Has anyone seen the episode of Desperate Housewives where one of thir new neighbors is a model railroader in large scale? They accidentally walked into his house to drop a cake off and accidentally followed the train down to his basement and found a wall full of photos of little boys! I mean, I thought been compare to a murderer is bad and now been stereotyped to a petaphile?!
I just don’t understand…
Well, a guy’s gotta have some outlet when his trophy wife is with the pool boy, milkman, mail carrier, Orkin man, Avon lady and Terrell Owens. All before lunchtime.
I think the real question is what is a self-respecting model railroader like yourself doing watching Desperate Housewives? 
And that, ladies and gentlebeings, is why I don’t watch TV. At any given time there is a bad light thrown upon some ethnic group or type of person on TV in the name of entertainment and for a story line. I am Italian, should I be offended by the Sopranos? No, it’s only TV and it’s not real.
I am a large scale garden railroader; do I feel that episode was directed at me? No, I don’t care what stupid thing is on TV, I just turn it off, go out to the garden and run my trains.[;)]
If you actually watched the series, the whole thing was yanked out of the basement by the next show and no more was said. There were pinball machines and many other toys there also. Also you need to learn how to spell pedaphile please.
You mean “pedophile?”
I don’t watch this show, but it doesn’t sound all that different than a recent CSI episode that featured a model railroader as a serial killer suspect.
This subject (how TV or Hollywood portrays model railroading) comes up once in a while and there is the usual litany of “who cares - it’s only TV” or “That’s why TV is stupid”, etc.
So why should we care that producers, directors, and writers in the media often seem to have a very poor opinion of our hobby? What does it matter when our hobby often seems to be used as a device to underscore the eccentric nature of a deviant character?
Because like it or not, the fact is that millions of people tune into TV shows or go to movies every week which allows a vocal minority to perpetuate a negative stereotype to the mainstream. Not everyone may be dumb enough to buy into these stereotypes, but way too many do. If you doubt this, then perhaps you can explain why millions tune into inane shows like ‘Desperate Housewives’ to make them top rated shows? It’s scary!
So when we dismiss this as yet another stupid TV show that got it all wrong, are we just burying our heads in the sands of denial?
If I spent my time watching TV, I would not have a layout.
Who cares what entertainers, news media, or couch potatoes think of our great hobby?
I enjoy model railroading, regardless.
To quote Archie Bunker - “all those TV people are pinko fruitcakes anyway!”[:D]
Hey Iceman, I had to jump on this one I think we are just sensitve about our hobbies and our personal lives. After all the time and money and love of what we do. I learned a long time ago that one bad example whether on TV or the news media triggers something in our own ego’s which stirs up our emotions. I love this hobby since coming back to it. I am also a competitive High Power Rifle shooter, but that doesn’t make me a drug dealer or a crimminal of any sort. But it somehow does make me that to some who have their opinions of gun owners and hunters and shooters or collectors of guns. These are both very expensive hobbies and I love both of them. The things I like to do most in my life with clothes on. Jim
Sounds like we need to hire some high priced lawyers and start a class action lawsuit that will benefit nobody except the lawyers. It’s a shame they don’t show the side of the hobby that’s positive. Where people try and get kids interested in something other than running the streets, stealing and doing drugs. I guess that kind of thing doesn’t sell in Hollyweird though. I pretty much gave up on regular TV and only watch History,Discovery and Sci Fi channels these days.
If you had been to a train show lately, you would see where they get their inspiration for model railroaders as deviants. I am not kidding. Although 99+% of the attendees look perfectly normal, there are always a few unwashed unkempt individuals you would not want to get stuck on an elevator with. The same could probably be said of most hobbies. At most gun shows I always see one or two wannabe SEALS or Dirty Harrys or Arnold type Commandos.
Just remember almost everything not on the Discovery Channel is likely fictional, especially the network political coverage. “The Deadliest Catch” is all the good stuff !!![:D]
If you keep in mind that when it comes to network T.V. the writers of weekly shows (unless they are also the director, or one of the “stars”) are the lowest paid of the “creative” types - it explains a whole lot!
-George
[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto]
I couldn’t agree more!
That’s anywhere you go.
Some of the garbage that goes out on TV during prime time is just deplorable.
Sorry, but Desperate Housewives is probably the flagship of that fleet of garbage. Frankly I don’t care how they portray model railroaders, because they portray everyone and everything else in a bad light.
If it weren’t for sports, news, Mythbusters, the Office, and a few assorted other shows, I’d be tempted to get rid of my TV altogether.
I may ditch HBO after the Sopranos’ upcoming last season. TV time is mostly wasted time. Lately I’ve been filling out waybills in front of the TV!
If this series, and this episode, keeps gullible dolts out of my basement, better yet from darkening my door, I’m all for it.
Desperate, indeed!
Since I have a TV right next to the monitor I’m working with, some people might think I’m a TV addict. If they’re a little more observant, they might notice that the shelf above the TV is full of tapes with railroad titles (at the moment, N&W 611 is in the VCR.) Other than that, it’s handy for checking the weather, the 5 o’clock news and NASCAR.
In back of me is a sizeable library of paperbacks, many of them fiction. Since I can read a LOT faster than TV actors can talk, that’s where I get my prime time entertainment.
Thinking about how model railroads are depicted in that fiction, one example jumped out and shouted. In Heinlein’s Double Star, the reigning monarch is a model railroader - which detracts not one whit from his Imperial dignity.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
That’s what happens when people who don’t have something better to do, write shows for a living…
Tom
“If it weren’t for sports, news, Mythbusters, the Office, and a few assorted other shows, I’d be tempted to get rid of my TV altogether.”
[#ditto] [#ditto] [#ditto]
-George