[loveajax]

Now I know why people sometimes make really "dumb" comments when it comes to adoption issues.

I just watched this Lifetime Movie last night called "The Third Trimester." (Even my DH got sucked in because it was so bad, it was hilarious). The only thing I can say about it was that it was an equal opportunity offender!

Plot: Cold yuppie types want desperately to adopt a baby. Meet with e mom and basically "force" her to commit to giving her baby to them. E mom moves in with them (in the funniest scene e mom and potential a mom are side by side on treadmills) and become psychotic, and hits on potential a dad (who it turns out is her old boyfriend). At the hospital, a parents present the TPR forms themselves to mom. She never signs but they take the baby anyway. More hijinks ensue with yuppy couple getting kid after mom is murdered even though not a single homestudy was done or paper signed.

Now I KNOW that this was just a cheesy movie and not meant to really portray adoption in any realistic light, but I have to think that this stuff "informs" how people think. Awful!

[SchmennaLeigh]

Oh, Lifetime.

Can't say I'm sorry I missed that one. (Though the whole subplot of the adad being the birth mom's old boyfriend is somewhat amusing in a sick, sad way.)

I hate when I (AND JOSH!) get sucked into Lifetime movies. We do it on occasion. We're silly.

[loveajax]

My husband said this morning he was "upset" with me for wasting two hours of his life!!! They do tend to suck you in somehow!

[browneyes0707]

Hee, Hee , reminds me of the time this guy I was dating and I were stuck up in Maine after my car broke down and there we were, stuck in the No-tel Motel on a rainy Saturday ABSOLUTELY GLUED to a Lifetime movie with Punky Brewster and she gets pregnant and killed by the quarterback of the football team and his cheerleader girlfriend finds out. Sadly, it was the best part of the trip

I wish we had the Lifetime Movie Network on our cable provider!

Seriously tho, I think unfortunately that's where a lot of people get their adoption views from, that and the sensational news stories. I call it the "Lifetime" mentality.

[BrandyHagz]

It's like a car wreck...you know you shouldn't look, because you know it's going to be bad...and it may even make you throw up...but you can't help it...the sheer destruction is mesmerizing…you see it, and your eyes just stick to it…even if its bad and you have to look away for some things…you still drive 5 MPH while you pass and rubber neck until you almost cause a wreck of your own.

Sad really – because honestly, I do find that many of the uneducated that consider themselves somewhat educated, have obtained that education from two places:

The media
Lifetime Television For Women

The media is just as bad – perpetuating the stereotypes, the myths etc…they will go out of their way to report about Meg Ryan adopting from China, Angelina Jolie adopting from (insert wherever here) and Madonna’s quasi-legal adoption from Africa – but do they ever talk about the successful open adoption that Goran Visnjic and his wife have with their child’s birth mother? Do they ever talk about the successful semi-open adoption that Sheryl Crow has with her son’s birth mother.

There are a number of celebrities who don’t create a scandal when adopting – but you never hear about them. No one even talks about them here on the forums.

It’s a sad fact that scandal gets butts in chairs – butt filled chairs equal money – people don’t want to read or see about all the wonderfully happy, great, promising stories related to adoption – they want drug addicted hookers pregnant with the adad’s baby, who tries to murder the amom etc…ya know…the stuff that rarely happens, but is often portrayed as an adoption reality.

Makes you wonder who the ‘adoption consultant’ is on all of these shows…ya know, they have cops they work with to make the cop scenes look real – or firemen – cake decorators – etc – but I bet there aren’t many, if any, consultants who specialize in adoption plotlines.

[bajj]

Maybe you should apply for that job!

Yes it is sad, and yes sometimes I do get sucked in and wonder why on earth I wasted time watching tv, let alone Lifetime!

[loveajax]

Well, i was beginning to think that maybe my life was more uneventful than the "average" adoption story (hahahah).

It's hard to believe that of the perhaps 100s of people involved with making this piece o garbage, not one had any kind of experience with adoption and could say, "are you kidding me?"

[KatiesEd-dad]

It's really not a problem in our house. Our tv only plays Dora and Curious George. Good thing I'm paying for the 150 satellite channels with HD tv.

The sad part of TV and media in general is that so many take it for fact unless you have intimate knowledge of the subject. My DW and I can't watch medical shows because the cheesiness of them makes us gag. I also read stories in the paper about calls that I was on and sometimes the facts are so screwed up that I end up wondering if I was really even there. I do think that's where a lot of people get their misconceptions about adoption. Can we do anything about it? Probably not.

For those who rubberneck at accidents....please don't...it's bad enough taking care of the first accident, much less the three that follow due to the rubberneckers.

[browneyes0707]

Originally Posted by loveajax

Well, i was beginning to think that maybe my life was more uneventful than the "average" adoption story (hahahah).

It's hard to believe that of the perhaps 100s of people involved with making this piece o garbage, not one had any kind of experience with adoption and could say, "are you kidding me?"

I know, in my life alone I know a handful of people who are touched by adoption in some way and that's not those I met through here AND those who are open about it! Hard to believe that no one would try to make it SOMEWHAT believeable!

I agree tho w/Ed, I don't watch medical dramas for the same reason, working in the medical field, it's all so unrealistic, I'm like HUH?

And to think,someone not only wrote that screenplay, but someone thought it was good enough to buy and produce. Who knew

[loveajax]

The "legal" part of the movie also had DH and I howling.

The "a parents" (of course they were NOTHING) went to see a lawyer to figure out their rights.

A Parents: The birth mom is CRAZY.

Lawyer: What's your proof?

["A parents" throw their hands up in the air]

And then, even though nothing had been filed (no court case or even a single piece of paper), the lawyer says, "We don't have prima facie evidence for dismissal!" (huh?). And "a dad" says: "Prima facie evidence be darned!"

I told DH today that if this couple came into my office I would have to turn them into the authorities (seriously, i would have to at least consider it, or at least tell them they had no legal rights).

I said to DH: "Don't you think MAYBE they could have run that part of the script by the Lifetime lawyers just to avoid the laugh factor?"

[BrandyHagz]

Maybe it was a comedy?

[browneyes0707]

I don't know, but I'm sure cracking up reading that!

I have a sudden need to feed the trainwreck monster, I so need to see this movie!

[Celesyee]

I watched the movie last night...I originally became glued to the TV because it starts off with the disrupted adoption of their first adoptive son; birthmom lied about BF who contested the adoption. But next thing I knew, 2 hours passed and I just felt the whole movie was so unreal! Remember the movie, "Single White Female," well, it's basically the same plot but with an adoption thrown in the mix.

If I wasn't on this adoption journey, I would seriously thing that such chaos and drama is a normal part of adoption. Now I know why when I tell my family and friends that we're adopting, some of the responses are cringed, feared faces.

By the way, the TV guide labeled the movies as "suspense."

Celina

[devildogwife]

Originally Posted by KatiesEd-dad

My DW and I can't watch medical shows because the cheesiness of them makes us gag.

Okay I am the same way with military shows. I get SO annoyed even hearing about them (especially the Unit) that any enjoyment is ruined by the many MANY innacuracies. I end up wanting to throw something at my tv.

However, when we had cable and my was deployed, I'd get sucked into Lifetime quite a bit. It was a good distraction.

[jigger]

Oooooh -- my husband and I can't watch cop shows. CSI is the WORST. Drives him up the wall. He claims that if the CSI techs in his department could get DNA evidence back in 10 minutes, he would sprout wings and fly!!

I try to avoid Lifetime like the plague. BUT I tend to get sucked into horrible movies that came out when I was in high school. Why did I like that junk??