolf.  I made it to halfway through ep 11, but the last few episodes have been on the tedious side.  It started a bit dull then turned entertaining for a while, if largely unintentionally.  (Overwrought melodrama and the absolute worst spying I recall ever seeing in fiction.)  By the end of the second episode, the heroine was already established as her main role being that of the Object of Contention between the two guys, and at this point, they aren't even pretending she's anything put an object to be pulled between the various men, and the two guys have both pretty much completely lost me.  Also, the plot is kinda dull, in spite of the spies and triads and amnesia and such.  But the acting was pretty decent, and it had very pretty production values.

3.  This afternoon, they announced that the plumbing in my building at work was going to be shut off "anywhere from three hours to a week."  AGONY!  I can't even be in my apartment if the water is out for an hour.

The good:

1.  bookcloseouts.com is having another sale. $1.99 for paperbacks and $2.99 for hardbacks.  Not sure when it ends.

2.  deepdiscount.com has tons of BBC stuff 60% off.

3.  My parents has been adopted by a black and white kitten.  She's housebroken, but they can't find her owners.  According to my mother, her name is "Smudge" because the white marks look like smudges.  According to my father, her name is "The Damned Kitten."  Yes, she apparently spends most of her time in his lap, getting petted.  Patches is training her to be properly obedient to the Queen of the House, and last week had to herd Dad to rescue her when she got her paws stuck in the curtains about 7 feet from the ground.

4.  I have discovered the St. Trinian's movies.  You should too.