Hello Everyone!
I am a new member that has been "lurking" for the past few days! I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy the site very much, especially the fanfic. I live in the Southern U.S. - hence the name - and yes, I definitely have the "drawl/accent" of the South (Tennessee specifically)! I only recently discovered Bad Girls on network t.v. here, and the 4th season/series just ended. I have to admit, seasons/series 1-3 are my favorites, and like most everyone else here, Nikki and Helen was my favorite storyline. Thought it was time to stop "lurking" and introduce myself. Keep up the good work! - Cheers!

Howdy Southerndrawl

Welcome to the board. I too am from the South and like you apparently have the southern drawl as well, Houston Texas specifically, so make yourself at home and have a great time with all of the fun people on this board.

See you around the board.

cheers,

Brenda :drinkies

Welcome! Lots of fun people here. You will enjoy yourself. mm

Hey, sd.... :)

Welcome to the board.
You'll find several BGs in this forum live in the southern USA.
I'm from TN/VA myself. Where are you stationed?
Cheers!

Thanks for the welcome bcgal, mm, and lahbiblover. I was born and raised in Nashville, and currently live just a few miles away. For those not from the U.S., and/or maybe not familiar with Tennessee, the "accent or drawl" can be different depending on whether you are from East Tennessee (Knoxville - home of the National Champion Lady Vols!!), Middle Tennessee (Nashville area), or West Tennessee (Memphis area). If you have ever heard Dolly Parton speak, then this might make sense... She is from the mountains of East Tennessee, and while the accent is basically the same, there is a certain "twang" in hers that you won't hear in mine because I am from Middle Tennessee. For example: Dolly will most likely pronounce the word tornado (we have a lot of those here!) as "tar nay da". With my accent, it comes out sounding like "tor nay dough". Middle Tennessee has the softer, more genteel accent. Nashville is pronounced "Nashvul". So occasionally when I type here, I might use words or phrases that don't seem to make sense or are definitely southern in origin, so just ask for an explanation/definition if it sounds too goofy!! :)

I took early retirement, so I have recently found myself with more time on my hands, and surfing the net has become one of my newly acquired hobbies. I spent over two decades basically being an American version of DI Alex Fielding in WITB, and I had just finally had enough.

Bad Girls is one of the best shows I have run across in quite awhile. I have always been a big fan of the Brits and have found links to Britain, Ireland and possibly Scotland in my ancestry, so I guess it comes naturally! I have just started watching WITB, and am thoroughly impressed by this show as well. Well, enough about me! I am somewhat of a shy "lurker" so I'll sign off for now. Thanks again!

Hey, sd... :)

Good description of the accents. :clap
I have one of those "Dolly" accents.
A lot of Scotch-Irish,English folks settled in East Tennessee and my descendants were also from those nationalities mixed in with German, Cherokee and Melungeon.

Wow! Retired CSI lady...cool!
I'm also a big fan of WITB...plus Law & Order:SVU, and "Cold Case"
You probably know the Univ. of Knoxville has the "Body Farm".
Have you ever been there on a case? I hear their forensic labs are located under Neyland Stadium.

I'm heading down your way in a few weeks to the Big South Fork Rec area (just northwest of Cookeville, near KY line)....gonna do some 4-wheeling and horseback riding around the hills. I hear it's a nice place.

Good to know there's more BGs from the great state of TN (home of the National Champion Lady Vols!!) Check out the WNBA and Basketball thread. We have a lot of fun in there. Take care, sd...

Howdy Southerndrawl,
Greetings from Hotlanta! I moved from Nashvegas two years ago. I lived there for 12 years. I'm a photographer and am about to embark on a new adventure into forensics and crime scene photography! I found Bad Girls a couple of months ago and immediately fell in love with the Nikki/Helen storyline. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I found this site! (thank you to those who run it!)

I purchased seasons 1-3, but can't bring myself to watch season 3!!! I've found the fan fic on this site and am loving the continuation of the characters and stories!

