Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I understand your anger, but all over might just be a tad harsh.

They did show the main mentor of Anchor bots in a good light and the importance of having an encouraging mentor on your team. He supported his team and his students, and that's what a mentor also does. So maybe not all over but certainly understand the engineer mentor comments.

A platinum sponsor wasn't "stomped all over" and the scene was much more about the individual mentors on team palomar than on the company as a whole.
People are not solely defined by the companies they work for, but rather their own personality. With that said, I understand the disgust behind the use of that phrase being read as "engineering mentors are bad" and its unfortunate the community is upset. And although this program is BUILT on hardworking engineering mentors, I don't think that idealism was as lost in the show as many are making it out to be.

Gracious Professionalism- I thought they upheld that value fine. They stressed the competition was about cooperating, working together, and learning more. The entire story line with "Baby Got Bots" and collaborating to make one mechanism work, and although I understand the "we need to beat Palomar mentality" is not the typical definition of a gracious professional, it honestly is true to events.

Everyone wants to beat the best, competitiveness is in all of us.

I understand everyone's lively comments about the show.

But I encourage everyone to get out and read comments from people who just watch the show and are not FIRST participants. The comments are amazing.
I've read great ones like "wait this is real? Sign me up" and "Those robots were so cool! "

One of my favorite parts they did with our story line is they did not make everyone a typical nerd, and did not point out only geniuses can do this. I really think they captured that anyone can do this and that robotics is competitive and fun. It is truly a sport of the mind! I love that the characters were so intense about competition because that's how a lot of us are!



The show averages about 1 million viewers per episode of people who would of not been exposed to FIRST otherwise! And although the episode is not the cookie cutter depiction of FIRST, I do think they got a lot of aspects right and that alone makes me proud and excited this is on TV.

With that said, god I hated the "$@#$@#$@#$@#$@#es get things done." Devaluing the hard work by calling the women $@#$@#$@#$@#$@#es is not okay in any world .

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Not to go all tin-foil-hat on this, but I agree.

Could the show just as easily had your typical "elite team" without demonizing involved mentors? How would the show writers even know about this specific topic of supposed "mentor-built robots"?

This specific aspect of the story line unnecessarily reinforces a viewpoint many members of our own community still hold; specifically that involved mentors do not belong in FRC. From my perspective, whoever the "FIRST advisor" was, that person (or group of peoples) made it a point to inject their viewpoint (which is contrary to FIRST's mission statement) into the show.

Kudos to all the teams and volunteers that made this show a success. It's clear this was a lot of work, and your involvement is something to be proud of!

-Mike

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Any way for those of us not able to watch or record the show to view this master cut? From the small clips I've seen, I have mixed feelings about this whole spectacle, but I'd like to watch the FRC-related portions and make my own decision.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Here ya go.
https://vimeo.com/179003515

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Did anyone else find the bit about the 120.5 lb robot funny. Maybe it 's because my team is always so close on weight. I also could be wrong but at one point I was told by a regional inspector there is a .5 lb tolerance because of the accuracy of the scales. This could have been because at this event the scale was known to be off by a certain amount.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

The episode is available on Freeform's app, if you have a pay-TV subscription to log in with.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Never experienced this kind of tolerance. If you're over by .1 lbs you have to go under. Weight is probably the most rigid constraint in FRC, even with the variance in scales.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I can't wait for the CMP episode where they discover that basically every semi-decent team there has an engineering mentor, maybe even two.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Having read this thread without watching the episode, I figured this controversy was, you know, justified. It's not. A whole lot here can be written off to teenage drama. Other than that, ungracious behaviour was mostly called out. Maybe there's no teams like them, but we've all met a coach like the Palomar (sp?) guy*. The team's coach was mentor-ly ("Didn't we talk about that?" to the swerve/mecanum/omni drive). The crude language was used for excitement purposes, not unlike the will.i.am line. Not sure what people are getting so worked up about.

*If you haven't, there's a decent chance it's you

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Dude, it's CD in the Summertime. They need something to get some excitement going around here.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Anyone else notice the random 2 or 3 seconds from Einstein? Came out of nowhere.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Exactly.

+1

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Yep. That was sneaky.

Loved the "cheese hole" reference.

Is there a list of real FRC teams involved?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Yes, the show could have used an elite team without an evil mentor, but that would have eroded their story-line about an underdog (i.e. "under-mentored") team overcoming insurmountable odds. Writers sometimes go to extremes in developing characters to emphasize their story. I doubt the intent was to make a statement about the "involved mentor" vs "student operated" team paradigm.

