Ralph Macchio, skeptic, documenting 'American Gypsies'

[Questioninggeller]

From CNN:

Ralph Macchio aims to pull back curtain on 'American Gypsies'
By Breeanna Hare
CNN
July 17, 2012


With an acting career that spans three decades, Ralph Macchio is right at home in front of the camera.

But with the new National Geographic reality show "American Gypsies" premiering at 9 ET Tuesday night, the 50-year-old actor is going behind the lens as an executive producer.

With "American Gypsies," Macchio is training the spotlight on the New York-based Johns family, a Romany clan that's balancing holding on to its traditions while pursuing the American Dream, he said.
...
CNN: What can viewers expect to see?

Macchio: Over the first season they'll see the growth within the family as far as finding the balance between (having) one foot in the American Dream side and the other rooted in the Gypsy age-old traditions. ... There'll be no shortage of the Gypsy court hearings and the conflicts and the psychic shop dilemmas. There's a lot of stuff going on, but the human elements are what I'm hoping will make this a long run rather than a flash-in-the-pan idea.
...
CNN: Did you know anything about this culture before you watched that footage?

Macchio: No, and that's what was fascinating. A lot of the footage was about a wedding and also the whole psychic world. You're either a skeptic or a believer, and I fall way on the skeptic side, big time. But they claim they have a gift. It is an odd business, and not one that I would wholeheartedly invest in and embrace, but it's a belief. To me, it's just peeling back the curtain a little bit on this one unique family and what their culture is, whether you agree with it or not.

The stereotypes (about this culture) are so negative. So I think the Johnses want to be recognized as a minority group and not those stereotypes.
...

Full interview with video at CNN

From Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

TV review: 'American Gypsies' dreadful
July 18, 2012 12:15 am
By Neil Genzlinger
Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

...
The Romany family here owns "psychic healing shops" in New York, we're told, but its members seem as if they could use a little psychic healing of their own. Everybody's a control freak, everybody yells at everybody else and they all behave contemptibly while expressing contempt for people and culture not Romany.
...
As in the TLC show, much is made of the Gypsy emphasis on teenage marriage and on not mingling with the outside world. In the premiere's most ridiculous moment, one of Bobby's daughters told him she wants to become an actress.

"It's not our tradition to do things like that," he told her. Then he explained to the camera, "The elders are worried that the children will choose to be exploited."

No, he's not saying it ironically.

Full: Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

The official website is at:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/american-gypsies/

 

[NewtonTrino]

The Karate Kid strikes again!

Take that Mr. Miyagi!

 

[Bikewer]

I caught the trailer for this the other night....Looked like plenty of typical reality-show "drama" and acting up for the camera.
The gypsy culture is interesting, as is the related "Irish Traveller" culture. Deeply rooted, unfortunately, in scams, cons, and taking advantage of the "outsider".
I've handled a couple of cases myself.

 

[The Don]

And in the UK at least it is very popular at the moment.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-big-fat-gypsy-wedding

...unless of course you're being held as a slave

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16836065

Criminal elements of the British and Irish travelling community have been transporting vulnerable British men abroad to work as virtual slaves

 

[Careyp74]

I watched this last week. It was interesting to me as a look into other cultures, just like the way I fell in love with Duck Dynasty. I look to see if there is a second show On Demand every now and again ( like an hour ago ) but none yet.

The family has a patriarch who is sick, and so the family itself is run mostly by the oldest son, who lets the other sons influence his decisions. On of the other sons has two daughters that want to participate in acting classes, which goes against the Romani belief that they shouldn't intereact with outsiders. The son doesn't care, even continuing to let his daughters go while being threatened with getting thrown out of the family. It is at this time that we also learn that the daughters, in their young teens I believe, still do not know how to read. The father didn't realize this, since the females in the family do most of the intereacting with the kids.

Another event in this first episode involves a friend of the same son with the two daughters, who sets up a psychic shop less than three blocks away from the John family psychic shop. This goes against Romani law, and the three brothers go over to the shop and tear it apart. The owner gets upset, but they decide to let a Romani court (the elders of the area I guess) decide on the outcome.

