TV

When we say 'TV for the lowest common denominator' we mean 'the imposters'

This was not said to offend.

"The Imposters" is a fascinating cult viewing that shakes up the subject of the investigation for the viewers, advocates abysmal seriousness courtesy of host Chaim Etgar, and by and large often looks like a parody of investigative programs.

In addition: The "Studio Friday" program is impersonating itself

Ben Byron Braude

10/04/2022

Sunday, 10 April 2022, 08:56 Updated: 09:08

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The "Imposters" promo about Sharona Prince (Rainbow 12)

Those who grew up here in the 1980s and 1990s well remember "Bikidur Hoker," Rafi Ginat's investigative program that aired on Channel One and later on Channel 2. It brought to the screen reconstructions of crimes (in the wide range between burglaries and murders) accompanied by Israel Police hotline .

I remember myself watching it devoutly as a child (yes, probably my parents should have been more strict with my viewing habits) but making sure to leave a light on.

"Broadcast Investigator" has always been scary and intimidating and left me with a feeling that maybe the offender who was shown on screen was just hiding on the porch of the house.

The "Imposters", which is broadcast on Arc 12 and also deals with serial criminals, I can see at any hour and without a light on.

It's not just because I grew up, but also because of the so different nature of the two programs.

What made the "imposters" a cult with comic characteristics is not the 'what' but the 'how'.

I would not want to be in the shoes of the victims who appeared yesterday (Saturday) on the show: Moshe who lost his son in tragic circumstances and was blackmailed by the impostor through a fabricated pregnancy, Sharon who came for spiritual counseling and her identity Negba or 'Shulamit' who wanted to treat diabetes and almost lost her life. It's hard and boiling to show for the umpteenth time the helplessness of Israeli law systems. So where did I find humor? The least attentive.Whoever says that commercial television refers to the lowest common denominator refers precisely to programs of the "imposters" type.

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Viewers say "wow" for other reasons.

"The Imposters" (Photo: Screenshot, Rainbow 12)

If this sounds like an insult to you, think again.

From show to show, "The Imposters" became a must-watch, "Must See TV," as the NBC slogan put it in the 1990s.

From the promos shouting "ticking bomb" accompanied by a fuzzy binder (I swear every time I'm afraid I might know him / her) to the chase scene without which no show is complete, I find myself waiting for the show to air and even live.

Her excellent ratings data show that I'm not alone.

As a loyal viewer of "The Imposters" I can say that Sharona Prince did not reach the status of truly cult imposters like Shifri Shapira - the crook who impersonated a blind woman and announced in the studio "I am not a person who sees" - but she was not far off.

First, the show brought to the screen a variety of characters and events whose combination felt like a parody of an investigative show.

From the Jerusalem hitmaker with the bold American accent, through the young woman who met our victim at a bar in Turkey and managed to spot that the ultrasound the impostor showed him was fake, to a friend of the same girl who happened to be part of a poker West at that hitmaker's house.

Second, and this is something that intensifies from program to program, the questions of life challenge, are always presented with the same abysmal seriousness that one can only smile when one hears them.

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Wow Wow wow.

This episode left us breathless

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First of all an entertainment product.

"The Imposters" (Photo: Screenshot, Rainbow 12)

The scene where a challenger sits in front of a police investigator who has been with the story for more than a decade, and is amazed that the serial impostor has changed hairstyles and hair colors over the years, felt like it was taken from a sketch of "Great Country."

"Here, here she is with black hair and here she is with Kara and there she is generally blonde. Wow."

We viewers too find ourselves saying ‘wow’, but probably not for the same reason.

Another 'amusing' moment is the one in which he dramatically notes that the dangerous impostor before us was having relationships with two men at the same time - yes, just like any man who was not faithful in his relationship.

The culmination of the cult comes of course in a confrontation between a challenge and the impostor that ends with the latter entering an apartment she does not live in ("ma'am this is not your house" is a sentence worth becoming a sticker on WhatsApp), which does not stop him from standing out the window and playing all the offenses attributed to her.

Say the 'imposters' come to do good to people and I'm just a little cynic.

Chances are you'm right too.

But the case presented yesterday showed that Etgar and the people behind the program also look at it first and foremost as an entertainment product.

Spoiler - Sharona Prince is a convicted felon who spent several years in prison and was released less than two years ago.

The program staff gathered enough evidence of her new acts of fraud that it seemed to me that they could have brought the program to an end with police officers coming to handcuff her and keep her away from society.

Still, whoever is sent to the front this time too is living a challenge in the form of his superhero.

Not a word was said about a police investigation and it is possible that Mrs. Prince is just working on her new scam.

On the other hand, if “The Imposters” manages to both be an entertaining TV and also thwart the malicious plans of serial crooks, who am I to complain.

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Not suitable for broadcast.

"Ulpan Shishi" (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

Big Mouth

Another program that is far from how she presents herself is "Studio Friday."

The flagship edition of News 12 has long been the news version of the stands on football fields.

The wide panel of reporters and commentators sitting around the round table comes ready every week to confront, squander, shout and not listen to the other side.

Last Friday, it seems that all this reached a certain peak, at least according to the discourse index on the networks, during the confrontation between Rina Matzliach and Boaz Bismuth, or in short, the "shut up" affair.

This happened while Rina Matzliach expressed her opinion on the conflict between us and the Palestinians and linked the fact that there is no progress in a peace agreement to the current wave of terrorist attacks.

Bismuth erupted and demanded to know: "Do you justify terrorism?".

By the way, the sharp-eyed could see that this statement also came immediately after looking at his phone,

However, "Shut up", as well as the follow-up of Moshe Nussbaum who came out to defend Masliha and called Bismuth's statement "dumb", both unworthy of broadcasting.

Danny Kushmero almost got up from his chair to calm the spirits and tried to remind the audience that they were all part of the sixth table of hundreds of thousands of families in Israel, but it was too little and too late.

For years, "Studio Friday" has been trying to produce a loaded and heated panel, building tension between the panelists, and instead of showing Twitter people how to conduct a civilized discussion, it presents an angry and violent discussion culture just like in the networks themselves.

This debate may remain another viral segment on Twitter - and come on, it's not that we did not know Rina succeeds in shouting - but its severity lies in the culture of debate, sorry for the subculture of debate that the discourse in Israel has reached.

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