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

Disparaging teams for having engineering mentors... which is one of the core concepts of the program.

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

So I take it that you've seen this episode in it's entirety and have identified this plot point as "The storyline"?

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

>mentor built robots
>southern california
>NASA

I really hope this is a coincidence

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

I'm commenting on the storyline from the trailer/teaser... All I can go on. And that trailer pretty clearly criticizes teams for engineering mentors.

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

There is also an episode where a student takes drugs because she's tired from build...not totally the right message in my opinion....

I'm honestly surprised FIRST signed off on this.

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

I happen to think that having FIRST featured, not as "engineering programming" but as a casual plot point in a modern teen drama is, by definition, culture changing and not "embarrassing to FIRST" in any regard.

Teasers are meant to be controversial plot points to grab the attention of audiences, condemning the programming on three lines of script seems harsh and counter-productive - calling the programming and all of the effort that went into it "an embarrassment to FIRST" is perhaps more of just an embarrassment to yourself.

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

I'm not condemning the entire episode, I'm saying the storyline pushed in the teaser is embarrassing to FIRST. This is obviously just my opinion.

Embarrassing myself is nothing new, business as usual if that's how it turns out here.

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

To clarify your claim, the character who you're talking about, Mariana, had episodes involving drug use prior to the robotics story line itself. It grew under the real life stress of build season.

While I don't agree with drug use, that was who the character was and how she was pre established on the show.

Teenagers in that show's world deal with that stuff, it wasn't soley because she was doing robots, other characters had similar story lines in other regards.
If you watched the episode you would know the issue was resolved with her robotics peers SUPPORTING her and telling her she was too smart for substance abuse.

Again, I don't agree with drug use nor do I support it, BUT all the facts should be layed out and not taken out of context.

Remember this show IS NOT a FIRST documentary.

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

I completely agree with Adam. I was actually kind of angry when I saw the trailer the first time. It's highly embarrassing to the program we all have worked so hard on, and to make the general public think mentors are an issue is DEFINITELY not something FIRST should condone.

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

This thread is getting as dramatic as the show.

I would like everyone to keep in mind that this is a television show. To be more specific, it's a teenage drama. Dramatic licenses were taken and the producers end up having the final say, no matter if FIRST signs off or not.

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

Are the episodes available to watch online somewhere? I haven't been around to watch them live and I don't think I'll be able to catch the next one.

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

FIRST has made it clear in their messaging that the show is TV-14 (shoot, even WWE is PG...) and not everything in the program reflects their values. I have no inside baseball here, but knowing the requirements FIRST lays down to get one of their fields in a high school gymnasium for a weekend (let alone using their IP on a for-profit TV production), surely they got a chance to review the storyline and were okay with the direction.

I didn't hear anything factually wrong in the teaser, and I did hear things I hear at events (and usually muttered in the same tones). It does create a storyline digested easily by people outside the tent, so I'll spot them some leeway here. And watch closely on Monday.

Freeform has an app, though you'll have to sign in with your TV provider login to watch.

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

That's not true at all. They would not have been allowed to say "FIRST Robotics" or use their logo, or the field, or anything else that is intellectual property of FIRST without FIRST giving them approval.

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

You're right. I worded that wrong. I should've been a little more clear. The producers do have final say and if FIRST didn't give their approval they could have come up with a fake robotics competition instead.

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

These were my first thoughts as well. When people see this they're going to think this might actually be how FIRST and FRC is. This just further perpetuates incorrect stereotypes about our community and program to a wide audience.

Additionally, their description of the "mentor led" team seemed to reference some real life teams, which in my opinion is inappropriate and unacceptable.