TV Vomiting Hall of Shame

July 10 Update: To accommodate the groundswell of public support, I have formed a Coalition to Prevent Gratuitous Vomiting on TV facebook group.

Maybe when you read my recent complaint about too much vomiting on TV, you thought I was exaggerating.

I wrote:

I don’t watch much television except when eating. I have my basa fish or frozen pizza on my TV table next to me while I am watching TV. That is why I never want to see vomiting depicted in any TV show or movie I am watching. You’d be surprised how often vomiting appears on prime time TV. First, for comic effect (South Park, Bernie Mac Shoe, etc), cute clue to being pregnant (Sex and the City), gritty realism (any cop show), human transformation to alien species (Buffy, mostly bad sci fi movies), funny postscript to a night of drinking (How I met your mother, etc). You think I exaggerate. But if I can watch TV for a week vomit-free, that is a minor victory.

But yesterday I sat down to each my fish dinner, and one minute after I turned the TV on (it was the Jay Leno show), I saw a wedding groom barf (for real) on a funny Youtube video. It was a good comic video, but it was offensive (especially because I was eating while watching it).

Do you feel there is too much vomiting on TV? Let’s start a campaign to boycott any shows with vomiting! To start with, you can draft a letter to your local TV station,

Dear NBC–Affiliate,

Last night I was watching Jay Leno, and I witnessed vomiting on air. It was embarrassing and morally offensive. I believe that vomiting is an private act between an individual and his toilet. When you display vomiting on mass media, you glamorize the physical act of vomiting to our nation’s youth. You give the mistaken impression that vomiting is a way to be popular or gain cheap laughs. Also, you send the message that indiscriminate vomiting is an accepted lifestyle choice. In fact, from a strictly Christian perspective, nothing in the Bible sanctions these gross displays.

I write with a certain first hand knowledge. When in high school, a classmate accidentally barfed on me while running to the restroom. That event has traumatized me to this day. Watching vomiting on TV only reopens those scars and insults the suffering of victims like myself.

Instead of exploiting the act of vomiting, can you stick to traditional TV themes we know and love? Like sexial deviance (CSI), serial dating (Seinfeld), wish fulfillment of overweight men (Drew Carey Show), social bigotry (All in the Family), public humiliation of teenagers (American Idol) and conspicuous consumption (Dallas, Price is Right, etc). These themes reaffirm values that make America the great Christian nation it is today.

Sincerely,

Robert Nagle,

President, National Anti-Vomiting Media Watchdog Group

The Anti-Vomiting Media Watchdog recommends this label before a show: Warning: The following program contains graphic depictions of vomiting which may offend some gastronomically sensitive viewers. Parental discretion is advised.

Here is an ongoing list of heinous depictions of vomiting. I encourage readers to submit their own reports.

Also I have included a rating system (from 1 to 5)

• Comic/Dramatic Value (CDV): Was the dramatic payoff enough to justify the vomiting? 1=totally unjustified, 5=Shakespearian vomiting
• Explicitness (E): Was the vomiting too explicit or depicted with close up angles? 1=hinted at, 5=Totally grody close ups!
• Warning (W): Was the viewer properly notified in advance that the vomiting would be coming (so they could turn on the mute button or change the station): 1=no warning, 5=properly warned

TV Depictions

Jay Leno, Youtube video (April 22?), vomiting at wedding  Youtube video. (DCv: 3 , E: 5  W: 1).

American Experience (PBS). George H.W. Bush (May 6). Graphic video footage of George Bush Senior vomiting on Japanese P.M. Miyazawa. Interesting perhaps for historical reasons and tastefully portrayed, but wouldn’t a headline have sufficed? Instead we have partial video footage and several still images. (DCv: 1 , E: 1  W: 3).

American Funniest Home Videos,  Oct 19, baby spews on a crib. Gross (DCv: 0 , E: 5  W: 1).

Today Show, October 16, 2009. Young 6 year old Falcon (aka Balloon Boy) vomits during live Today Show interview.  Spontaneous, funny but a little sad too. Poor boy! At least he didn’t vomit the day before during Wolf Blitzer’s interview.

