Happy October, dear readers. It’s traditional, during this time, to indulge in some frights, frissons, and freakouts. I could not possible steer you wrong, then, to point you in the direction of the true monsters among us: other people. Not that I’m encouraging you to be afraid of your neighbors, dear readers. Well, maybe the one upstairs who has that grandfather clock that only chimes at 3:02 PM. Him, wise to be wary of. And that nice couple next door that is “rebuilding their back closet…” seems like that project is taking a smidge too long, doesn’t it? And don’t get me started about those children always digging up the back yard across the way.
Sorry, where were we? Documentaries.
Telemarketers (HBO): The subject of this documentary is the telemarketing industry in America, which is to say, it’s about people who take advantage of others and people who are taken advantage of by others. In telemarketing, the telemarketers are both. The three-part series follows two employees-turned-whistleblowers of Civic Development Group, or CDG. CDG did telemarketing for charities, most notably for the police and firemen’s unions. They hired anyone who was willing to work, paid them very little, and allowed utter chaos to reign at the office. Many employees were ex-cons, did drugs openly in the office, and brought prostitutes in during breaks. Yet the strength of the documentary is that it is clearly situated in the employee’s perspective and has great sympathy for them. For many, it was the only job they could get and the scanty pay kept them from homelessness. In particular, the documentary makes a hero out of the top seller at his particular New Jersey branch: Patrick J. Pespas. Pespas is a Character with a capital C, with a heart of gold and a relentless drive to expose the company he works for. For CDG is the the undoubted villain of the piece; they instruct their employees to lie, cajole, and wheedle money out of the vulnerable by promising the funds will go to the families of fallen officers. Needless to say, very little of the money ever went to the police at all.
The New York Times Presents: ‘How to Fix a Pageant’ (Hulu): I haven’t thought about the Miss USA pageant since Trump was accused of his usual disgusting behavior in connection with it, but apparently it has been doing its thing this whole time and getting into all sort of non-Trump related scandal. The 2022 Miss USA pageant appears to have potentially been rigged and the Grey Lady uses her stylish resources to dig into it. Viewership has been declining precipitously for the pageant and it seems that the lack of scrutiny may have led a new owner to feel she could manipulate results so her preferred candidate, Miss Texas, would win. The documentary is snappy, at an hour, and a longer piece could have perhaps dug in deeper, but in this content saturated world, it’s nice to take an hour and learn something unexpected. Or, in the case of a sexual harassment subplot, completely and tragically expected.