RBS

Two new things about CF have popped up in the past couple weeks. One was that song I posted about (which was good), the other is on a TV show that debuted last week... and it's terrible. (My short rant was on Facebook, expanded rant below.)

The new Fox teen dramedy "Red Band Society"... oh how this show makes me mad. It didn't look that great based on the previews, but then I learned that there was a character on there with CF so I thought Ok, I'll check it out, even though I doubt it's very 'realistic.' And let me tell you, the whole show is not realistic at all. Basically, it's a show about 6 teens in a hospital written and created by people who have no idea what it means to actually be sick and in the hospital.

The "hospital" itself is overly modern, pretty, hip, and very white. The kids' rooms are very dorm-like, decorated with expensive designer furniture, because they live there (which I've never heard of; living at a hospital.) They ride skateboards in the hall, they smoke pot in the supply room, there's a perfectly furnished rooftop hangout area, they smuggle beer into the hospital and the nurses don't care (they're all underage.) I could go on and on...

All of those things are mind-numbing stupid, but I can almost—emphasis on the 'almost'—look past them because it's a TV show in the teen genre. And I can look past the horrible teen cliché acting, because it's a cliché teen show.

But this Dash character they have on there who has "cystic fibrosis" and is "waiting for a lung transplant"??.... is bullshit. They have the kid smoking pot in the first episode, seemingly running around with no problem, with no IV whatsoever, and just in general having no trouble breathing. Ever. Except when he's trying to 'fake' it for sympathy to smuggle beer into the hospital (and I won't even go there on that one.) Plus he carries around a book from Twilight hoping someone thinks he's a good kid and will award him a transplant based on his fake tastes in books. Pa-lease.

I don't believe for one second that the other diseases portrayed on the show got out unscathed either; I'm sure they have elements that are just as ridiculous.

In truth, he would never be smoking pot because if he DID, no transplant team would ever agree to even consider him because he is a reckless, stupid fool who has a lung disease and is SMOKING SOMETHING! And if the show even kind of wanted to show a character with CF, they should at least throw in a few coughs and moments of huffing and puffing. I realize I may be taking this fictitious show a little too seriously, but come on!

I really hope this show doesn't last long, because this character is a disgrace to people who actually deal with this and anyone waiting for a transplant, lung or otherwise. They should have done a little research before just picking random diseases out of a hat, but hardly anyone is talking about this. Almost everything I can find about the show is good feedback.

Okay, glad I got that off my chest.