Arthur Vanwinkle once starred in “Discovery’s short-lived renegade marijuana grower reality series Blue Grass Boys.” But these days, he’s better known as Hillbilly Handyman “Red” on weird friggin’ Fox show “Utopia.”
The premise of weird friggin’ Fox show “Utopia” is this: Take a bunch of people from disparate backgrounds, put them behind big wooden fences and see whether they can start a new society from scratch.
Some of the “Utopians” are described as such:
“Doomsday Prepper” Bella
“Chili Farmer” Chris
“Polyamorous Belly Dancer” Dedeker
“Huntrees” Hex
They fashioned it as a “social experiment.”
But, the program reeks of faux. So much so that it’s difficult to wrap one’s head around anything that’s going on. This is probably why the network recently slashed the show’s Tuesday night airing, pulling back to one hour each Friday night.
This was a good move.
I tried explaining the show to my bride once and was at a such loss to do so that I just flipped the channel instead.
One thing, however, kept bringing me back. And that one thing was Red.
Red was a wackadoodle do. A living, breathing, grammar-challenged anonymous online commenter (though I reckon he doesn’t have one of them ‘puter things). They never said as much but Red likely has “Don’t Tred On Me” (sic) tattooed on his freedom-loving ass.
Red wasn’t about community. Red was about self sustenance. Red was a hard worker. Red was a quick-to-squabble’r. Here are a couple Vines of Red that I’d filmed over recent weeks. In them, you will see Red’s charm.
Lo, the Utopians turned on Red last night, exiling him by a 9-2-1 vote (Bella and Bri were also up for excommunication; Bella because she’s a “garden Nazi”, Bri because she did not live up to her farm-duty responsibilities. Don’t ask.)
It was a sad moment for America. Well, for me and the 20 other people watching this shitshow, at least.
But his exit montage helped cope with the realization that a probably-fake TV show cast aside such a magnificent contestant.
Comfort — the only semblance of comfort — can be derived from the fact that Red is now free to get his America back.
Can you say “Joe the Plumber’s running mate”?