I know the writers were at the Los Angeles regional observing teams in the pits, watching matches and talking with volunteers, students, mentors, etc. I'm sure they were looking for the context of the event (it is, after all, a VERY unique environment). I'm sure they (like any uninformed observer) saw the disparity among the teams. The "haves and have nots" aspect of FRC does not go unnoticed by team members and spectators. We'd like to think ALL elite teams assist teams with less resources, unfortunately that doesn't always happen at competitions.

I wouldn't put too much on the FIRST advisor about the story-line and script. The producers, director and writers really are responsible for their product, which they craft for their viewership. I'm sure the FIRST advisor did not advocate the "b*itches get things done" line, but there it was! I'm sure the FIRST advisor was trying hard just to avoid gross degradation of the program.

BTW, the director didn't get why the FIRST members in the stands would not "boo" loudly when the pinning occurred without the referees making the call. (In spite of the FIRST advisor saying spectators just don't behave like that in FRC). Maybe the culture of FIRST was a bit too foreign for the director??

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Just watched the story arc on Vimeo. A couple of observations:

Nice that they had a female ref, although she was criticized (indirectly, since she was the only ref highlighted) for missing the call.

I noticed that Blair does not get credit on IMDB for his speaking part, which was much more than the ref or inspector.

While the mentor was a fair ways 'over the top' it was good that they didn't dwell on the team 'hating' on him, after their mentor told them to forget about him. In the real world we sometimes encounter such people and often that is the right response-- so that aspect was done well.

How many FRC'ers (especially students) will reach out to the Foster's fan discussion boards to inform and help those who had their FIRST exposure to FRC better understand the program and the fact that they can get involved-- with links to 'real' FIRST Stronghold matches !

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Thanks for the context Dave, much appreciated. Sounds like the writers got to observe a lot of FRC, that is great!

Loved your story about the "boo-ing". This is definitely a great aspect of our community! However, I have witnessed one or two instances of "boo-ing" at local FRC events, I'd bet the people boo-ing have the same impression of mentor involvement as the Fosters presented :(

Thanks,

-Mike

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Was looking around to find some online forums or something about the show to see what people were saying. This is what I found on this forum, located here.

"I did not really care about the whole robotics thing. I hope the mention of another competition means the show's not dropping Mariana taking Jesus' pills."

"I wasn't into it either, have no idea how true to life it was. I did like Mariana's strategy paying off, but it felt a little tropey with the insufferable teacher from Palomar."

"I don't love the robotics thing either, but I do like that they gave this storyline to Mariana (and Jesus, I guess!)."

"I don't get how it was okay for the teacher at the other school to be basically doing the work and standing behind the line during the competition. I can buy that the school has a lot of extra "coaches" that help build the robot, but why was he more involved during the competition itself? And why couldn't the Anchor Beach coach not complain about it?"

" I hope I never see another robot competition on this show or anywhere else!"

"I also was bored with the Robotics competition. I think the problem was I had no idea what was going on. They should have made it clear either this episode or over the course of the time they were working on it, exactly what the robot was meant to do. I had no investment because I couldn't tell if they were winning or losing at any given moment. Mariana rocked it with her quick thinking, but I still don't understand how the robot was pinned for longer than 5 seconds yet the referee just ignored it?"

This is every quote I could find that had the robotics competition mentioned. Interesting to see some of the feedback from people not already aware of FRC or FIRST.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Honestly, that speaks volumes about the competition regardless of whether you watch it actively. That line alone could have been straight off of a CD thread.

It was a bit disheartening though that so many people dislike it... I mean, I can understand it, but part of it was the "teen drama", part of it was "ugh, robots". It was an interesting matchup to begin with between Freeform and FIRST.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I think I like this comment the best out of this whole thread, because this is the part where we, as the FIRST community, get to react and do something in response to integration in mainstream media. Obviously there are inaccuracies and aspects people are less than happy with. That's what happens when you condense an entire weekend's worth of activity into 20 minutes of teenage tv drama. Is that all though? Could they have done better at portraying FIRST while still making a good story for viewers? My guess is probably. FIRST is complicated and tv producers are human. Worst case scenario, honestly, is that we get people coming into this program that believe that the contents of this episode are all FIRST has to offer. The good news is we can still teach them otherwise.

That being said, props to everyone involved for being so dedicated and getting as much right as they did.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

The IMDB message boards were not much better:

"Boring as hell! ... I really hope that they will abandon this storyline now that the competition is over and focus on more interesting things."

"Agreed. This week's whole episode was a snore fest."


Regarding the word "coopertate":

"Lol nice blooper"

"it was said that way on purpose."

"Either way it's stupid."

