34 Comments
User's avatar
NA's avatar

I appreciated that you watched 8 hours so we don’t have to 😂 I have struggled to understand why Earle appeals to so many, but I think the bit you quoted about Earle being “a wealthier and more conventionally attractive version of the average consumer” sums it up perfectly.

Allison Tait's avatar

Oh the "dadager," that's something to talk about. Earle and Swift are both part of a conversion process in which an individual woman's earning capacity is being restructured into a family enterprise with a patriarch at the top. And the sister arc isn't just a lucrative storyline, it's the mechanism for propagating business. Once the siblings have their own deals and the entourage is on payroll, one girl's tiktok is a family enterprise. And then they can all sit around and talk about work ethic.

Also, the show is so boring! I couldn't get past how boring it was, beginning with them driving around in the truck.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

i kept thinking about charli d'amelio as well while watching. the 12-year-old doing 'outfit of the day' videos was chilling lol like wait a second isn't TJ earle already worth $300 million? can't you let these kids become poets or artists or something??? what else is extreme wealth for if not becoming a patron for your child who wants to become a dj

Allison Tait's avatar

right? let them be djs and develop a line of energy drinks. It's all good.

nonè's avatar

my immediate thought while reading that was that this feels an awful lot like the modern version of finding a man with a suitable annual income to whom one can marry their daughter, thereby ensuring a steady income for the remainder of her life and getting her off the dad's bank accounts. except the financial instrument isn't an endowed parish pastor or whatever, it's some well-structured investments

Allison Tait's avatar

yes! it feels very old and very new at the same time. Substitute in the financial market for the marriage market, and revision made. We've got a winner!

Hannah Schneider's avatar

So boring from the truck scene! Reminded me of early 2000s MTV reality tv that had almost nothing happening.

Christina Karlsson's avatar

I feel like this also falls into a category of content Netflix is famous for, the ambient background show that requires low effort to follow while doing other things. They probably benefit more from that kind of watch to inception us than your observations and reporting. Thank you for your service 😂

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

dude it's so funny that you say that because the entire time i was writing this i was like, i doubt if the entire team at netflix has cumulatively invested this much thought into this project as i have over the last 48 hours

Christina Karlsson's avatar

💯 They only need a few key components: hot girl✅, large follower account✅, bonifide producers they know can deliver ✅ And that’s how the gourmet cheese burger for the masses are made 😉

Sharon | The Sabbaticalist's avatar

Lulu Lenins!!!!! Shit I hate it when the enemy gets witty I feel so torn.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

I KNOW, i cackle-laughed when i read it. i was like, damn, a win is a win.

Lindsay's avatar

As a 25 year old reading this at her fake email job- I am seen.

Jordan's avatar

I smiled the entire time I was reading this, except when I gasped - You quoting the Swiftologist review of the Eras docuseries really surprised & delighted me. Having Zack Hourihane on Diabolical Lies to discuss the complicated unfolding legacy of Taylor Swift’s girlboss capitalism with a tone of nuance and admiration for her work would be really incredible. 👀

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

i genuinely love his work so much. his style of analysis is exactly what i want for my pop culture lol

P.C.'s avatar
3dEdited

I obviously would've read it anyway, but consider this “older audience” member hooked—i literally said out loud over coffee: “Ashley Dupré is Alix Earle’s STEPMOM?!?!”

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

THAT'S RIGHT!!!! i'm so glad my hook worked on you

Raam's avatar

As it happened , I just cancelled my Netflix subscription last night and feeling smug reading this.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

so happy to provide you with smug-fodder

Raam's avatar

And all it took me was a hot min to realize I have 5 other streaming subscriptions and Alix will have ample opportunities to make me a believer..

Ashley's avatar

The dadager part is a little wild to me. He's got to be making so much money off his daughters and that has got to really mess up the family dynamic.

Katie Gatti Tassin's avatar

and he's already like a "construction magnate," whatever that means. allegedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. truly boggles the mind

Kylie's avatar
2dEdited

and as the DL pod astutely pointed out, being wealthy is essentially a prerequisite for becoming a successful influencer

Kylie's avatar

could not agree more! beyond the deeply troubling aspect of marketing his daughter's sex appeal, can he even be trusted as a manager? if he betrayed his wife while they were still married, that just shows what he's capable of.

Ashley's avatar

I just find it interesting how much Alix was made to kind of be the villain with her stepmom - who is the "parent' in the relationship. She should have had to put a lot of work in with Alix and Ashtin. It makes sense they gave her a hard time. Her posting does end up affecting Alix a lot. After reading this, part of me was wondering how much Alix's dad wanted that to be a story line in the show - his wife's redemption tour as a loving stepmom just trying her best after she's been inviting controversy online.

KC Cay's avatar

For some reason "real life Hannah Montana" popped into my head reading this. Something about watching a person who's famous say they want to be a regular person but you wouldn't pay attention if they really wanted to be a regular person.

Sally Doran's avatar

It’s Mary Tyler Moore, btw. As in MTM Productions, as in she was a partner in her own tv production company back in the 1970s.

Yes, I’m way past the target audience of this show, but I read your piece to figure out who this woman is after seeing her in commercials. Sounds like a “you think it’s easy but it’s not”-themed reality show about the challenges of making it as an influencer that will attract wannabe influencers and hate-watchers.

celeste's avatar

you’re so brilliant

Tara Turner's avatar

Proud to be a Lulu Lenin 😂✊🏻

Natalie's avatar

That giant beer pong place has been on every reality TV show this summer!?

Kylie's avatar

i watched the first two eps and immediately clocked the kardashian parallel, particularly in the way men's bad behavior is both centered and normalized (dadager storyline)

Anna Seirian's avatar

Lulu Lenins kills me. Thank you for that.