1) I watched Sons of Anarchy on October 18th, 2011 at 7:00pm.
Here is a link to the season four promo trailer. The fourth season has just recently begun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1eib_lJ1h8
The genre for Sons of Anarchy is episodic chapters. The main characters in the episode I saw are Jax, Gemma, Juice, Tara, Clay, Sheriff Roosevelt, and many other members of the club made quick appearances. The storyline and plot was very chaotic. It began with the doctor of the club, Tara, receiving a death threat in her car which sent her in to a panic. Meanwhile, Jax and Clay were dealing with the Mexican cartel and an unknown car drives up on the scene and starts shooting uzis. After a shoot out scene there is a chase scene back to their hideout. Taking a break from the chaos, it goes to the DA talking to Sheriff Roosevelt, bullying him in to asking Romeo for another "sample" of cocaine just to pop him. The plot thickens as the club swarms the shooters hideout, revealing they are tied to the Mexican mafia themselves, and Romeo gets arrested for possession of cocaine when he goes to make the deal with the Sheriff. At the end of the episode the club enters a vote for a new president which has a very close six-to-five outcome in favor of a new president.
The sponsor of Sons of Anarchy is Mercedes-benz. Ironically, there was only one long mercedes ad that ran at the end of the show. Some of the products I saw advertised included: Miller lite beer, Jameson whiskey, Prestone oil, the all-state ads featuring mayhem, Burger King, Southern Comfort whiskey, UFC pay-per-view, and NFL Sunday tickets.
2) The general attitude that is portrayed by Sons of Anarchy is the tough and gruff biker club attitude. All of the characters wear their vests with the club symbol / name on it. The characters are either rebellious young adult men or seasoned older males who are a little more cautious. They are at odds with other gangs because they control the flow of things in Charming. The show itself is mostly filmed in a studio in Hollywood, but there are some location shots that have been done in the surrounding areas.
This show reminds me of a vigilante approach and an alternative to all the cop shows on TV. It tells an interesting story with many likeable characters and it is a bummer that one of them just died the previous episode. The club handles their business and when things go wrong they pursue their own justice system.
3) The biggest stereotype in Sons of Anarchy is the outlaw biker stereotype. When Tara goes to Gemma for help because she just received the death threat, Gemma tells her she cannot go to the police for help because, "You don't have a normal life baby, you have this one". Tara is the doctor for the club and she is dating one of the sons. She acts scared after being threatened especially because of who the club deals with but the best protection she can get is by staying in lock down at the clubhouse. The other stereotypical character was the friend cop being bullied by the evil DA. I'm not sure what the personal story is between the characters, but the DA goes way out of his way and pulls corrupt cards on Sheriff Roosevelt to make him deceive his friend and set him up. Law is shady but I think TV is adding a little drama here.
The commercials match the demographics perfectly. I imagine males my age and then males 35-50 watching this having it click with them. The beer commercials definitely appeal to both groups. Burger King ads are for the young males who don't want to bother with cooking. Southern Comfort and Jameson can certainly be directed at males of both age groups too. The random TV show ads they ran reminds me of Facebook throwing some options your way based on the fact that you are watching Sons of Anarchy. The new mercedes-benz ad they showed at the end is for the older males going through a mid-life crisis. They may have just broken down and bought a motorcycle and are going through the harley phase, so now is the perfect time to convince them they need a new mercedes.
If I were a visitor to the US and I saw Sons of Anarchy I would think that the US doesn't mind getting its hands dirty if it keeps the home town safe and the money keeps flowing. I would also question what the average American family values are in a way.
4) There are gangs in real life so there is a portion of this show which I believe does represent a scary part of life. Average life is not like this, and look where the characters are now. They want out of the cartel, but they might not get out till the cartel says they can. That is a terrifying place to be stuck in. People get very tired of living a life where they look over their shoulders all the time.
Entertainment wise I think the show does a great job. The critics have been giving it more and more praise ever since the first season as well so it sounds like they agree with me. Katy Sagal (Gemma) has been receiving an increasing number of awards from her role on the show.
5) I am starting to watch this show on a regular basis now. I will have to go back and watch the first three seasons some time but I am starting to gather who everyone is now. I am not a fan on Facebook but that is because I don't follow very much on Facebook yet.
6) I learned that there are so many more characters and the plot is so much deeper then I was able to gather when I first watched the show. Some credit goes towards the fact that I didn't even know it was on its fourth season till I went to find a youtube clip for this post.
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/
I also learned that this is the season 3 DVD cover for Sons of Anarchy. I found the slogan very interesting at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sons+of+anarchy&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=664&tbm=isch&tbnid=iaSacWh8ObpDEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/Sons-of-Anarchy-Season-3-DVD-Box-Set-DVD-3608.html&docid=tB--09kucCGiwM&imgurl=http://www.hotdvdcollection.com/images/upload/Image/Sons_of_Anarchy_Poster.jpg&w=1000&h=1500&ei=m86gTofgNaGPigKr7a0w&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=510&vpy=147&dur=1527&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=116&ty=122&sig=113250152104262416739&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=92&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0
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