Honestly, that one stung the most. This should be what we are most upset about, not misrepresentation.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Come on guys. Are you really taking a few negative comments on the Internet to heart? These comments represents just as much of the general viewership as CD represents the general FRC community.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

IMDB messageboards are as much a cesspool as Youtube. Either their full of stalkers or trolls who think they know more about movies than anyone else. Don't sweat their opinions.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

It's just extremely disheartening to see that the general public still views STEM based activities as something outlandish.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

It's almost like FRC isn't a spectator sport and they had to add controversy and drama to make it at least somewhat interesting to the average viewer who probably doesn't give a crap about GP, coopertition, or even robots for that matter.

Now I'm not saying they made the best choices of how to add drama but even with what they added, it seems people thought it was a snore.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FIRST aint for everyone. A lot of the kids who are in FIRST quit because they find it a boring grind. Oh well.I'm gonna take the time to focus on the kids who decided to stay. Make a difference in their lives so they, in turn, can be inspired to grow up to take the reins of the program and lead the next generation to greatness instead of agonizing about the ones who don't get it.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Well, you have to admit. If you're looking for drama, an FRC team IS the place to be!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

You hang around FIRST long enough you hear stories that make what happened on The Fosters pale in comparison.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I know what you mean, but every person (even internet trolls!) is a possible FIRST supporter. Perhaps I'm too optimistic. Someday... :)

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

For a different thread talking about the episode, reddit has a subreddit for the fosters. Looks like there are some FIRSTers 'spreading the good word' to people with open ears: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFosters/...c/slug/d6j7opo

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Id hardly call this quote good "You see in the show how there were teams who won a bunch of years and had a team of engineers with them. Unfortunately that's true. The highschools they go to are the ones with super high test scores and a good handful of cash to spare. And usually those kids parents have like Harvard engineering degrees and they mainly build the robots for the kids."

If anything it makes the whole thing worse.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'll agree that that's not the *best* light, but since the following response is:
- I'll put it in the positive bucket.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Now, everyone, say it with me: "It's just a TV show and FRC is just a robotics program. My life is a lot bigger than both of those things."

Once you say this, I swear most of the arguments here would fade into oblivion.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

FTFY

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

That's fine if you believe that, but I signed up for something a lot bigger than just a robotics program. There is a reason the Chairman's award is our highest honor, culture change is our goal and how we introduce our selves to large portions of the culture is a rather key part of eventually changing the culture. We shouldn't just accept the status quo for the sake of more eye balls.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Note that I said 'arguments' will disappear, not beliefs in the program. I'm sure all of the goals you mentioned about culture change and Chairman's aren't attained by arguing on ChiefDelphi either.

The teams in this show definitely changed more culture by reaching out to literally millions of Americans across the continent, and that's something almost every other person here has forgotten to realize.

That's something many of us arguing here on CD have yet to do, so again, congrats to the teams who participated in the show.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

hehe.

If you going to talk about defense and all, you should show a clip of the best d bot out there.


haha. ok maybe a little bias. :p

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

In a response to that comment, another redditor said:

"Wow, the event sounds like a ton of fun, and the whole process as well. Computer science is something I hope to pursue in the future so seeing all these cool programs for the robots and what you described is just awesome. I wish my school had a robotics team."

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Great so that single person was OK with it. What about the perspective mentor who read that and went huh this program looks terrible.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

oh, and the sky is falling as well. watch out!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

But that's not possible. The SoCal regional is what the the Los Angeles regional was called until 2007 when the San Diego Regional came along. If 330 wasn't at the SoCal regional, or an equivalent in this universe (which they have attended every year it existed), how did they get to Einstein? :confused:

One does not simply fail to attend their home regional!

Did 330 win the World Championship in 2015 or the WCA to qualify for champs in this universe? :ahh:

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

The show's writers could have had teams sabotaging opponents' robots, bribing the inspector, and punching the referee (and opponents mentors). From what I've seen in a few episodes, that would be totally within the behavior norms for characters in this show.

FIRST could well have been portrayed in a disgustingly horrible light (at least for us).

Except the FIRST advisor to The Fosters would simply not allow that to happen!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

This is the universe where California went to districts, allowing for a generic Southern California regional and causing the event to be 2 days. Since the team registered for regionals late, they could only get into one event. 330 won CSC with 254 and the antagonist team from the show.

Edit: This also caused 330's climber to fail earlier during CSC semifinals, allowing them to fix and improve it during CMP on day 1 and Carver ends up 2-0 against Tesla.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

In all fairness that person had also competed in FLL in the past and was aware of FIRST already.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Great so that single mentor wasn't okay with it. What about the student who read that and thought "wow, that was cool, I wish my school had a team"?

