After spending way too much time huddled with The Google, I still came up short on info. (That’s unusual and in itself a curiosity.) According to News on News, “Lockup” and its devil spawn is:
“One of MSNBC’s highest-rated documentary series. [It] has taped in more than 40 prisons throughout the U.S. and in six foreign countries (and counting). ‘Lockup’ began nearly a decade ago, and has led to many spin-off series including ‘Lockup: Raw,’ “Lockup: Extended Stay,’ and ‘Lockup Investigation: Juvenile Justice.’”And not to ignore our female population, the series gave birth to “Lockup: Inside Tennessee Women’s Prison” earlier this year. That, alas, is about all I found on the series fact-wise. As to why MSNBC pursues this line of programming I can only speculate: Titillating viewer bait, cheap to produce and big-time ratings (voyeurism works, baby). And that presumably translates into big bucks for the network.
What little I have seen of Lockup is – what’s the word? – nauseating. But MSNBC loves it and promotes the series like hidden-camera pornography. On the official MSNBC Lockup homepage, the promotional headlines scream at you: “See a new Lockup every Saturday! Join the Lockup fan group on Facebook! Follow Lockup on Twitter!” And it that is not enough you can get "Lockup: Raw" today on DVD – or better yet: iTunes!
Psst! Hey, buddy. Wanna watch “Lockup: San Quentin (Extended Stay Edition)” on video right now? C’mon, buddy, click here. It’s free. Check out episodes like The Gang's All Here, Killing Time, The Conjugal Visit, Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Weapons 101 and Slammin' in the Slammer. (I don't even want to think what that last one is about.)
Folks, I’m not making this up. The only thing missing from the MSNBC site is: Live! Nude! Girls!
Even the MSNBC social network outreach is seedy. A recent Tweet: “Spend your Saturdays behind bars!! LOCKUP MARATHON STARTS AT 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT!!!” A recent Facebook entry: "Lockup: Just want to clear up one thing. Yes, there are enough prisons in the US to keep us busy forever.” Oh, goody.
Here’s what one Facebook troll, I mean, commenter had to say: “One thing I noticed about MSNBC Lockup ...It seems when they focus on the female prisoners, they really push to capture the lesbian relationship factor! They hardly do this when they record the men's prisons. I hate the women's prison episodes. It seems like they do this to gratify male viewers and it gets tiresome.” Um, ya think?
Wait, stick with me here, it gets better.
The MSNBC site also sports a prominent icon link to a site called newsvine where one lands on a titillating page called "Lockup - Life Behind Bars." The page boasts its "most popular articles" of the week:
* 31 Year Old Woman Pretended To Be A Boy To Date Teen Girls (8 comments)
* Woman, 23, Arraigned In "Facebook-Feud" Death (6 comments)
* Girl, 9, Fatally Shot In Head While Sitting In Mini-Van (8 comments)
* Good Samaritan Attacked, Murdered By Car Burglars (2 comments)
* Apt Renter Arrested After Maintenance Worker Finds Child Porn (3 comments)
Get the picture? Obviously, MSNBC does. Know thy audience.
A breathless New York Daily News article best captured what Lockup is really about. The headline reads: “MSNBC's 'Lockup' exposes stirring life behind bars.”
[The show] just picks a dozen or so inmates at Limon, a high-security Colorado prison, and follows them around - to the extent a camera can. It ends up somewhere between a documentary, which portrays a situation as it is, and reality TV, which tries to find the most dramatic moments in a situation and then, if they aren't dramatic enough, enhances them.Exactly. So, what demographic faithfully watches this pseudo-porn as we skip blissfully off the cultural cliff? I don’t want to know. Shame on you MSNBC. A pox upon all your penal houses, I mean, highest-rated "documentaries." Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming …
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