I'm a sucker for accents, so definitely the Scottish brogue is kicker for me! I'm also Scot and Irish and have the personality to go along with it! hahaha

I wish I would have found Bad Girls earlier! But, better late than never! Don't be shy... I didn't post much either, but everyone here has been friendly and welcoming! So welcome aboard! (in my best suth'n accent)

bcgal: Not so much CSI, as enforcement. My reference to the Fielding character was more in line with the fact that I was the Commander of the group, just as she is the leader of hers. Haven't been to UT on any cases, but I have heard of the "body farm". I have a relative that is currently in the law school up there. Unfortunately, don't personally know much about the area around Cookeville where you are going, (except that is where Tennessee Tech is located), but I have heard it is nice.

Photolady: "preciate cha bein so welcomin!", said in my best drawl!!! What area of Nashvegas did you live in? I know Hotlanta is a hopping town! I have visited many times, and even attended the 1996 Olympics there. Sounds like an interesting area of photography you are getting ready to start. I've seen enough crime scenes to last me a lifetime! They aren't easy to see or forget about.

See ya'll around the site! Cheers!

Hello and welcome Southerndrawl :)

Southerndrawl,
I worked in Green Hills, but lived in Cheatham County. I don't venture out much in Atlanta, in fact I went out more before I moved here! ha! I do miss Nashville, although, it's not quite the same "Music City" it was when I moved there.

I've witnessed the crime scene photography aspect years ago...when I managed a photo lab for a State Tropper. We had the contracts for all of the police depts. and m.e.'s in Kanawha County WV. The ones involving kids were the ones that got me the hardest.

I'm sort of at a cross roads right now... call it my mid life crisis or something. haha Life is too short... so I'm going to grab some things I want to do and do them for me. AND... if Mandana and Simone were still filming Bad Girls... I'd have to find me a way to get on the set! hahahaa

notsuchabadgirl: Thanks for the welcome!

photolady: Ahhh....Green Hills, I know it well. It was great when I was a kid, but it's way too busy and crowded now, and I rarely go there. I grew up near the Warner Parks/Cheekwood area, so I am very familiar with it all. I am also familiar with Cheatham County as one side of my family originally came from there. You are right, Nashville has changed so much. It is nothing like it was when I was growing up. It has lost it's "small town" feel as far as I'm concerned. Don't misunderstand, there is nothing wrong with progress, but many who are relative newcomers, still think it's like a small town in many ways. But if you didn't grow up here, you don't know all the changes that really have taken place. I'm glad I live on the outskirts now, so I don't have to deal with the "crowdedness" of it all! P.S....Grab for the gusto now, it won't be there forever, and you don't want to look back and play the "what if" game! Good Luck!

Southerndrawl,
Yep, Nashville sure went through a lot of changes in the 12 years I lived there. I started visiting Nashville in 1985 when I was a disc jockey at a country radio station in WV. Then I went and did what I thought I was 'sposed to do and got married. (gasp) Finally figured out 8 years later why "things" didn't seem right and realized I was gay (double gasp!) I gave up the radio business, but never my love of photography, so voila another 12 years later and here I am... fairly successful in my business, but "something" is missing and I'm gonna grab it when I find it! (Look out, I'm on the lookout...hahaha)

Did you work in Law enforcement in Nashville? I used to have a couple of friends on the force there... and then a former boss that got fired for blowing the cover of an under cover police officer.

I used to think that traffic at 5pm was gawdawful in Green Hills, but after being in Atlanta, heck that was a walk in the park!

Man, I need to be working... I have 8 wedding albums to get delivered today (cause I'm taking tomorrow off for a ME day) and still have oodles and oodles of images to get edited. grrrrr Can't have it my way always now, can I? :)

Welcome to the board Southerndrawl

:)

Lisa x

Hi Lisa: Thanks for the welcome! Hope you have a great day!