Finally, the mother of the family, at the wedding mentioned previously, tells her granddaughter that since she is 14, she needs to find a husband, and continue the psychic bit. The girl doesn't want any of this, and her father goes over to stop his mom from starting anything at a wedding. The mom gets upset, telling the son that it is important, and blabs on about having a gift, and all the females have this gift, etc.

All in all, the family is pretty backwards, and make the Duck Dynasty clan seem modern America.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I've seen ads and it looks terrible. I didn't know Macchio was producing it, but I wouldn't watch it for any reason.

 

[coalesce]

I predict...that I won't watch this. Reality TV just doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid, but I'm glad that Macchio is showing them to be every bit as fragile and imperfect as the rest of us non-gifted.

Michael

 

[Piscivore]

I'm sorry, that's not a "culture". A culture produces art, music, literature. These people are just a tribe or a clan.

 

[Halfcentaur]

I'm sorry, that's not a "culture". A culture produces art, music, literature. These people are just a tribe or a clan.

I was under the impression these people have been isolated for about 1500 years and have their own style of music and dance.

 

[godless dave]

I'm sorry, that's not a "culture". A culture produces art, music, literature. These people are just a tribe or a clan.

You're using a nonstandard definition of culture. A culture consists of the social practices and customs, including art and music, used by a group.

And they do have their own distinctive art, music, and dance, so you're wrong even by your own definition.

 

[pakeha]

And in the UK at least it is very popular at the moment. ...unless of course you're being held as a slave

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16836065

From the BBC article:

"[They are] targeting the most vulnerable in society and forcing them to work, but the cases are not categorised as trafficking. The work is normally carried out in northern Europe, where they work in rural areas and focus on elderly victims.

"These people are intimidated into paying for substantial work, so it is a double crime, exploitation of the victims and fraud of the person paying."

A report into human trafficking in Sweden, published in 2010, found 26 reports of human trafficking for non-sexual purposes. "In particular, these concern British and Irish tarmac and paving layers in Sweden," it says.

My bolding.

 

[chainlink]

I can't imagine that any "reality/documentary" type show would dare to accurately present fortune-telling as the outright fraud that it truly is. There's just no money to be made doing so. TV shows are always either an outright promotion of the supernatural or, at best, a 50/50 approach presenting both sides as equally plausible. And it seems every "investigator" always identifies himself from the start as a "skeptic" - a term Randi rejects for himself - only to turn semi-believer by the time the show is over.

 

[Careyp74]

I can't imagine that any "reality/documentary" type show would dare to accurately present fortune-telling as the outright fraud that it truly is. There's just no money to be made doing so. TV shows are always either an outright promotion of the supernatural or, at best, a 50/50 approach presenting both sides as equally plausible. And it seems every "investigator" always identifies himself from the start as a "skeptic" - a term Randi rejects for himself - only to turn semi-believer by the time the show is over.

That isn't what the show is about. It is just a look into the lives of these people. First episode didn't show any fortune telling, or try to either debunk it or prove it effective. I don't think they are going to ever get that deep into it.

 

[chainlink]

That isn't what the show is about. It is just a look into the lives of these people. First episode didn't show any fortune telling, or try to either debunk it or prove it effective. I don't think they are going to ever get that deep into it.

OK, I assumed that it might have been modeled after that Long Island Medium show, which to me is essentially an unashamed promotion of a scam.

 

[mikeyx]

I caught the trailer for this the other night....Looked like plenty of typical reality-show "drama" and acting up for the camera.
The gypsy culture is interesting, as is the related "Irish Traveller" culture. Deeply rooted, unfortunately, in scams, cons, and taking advantage of the "outsider".
I've handled a couple of cases myself.

Sopranos do psychic shops, hence psychic mafia. Stupid, these people should belong to the circus. As annoying as Hutterites are.