Bill Moyers Show. August 21. during a health care segment. (DCv 5, E: 3, W: 1)

Big Bang Theory, “The Jiminy Conjecture“, (DCv 1, E: 2, W: 3)

Family Guy, 8 simple rules for buying my teenage daughter episode, vomit scene lasting 56 seconds. (DCv: 1 , E: 5  W: 3).

Entourage. Season 5, “The All Out Fall Out”.  Johnny Drama Chase vomits at a sweet 16 party.  I actually found this funny.  (DCv: 5 , E: 4  W: 1).

Friends. The One in Vegas Part 2, Season 5. Ross and Rachel are drunk and come staggering out of a wedding chapel. They don’t barf, but barfing noises could be heard on the end. (Note: there are some disagreements whether they merely fall and say “Oomph” or whether this is bona fide vomiting).  The writers are savvy enough to keep the vomiting offstage, but this does not give them a blank check (DCv: 2, E: 1 W:3)

House, Birthmarks episode.  (Season 5) Guy talking to daughter, barfs and dies (DcV: 4, E: 3, W: 1).

How I met your mother. Probably several instances. Not A Father’s Day (Lily vomits in the trashcan)  (DcV: 2, E: 4, W: 3). There’s one more, but I can’t remember.

King of the Hill. Bills are made to be broken, Season 4, Bill D. vomits at the beginning of the show at the thought of someone breaking his football record (DvC: 0, E: 2, W:1)

Lost. Gosh, it seems like every other episode has vomiting. Pregnancy, Sickness, Drug Addiction, Cancer. (DvC: 1, E: 4, W:2)

Jay Leno, May 9, Youtube video. Comic animal video of a cat vomiting. Totally sick. (DCv: 2, E: 4  W: 1).

Battlestar Galactica, Season 1 “Hand of God” episode. Poignant vomiting scene (DCv: 4 , E: 2  W: 2).

My Name is Earl. Season 4, Episode 2 Monkeys Take a Bath.  Totally uncalled for. (DCv: 1 , E: 4  W: 1).

New Adventures of Old Christine. Several episodes. Because Christine plays a lush, this is to be expected.

Red Dwarf. Several episodes.  I’m generally more forgiving of vomiting in space.

Simpsons. Viva Ned Flanders, Season 10. I forget the context, either Homer or Ned are in Los Vegas and vomit. (DCv1, E: 1, W: 2)

Sopranos. Members Only Season 6.  I watched this show for the first time (in Albania!), saw a random woman vomit. Actually a lot was going on in this show. It was pathetic (DCv: 1 , E: 3  W: 1)

Third Rock from the Sun, Season 5, Dial M for Dick. Jane Curtain can be heard in the background vomiting on two separate occasions. (DCv: 4, E:  1 W: 2)

Two and a half men, “Sara Like Puny Alan” episode. Season 1. Two, Vomit Doubleheader! First, Charlie  vomits over the balcony of his beach house. 5 minutes later, his brother Alan does the same thing. (DCv: 4 it was pretty funny , E: 1  W: 1). Update: Vomiting seems to be a recurring motif;  the bathroom is a prominent room on the set

South Park. Really it’s pointless to mention the episodes with vomiting. It would probably be more useful to point out the ones which don’t have vomiting. (DCv: 4 it  was pretty funny , E: 1  W: 1).

Film/Video Depictions

(Obviously, there are lots of vomitting scenes in R-rated movies. I can mention the more grotesque examples. I want to call special attention however to movies where the vomitting seemed unnecessary or gratuituous):

10 Things I hate about you. Teen romantic comedy. Prom vomiting scene. Ooh, what a surprise! (DCv: 1 , E: 4  W: 3).

Army of Darkness. This Samuel Raime film is tarnished by a Gulliveresque scene where the character vomits over a miniature version of himself.  (DCv: 4 , E: 3  W: 2).

Bring It On. During a montage of the cheerleader contest, a girl barfs atop her coach. I actually enjoyed this (DCV: 5, E: 5, W:1)

Juno: I could have sworn there was vomiting here, but unsure.

Knocked Up. The female character vomits over a celebrity on a TV entertainment show. One or two other vomit scenes if I recall (DVD: 4, E: 3, W: 5)

Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. The gluttonous man spews.  This 1906 video shows that even in Edison’s time it was possible to create decadent entertainment.  (DCv: 1 , E: 3  W: 1).

Say Anything. Pro forma vomit scene at graduation party. No big deal.