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Tune in and Dropout:

Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager

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The jokesters over at CollegeHumor launched their own comedy streaming platform Dropout TV. I'm here to tell you if their exclusive content is worth the subscription fees.

lo understand the context behind Dropout’s new series, See Plum Run, you must understand the deliriousness of late 2000s/early 2010s reality television. Sure, you had the juggernauts like American Idol and Survivor ruling the airwaves, with more offshoots arriving

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every pilot season. However, niche, slice- of-life shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Jersey Shore, and Dance Moms were popping up like teenage acne, giving us sneak peeks into the “real” lives of microcultures across North America.

Towards the end of this madness came TLC’s own offering—one that focused on a lower-class southeastern family as their six-year-old daughter navigated the world of toddler beauty pageants.

The show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, was a certified hit. It ran for four seasons and spawned a culture craze. Whether you watched the show or not, you can still find GIFs of its stars littered throughout the four corners of the internet. Critics claimed that it was exploitative of its child star. It was also dubbed “poverty

The search for Vancouver's basketball treasure

» ‘Finding Big Country’ documentary review

Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist

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ile I do not know a lot about the Vancouver Grizzlies, I know that they were part of the Vancouver sports scene in the 1990s. Since the team moved to Memphis in 2001, it seems like no one in the city knows about them anymore. Their history is erased, with no commemorative displays in Vancouver dedicated to them. However, there are still superfans of the team, including local Vancouver filmmaker Kat Jayme. She knows that the biggest star of the Vancouver Grizzlies was Bryant Reeves, nicknamed “Big Country” because he is very tall—and I mean as in Yao Ming tall. He had been out of the public eye since the team left Vancouver in 2001, until last year when Jayme went on

a search to find her basketball role model and made a documentary about her hunt: Finding Big Country. The film did very well in the Vancouver Film Festival this year, had long lines with Vancouver Grizzlies fans, and won the Must-See BC Award which was determined by the audience. Jayme begins by asking the people who knew Reeves if they know where he is. It seems like she’s out of luck until she finds a story by The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel about Reeves’ current whereabouts, which leads her to go to Gans, Oklahoma. She interviews more people whom Big Country knew to get more clues of his whereabouts. She finally finds him in his ranch which is ina remote part of the city. We find out that he has been doing well after he retired from basketball because of injuries and he is now a successful cow farmer. Also, we learn more about Jayme and how her story is similar to Reeves’ because she tried out for the UBC Women's Basketball team but

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..and more!

‘See Plum Run’

» ‘CollegeHumor: Dropout TV’ review

porn,” referring to viewers who watched in awe at how families of lower socioeconomic status lived. The whole concept of Boo Boo was uncomfortable to begin with, which made it rife for parody.

Along came CollegeHumor’s Precious Plum in 2013, which ran for 13 episodes. The show followed roughly the same plotline as its source material: Mama (Josh Ruben) and Precious Plum (Elaine Carroll) navigate pageants and poverty in America. Response was just as divided as it was for Honey Boo Boo. One reviewer at Mashable dubbed the series “preciously vulgar,’ while another reviewer at The Wrap called ita “bad apple” and awarded it a D letter grade. Internet views speak for themselves though, considering each Precious Plum episode has at least three million views on YouTube.

It makes sense then that Dropout TV would cash in their nostalgia cheque and revive Precious Plum with a sequel. Nostalgia is a bankable sensation—look no further than the mega-success of recent franchises like Jurassic World—but the drunken daze of peak reality television has worn off and the series See Plum Run comes across as tone deaf and just... not great.

Six years have passed in the Plum cinematic universe and Mama and Plum are taking on the culture of high society at Plum’s new private school. In the first episode, the pair clash against everyone

did not make it.

The documentary being presented with a scope aspect ratio makes it more epic. It should be seen on the big screen, though I had to watch it in the internet.

It has a nostalgic aspect with archival footage of Big Country from Jayme’s video collection being played in her VCR, as well as with cassette tapes being seen. With a running time of 42 minutes, the filmmakers have squeezed what feels like an hour-and-30-minute documentary into that length. While the movie could have been longer, it works either way.

The Vancouver Grizzlies not winning a lot of games led to the team leaving Vancouver. If they had been winning games, perhaps Big Country would have played basketball longer. Another thing

from the school’s dean to their prep school neighbours before Mama decides to enroll Plum in the political race to become class president.

It’s a promising concept, sure.

There are characteristics of a better show somewhere in the details; the acting is solid and the production values would make any other internet-made comedy jealous. However, where Plum flounders is its unwillingness to find new angles for these characters (particularly Mama) to play. They're poor, they're not smart, and they have no idea what the hell they’re doing. It’s the same plot we saw in the 13 episodes of its inaugural season.

At least stars Ruben and Carroll slide effortlessly back into the leads, oozing hapless charm. They’re so wonderfully incompetent that I wish there was more of areason to root for them, but See Plum Run is more interested in setting up lewd sight gags and making poverty jokes to give them any real pathos.

Plum shines the most when it focuses on the two leads and allows them to riff off each other, without third parties looking in with pity or shame. Despite all of Mama and Plum’s respective flaws, there are whiffs of a meaningful mother-daughter relationship between them. It's that kind of heart that could elevate See Plum Run from crude mediocrity into a show with something to say.

‘Finding Big Country' promotional image

to point out is that he played with some of the greatest players in the NBA including Shaquille O’Neil, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Dennis Rodman. If the Vancouver Grizzlies were still in Vancouver, we could have had a rivalry between them and the Toronto Raptors.

Asa result of this documentary, the team is starting to get more recognition. Some of Reeves’ memorabilia are now in the BC Sports Hall of Fame, which now has a display dedicated to the Vancouver Grizzlies replacing a signed NBA basketball. Finding Big Country shows all the reasons why the Vancouver Grizzlies should be more appreciated and why Vancouver should have an NBA team again. Finding Big Country can be seen on Storyhive’s YouTube channel.