The Empty Cup Awards
TV may be fake, but that doesn’t mean the cups need to be empty
Curse you, internet!
Now that I've discovered the Empty Cup Awards, I’m not just going to be mentally critiquing the choice of coffee drunk on TV (really? she’s drinking that swill?!), I’m going to be watching for empty cups, too!
Why? According to TV scholar and critic Myles McNutt:
“Television is not real, of course, but for the most part it is invested in making its stories feel as real as possible, despite the various challenges associated with that task. And for whatever reason, I’ve developed a complex as it relates to failed efforts at verisimilitude: the badly photoshopped family photos, the unconvincing car green screen, the improbably high quality video chat. ”
McNutt’s main peeve is when characters “drink” fake coffee. Too often that cup is empty!!
Here is a Slate video essay about McNutt’s obsession with empty coffee cups on TV. Warning: watching it may ruin future TV viewing!
Having lived with film and TV people for much of the last 15 years, I still love film but do watch it differently than I used to. No longer can I just immerse myself in the story and shut my brain off. Thanks to my show biz friends and hubby, Joe, I’m aware of editing on TV (why did they put the commercial break there? what got cut out?) and other directorial decisions.
If you live in a place where lots of film and TV is made (hello Vancouver and Toronto!) you’ll already be in the habit of trying to figure out where that “Chicago” or “LA” location was really filmed while watching every commercial or episode.
And, sorry for doing this to you, now we’ll find sitcoms harder to watch as we’ll be looking for candidates for the #EmptyCupAwards - times when coffee cups are obviously props.
Check out McNutt’s Instagram feed for winners of the Empty Cup Awards. And, of course, the Twitter feed for #EmptyCupAwards. This may lead you to the #EmptyPurseAwards and other TV fails. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!