''I Want It All Now!'' is a 1978 American
documentary television special
A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...
produced by
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
about
Marin County, California
Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...
and the
hedonistic
Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...
and
narcissistic
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
lifestyle ostensibly characteristic of the affluent county. The program also explored the popularity of the
human potential movement
The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...
and
new age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
ideologies in Marin, social problems such as
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
,
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
, and
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
associated with the Marin
lifestyle
Lifestyle often refers to:
* Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives
* ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle
* Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality
Lifestyle may also refer to:
Bu ...
, and the effect that this had on children growing up there.
The program presented Marin as at the forefront of trends that were becoming more predominant in the larger American society in the late
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...
, and it represented an early snapshot of the lifestyle that a few years later would be termed "
yuppie
Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
".
Synopsis
The program starts with a
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
featuring a woman receiving a nude massage and being stroked with
peacock feathers from two also-nude male masseurs, as well as being indulged in a
hot tub. The documentary is presented with a running narrative by newscaster
Edwin Newman
Edwin Harold Newman (January 25, 1919 – August 13, 2010) was an American newscaster, journalist, and author. After beginning his career with the wire services and serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Newman worked in radio for CBS News ...
and is roughly divided into three parts. The first introduces Marin County, its wealth, scenery, and social indicators such as an its suicide and alcoholism rates. The second part focuses on the human potential and new age movements in Marin, which the documentary ties to a larger culture of narcissism. The last part focuses on the effects that the focus of parents on self and high rates of divorce have on children growing up on this community.
The film interviews a number of Marin community members: the Gulko family, presented as a "portrait of a successful divorce"; several individuals who's professions bring them into contact with problems in the community, including a judge, a pharmacist, several therapists, and a schoolteacher; several new age and self-help teachers, which the program refers to as "
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
s"; a woman who's pursuit of self-realization and personal happiness had led her to partially abandon her role as mother to her young children; and several school children who are affected by divorce. Some of the more notable interview subjects include
Cyra McFadden
Cyra McFadden (born 1937) is an American writer, who lives on a houseboat in Sausalito, California.The Serial
''The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County'' (often referred to as ''The Serial'') is a satirical novel about Marin County, California, written by Cyra McFadden. Beginning in 1976, the book's chapters had been serialized in the Marin Co ...
'' initially brought national attention to Marin County, and
George Leonard
George Burr Leonard (August 9, 1923 – January 6, 2010) was an American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential. He served as President Emeritus of the Esalen Institute, past-president of the ...
, an
aikido
Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...
master and founding figure in the human potential movement, who is critical of some of the more narcissistic directions the movement had taken.
Reception
The documentary was received negatively in Marin County by residents who felt it sensationalized and misrepresented the community.
The Marin County
alternative weekly
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
''
Pacific Sun'' published a point-by-point rebuttal of claims raised in the program, arguing, among other things, that key scenes were staged, that interviews were deceptively edited, statistics cited in the program were misreported, and that the lifestyle presented in the program represented only a small minority of the Marin County population. The ''Pacific Sun'' article was later read into the ''
Congressional Record
The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...
'' by Marin County Congressman
John L. Burton
John Lowell Burton (born December 15, 1932) is an American politician and attorney. He served as Chairman of the California Democratic Party from April 2009 until May 2017. A professor of California Politics at San Francisco State University, h ...
.
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. ...
, who was on the
Marin County Board of Supervisors
The Marin County Board of Supervisors is the governing body for the unincorporated areas of Marin County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area's North Bay region. The current board members are Damon Connolly (District 1), Katie Rice (Distric ...
at the time, filed complaints with the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) and the
National News Council The National News Council (NNC) was a non-profit media watchdog organization. It investigated complaints of media bias and unfair reporting. The NNC formed in 1973 with a grant from the Twentieth Century Foundation, the Markle Foundation and other s ...
over what she felt was misrepresentation of the community by a national news agency.
The FCC complaint was withdrawn,
however the National News Council, a watchdog group without enforcement powers, found that the program was "journalistically flawed at essential points", though it rejected complaints that the program was "vicious, distorted or irresponsible."
NBC News President
Lester Crystal responded that the program was "substantially without error," but that there were "a couple of places where something might have been made clearer."
Edwin Newman also defended the veracity of reporting by NBC News, stating, "We were not offering a view of Marin County as a whole....We pointed that out on the program more than once. But it seemed to us that what we saw did apply to a sufficiently large number of Marinites to make it worth reporting."
Awards
In 1980,
Rita Abrams
Rita Abrams (born August 30, 1943) is an American songwriter, performer and writer. Her song "Mill Valley", recorded with children at the school where she was teaching, was released under the name Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point Fourth Grade ...
received a
News and Documentary Emmy Award
The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...
in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming: Music" for her score for the documentary. Abrams was a long-time Marin County musician and former schoolteacher, best known for the 1970 minor hit "Mill Valley", which she recorded with her
fourth grade
Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
class.
Legacy
Along with the novel ''The Serial'' and its film adaptation ''
Serial'', the program cemented the popular image of Marin County in American culture, creating long-lasting stereotypes about the county. In particular, it created the association of Marin County with hot tubs and peacock feathers.
The stereotype was persistent enough that after former Marin resident
John Walker Lindh
John Philip Walker Lindh (born February 9, 1981) is an American convicted felon who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001. He was detained at Qala-i-Jangi fortress, used as a priso ...
was captured in 2001 in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
after joining the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
, former US president
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
referred to him as a "poor, misguided, Marin County hot-tubber". After receiving criticism for the remark, Bush responded, "I apologize. I am chastened and will never use 'hot tub' and 'Marin County' in the same sentence again."
A retrospective look at ''I Want It All Now!'' published in the ''
Marin Independent Journal
The ''Marin Independent Journal'' is the main newspaper of Marin County, California. The paper is owned by California Newspapers Partnership which is in turn mostly owned by MediaNews Group. '' noted some similarities between the Marin County of 2019 and the Marin of 40 years earlier that was presented in the program. The county was still a place of great physical beauty, with a wealthy population. Housing prices were still very high, the number of therapists per capita were the highest in California, and rates of alcoholism, suicide, and divorce were still above average. However, Marin's reputation for leisure and a "loose swinging lifestyle" had given way to "stress", "hyper-intensive parenting, frazzled dual-income families,
ndexhausting commutes". The article notes, "In many ways, we haven't progressed from how we were depicted in 'I Want It All Now.' But what's missing is our sense of fun, our sense of humor."
Brad Gulko, one of the children interviewed in several places in the program re-emerged years later under unusual circumstances. In 2020, it was found that Bob Gulko was not Brad Gulko's
biological father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...
, but rather Quincy Fortier, a fertility doctor who had impregnated hundreds of women under the guise of impregnating women with their husband's sperm. Brad Gulko, now a
computational biologist
Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...
and
genomicist, was featured prominently in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
documentary ''
Baby God
''Baby God'' is an 2020 American documentary film, directed and produced by Hannah Olson, which follows Quincy Fortier, a doctor who used his own sperm to inseminate fertility patients. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady were executive producers under ...
'' about the Fortier
fertility fraud case.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 14740444
NBC News
NBC television specials
1970s American television specials
American documentary television films
1978 in American television
1978 in California
Marin County, California
Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area
Upper class culture in the United States
Human Potential Movement
New Age in popular culture
New Age and society
Works about divorce
Works about narcissism