Hi Southerndrawl welcome to the board :D

Make yourself at home x

Hi there! Welcome to the board! I hope it's not too nosy of me, but I'm really interested in the fact that you used to work in law enforcement. I dated a police officer once, and she had a very negative view of people like the incarcerated characters on Bad Girls. But if you love the show, then I'm assuming your view isn't like hers was! What's your perspective on the way BG depicts women in prison? Has your former job made your more or less sympathetic? Did the show change your views in any way?

Yes, thanks for asking that Abzug. I'd also be interested in hearing more from our new member. Welcome.

Jeanna and Abzug: I apologize profusely for not replying to your questions before now. It has been very busy for me and my family the last couple of months! It's hard for me to answer the questions you have posed, but I will try. I guess in some ways, even though I am no longer in the profession, I have mixed feelings. I know it will sound trite, but I truly did become a police officer because I wanted to help people, but as time went on, I was definitely arresting more people than I was helping! I became very cynical very quickly and dealing, for the most part, with the real dregs of society, I also fast realized I couldn't trust anyone.

I guess, in a nutshell what I am trying to say is this: People in prison (whether it was me who arrested them or not) sort of shake out like this for me.....ones like the Nikki or Barbara Hunt characters I appreciate for the fact that they are trying to make their own lives better and they treat others with dignity and respect. But the ones that are like the Shell character have no respect for themselves or anyone else, and more often than not lack a conscience. Sometimes they can actually be helped, but in most cases they don't want to be. The latter are the ones I have no patience with. In this respect the show didn't change my views in any way.

I don't know what prisons in the UK are really like, so I don't know if the show depicted them correctly or not, but the show doesn't depict any prisons I have been around here in the U.S. But I do realize that a former prisoner came up with the concept for the show so I am sure the creators and writers strove to be as factual in their depictions as they could while also trying to entertain. To me, it's the same here in the States. While I truly enjoy watching Law and Order and Law and Order SVU, and feel that for the most part they are good depictions of law enforcement officers, I still see them do things that are technically not correct but I keep watching. Sorry for being so long winded. Hope that gives you a little insight into my thoughts on the show. S.D.

Wow, excellent reply! I've been lurking on this one, just wanted to thank you for sharing your thoughts, they sound objective & very fair. Not long-winded at all, much appreciated! --ekny

(and welcome to the board again! :) )


eta: I do have one follow-up question: it's clear Fenner is the antichrist, by series 4 or 5, but in terms of types of abuse, do you think, in general, what he represents is a fairly serious problem, or only somewhat? I know that's hard to ask given your former position but... would love to hear your views on the issues his character raises. Again: not talking about the outrageous stuff of later seasons so much as the smaller, craftier, nasty little ways in which he enforces power, slides around rules & regs, uses the system for his own benefit, etc. Thx!

ekny:

Now that one is a lot harder for me to answer because I truly did drop my arrestees "at the jailhouse door" and never interacted with them again until facing them in court. Also, having only watched the show through season/series 4, I'm not familiar with any of the Fenner character's activities past that. All I can say is that I am sure situations such as the Fenner/Shell affair; the Lorna Rose/Zandra/Shell drug smuggling; the Fenner/Helen/Nikki threats and backstabbing etc. do exist, but I have never personally witnessed them, only read about them or seen them on the nightly news. Not too long ago, we did have a female prison guard assist a male prisoner to escape. Supposedly, they had fallen in love, and went on the run together. They were soon caught, and she is now behind bars herself.

As for your question regarding the seriousness of the problem.....I think things like I described above and that were portrayed in the first 3 seasons/series of the show do happen in the real world, and are definitely serious, but probably don't happen as often as some would think. In some places, however, there can still be found that "good ole boy network" that the Helen character ran up against, and it has been known to turn a blind eye to certain situations. I banged my head against that brick wall many times, as it isn't just within the prison system! - SD