It turns out you can't use single anecdotal examples to prove either side of an argument wrong!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Nobody is trying to prove anything. But when every single response is negative (except for one student who had participated in FLL) that says something about how the The Fosters viewers perceived FIRST, right?

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

No, that says something about Internet trolls being trollish.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

How are comments like "I did not really care about the whole robotics thing," "I don't love the robotics thing either," and " I hope I never see another robot competition on this show or anywhere else!" trolling? I get that they have an opinion that would be very unpopular on CD, but I just don't understand how posting their honest opinions of the show's content on a forum about the show makes them trolls.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'd wager 99% of the audience doesn't post on the internet about the fosters. I wouldn't confuse a vocal minority with a proper representative sample (same as chief Delphi).

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

For the passionate FIRST community, we want to get our message out about how cool this program is. The Fosters did a decent job. You can tell they did research and were able to grasp some of the themes of competition stress, inspection process, the importance of consistent execution, powerhouse vs. low resource teams, all girl teams, adult vs. student coaches, elimination selection politics, referees, autonomous modes, safety glasses (sort of), and the importance continuous improvement throughout the event. Most of these real tidbits are only known to current participants. (What--- no line dances? Can't be FRC!)

As we know, FIRST and FRC are a bit difficult to grasp in an few minutes of exposure. The good news - FIRST got their logo on a TV program. Exposure is publicity. The Fosters team could have used a fictional robotics competition or science fair to make the same plot points. Also, the viewers still may not connect the dots that FIRST is real.

Now for the flip side view. Before these announcements, I had vaguely heard of Freeform and never a peep about The Fosters. Freeform and similar services are potentially the future of on demand media. I'll never watch The Fosters again. (I'm obviously not the target audience.) Hopefully the show's producers won't lament over this internet comment.

David

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I think you are all taking the potential influence of a TV show most people have never heard of way too seriously. To echo what Adam said, you are the vocal minority here.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

If you'd like to watch more about the details behind the filming of The Fosters here is the segment on FUN last night about the show including myself and Jacob Komar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPhQbow8-U0

Thanks!

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Without wading into the broader discussion, I figured I'd look this up. The first run of this episode tied for third in its prime time slot among Neilsen's main demographic. It tied Family Guy and American Dad (8PM and 8:30 on TBS) at 0.4, though across all demographics The Fosters had 160,000 more viewers than Family Guy and 189,000 more than American Dad. It lost to "Love & Hip Hip" (VH1) and WWE in this timeslot.

Overall that night it ranked 35th on main demographic's Top 100 (which is all that's published). This comes out at 46th when ranked by total viewership. It is one of only two Freeform shows to make the list and is by far the highest, Big Screen Movie (5PM) ranking 99th and 71st respectively. This also means The Fosters was Freeform's highest-rated show of the day.

Couple of notes:

• Neilsen's chief demographic is actually 18-49yo, and I don't know how to find ratings for a more age-appropriate bracket. I don't know much about any of these shows, but I'd guess 18-year-old minimum is hurting The Fosters more than most mentioned.
• The Fosters, Family Guy, and American Dad only tie to the decimal reported (0.4). If they're in order, The Fosters is just below this showing of Family Guy but beats American Dad by 4 spots. (Both these shows have showings above and below The Fosters in other timeslots; expect a timeslot correlation though I haven't checked.)
• The Top 100 includes a total 9 shows in the 8PM hour with 7 at 8PM and 2 at 8:30. In demo rating order, they are (demo rating/total viewers):
  1. Love & Hip Hop (1.3/2.45M)
  2. WWE (1.0/2.88M)
  3. Family Guy (0.4/724K)
  4. The Fosters (0.4/884K)
  5. American Dad (0.4/655K @ 8:30)
  6. FX Movie (0.3/933K)
  7. Cleveland Show (0.3/763K @ 8:30)
  8. Cupcake Wars (0.3/789K)
  9. Misfit Garage (0.3/859K)

My takeaway is that if you remember classmates talking about Fox Family/ABC Family/Freeform shows when you were in high school, you'd probably have people talking about The Fosters now.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

I'm wondering how many people in this thread have watched any TV drama within the last few years. Or spent time talking to students from teams without significant resources. Neither number seems to be particularly high.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

+1 - FIRST is about making the world better by inspiring the next generation of inventors and developers. FRC is a robotics program created to support that mission. While it is not exactly what he meant, and I will capitalize some letters he would not have, it is good here to quote one of my former commanding officers, who himself was quoting from military doctrine:
Edit: and, as always, read the third sentence under this post.

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

+1

Re: FIRST on "The Fosters" - Monday Nights on FreeForm 8e/5p Starting Tonight!
 

Man this is sweet, tremendous coverage of FIRST.