http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8140271

Thursday, May 19, 2011

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A woman caught up in a bizarre case after her firefighter husband was killed in the line of duty is now going to star in her own reality television show.

Wharton volunteer firefighter Thomas Araguz III was killed in July 2010 while fighting a fire. Legal battles over his death benefits brought to light the fact that his widow, Nikki Araguz, was transgendered.

I'm always rather dubious of anything dubbed "reality television" since it seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. Actual reality is often too dull to broadcast, so you get left with the edited highlights.

She's making a reality dating show out of her husband's death? Bitch.

Quote from: ~RoadToTrista~ on May 19, 2011, 09:05:21 PMBitch.

Well I would disagree with that word.  Her husband's ex is making her life a living hell and tying up everything she has in lawsuits and court costs.  She has to make a living somehow.  She sure can't do what she used to do.  Why not capitalize on things while they are interesting to the public.  They will not always be.  And I think I know her well enough to say that she will do all she can to put our community in a positive light.  The result waits to be seen, but if the editors don't screw this up, it could be a very good thing for us all.

It may well be a show 'about' her, but it's not 'her show' (as both Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen have found out of late), and unless she has some sort of editorial control (which I doubt), then they will show what they want to to make it 'good, meaning: watchable, TV' - truth is relative, and has a noted liberal bent.

Quote from: tekla on May 20, 2011, 12:45:57 PM
It may well be a show 'about' her, but it's not 'her show' (as both Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen have found out of late), and unless she has some sort of editorial control (which I doubt), then they will show what they want to to make it 'good, meaning: watchable, TV' - truth is relative, and has a noted liberal bent.

Sounds a lot like what I told her yesterday.  Still don't think that makes her a bitch.

Actually 'bitch' is a huge step up from 'reality TV show star' which puts her in the same league as Sara Palin.

I think the dating element should be off limits. How far will they take it ?

Her husband just passed. I couldn't nor wouldn't be dating so early. It's a ratings game though, which may be out of her control.

Wasn't she outed in part because she had an appearance from years ago on Jerry Springer resurface after her husband's death?  I would have thought she learned her lesson then.  That she so openly regretted her Jerry Springer experience paints her at least a little hypocritical.

Lock up your valuables when she's around. Her more than half dozen arrests concern me the most.
Good luck to her.

ouch.

anyway so I think considering the majority of times she's been on TV it's ended in tears I don't feel too confident about this. The fact she just came out and declared she is intersexed and that is how she identifies and then this show is being sold with tags like "is transgendered", "was transgendered" etc etc... I don't know... I just don't know. :/

I tried posting this earlier today, right before the server apparently crashed...let's try again...

Quote from: Michelle. on May 20, 2011, 09:57:13 PM
Lock up your valuables when she's around. Her more than half dozen arrests concern me the most.
Good luck to her.

This is an absolutely uncalled for comment, and is actually one of the reasons I elected to reactivate my account. 

As the saying goes in criminal defense, there is always more to the story than one might presume at first glance.  And I *HAVE* had access to some of those records in a capacity that the general public likely never will see...consider it a perk of my job.  I've also discussed those cases with Nikki.  Some of the previous cases should have been dismissed but she did not have competent counsel to represent her in those cases.  Some are the product of human frailty that affects people in all walks of life.   

Beyond that, privilege effectively precludes further comment other than to caution people about casting aspersions based upon the limited amount of information that has been supplied by the mainstream media.   

As to other comments in this thread about the wisdom and/or timing of the announcement, I have told her more than once in the past week that I would personally have liked to see her wait until AFTER the civil matter was over with just because it added an additional element to the case that did not need to be there.  That being said, I have no qualms with ANY widow or widower who reaches a point at which they feel they can move on with their life (Nikki has actually taken more time than some other people I have known who lost a spouse).  And she is trying to do just that- move on with her life.  It is clear to anyone who spends time with her that she still misses her husband greatly but she is certainly entitled to take steps to move forward. 

I just wish that the media would have paid attention to and honored her personal request to quit using the term 'transgender' or 'transgendered' in the articles about either the case or the show...

Quote from: Muffin on May 20, 2011, 10:14:05 PM
ouch.

anyway so I think considering the majority of times she's been on TV it's ended in tears I don't feel too confident about this. The fact she just came out and declared she is intersexed and that is how she identifies and then this show is being sold with tags like "is transgendered", "was transgendered" etc etc... I don't know... I just don't know. :/

actually, the producer is using the correct labels that are consistent with what Nikki has indicated she was comfortable with.  Most everything (if not everything) that I have seen attached to Cressandra's quotes has NOT used the term transgender or transgendered.

Quote from: Ann Onymous on May 24, 2011, 04:40:01 PM
actually, the producer is using the correct labels that are consistent with what Nikki has indicated she was comfortable with.  Most everything (if not everything) that I have seen attached to Cressandra's quotes has NOT used the term transgender or transgendered.

the producer might be but the snippet in the first post of this thread from the link uses something else. Which was my point... I guess. If review and media outlets are going to twist the words then will it still have a positive outcome? Will people still warm to it and understand?? I hope so.. she deserves more than just understanding.

Good for her (having the TV show), shove it down America's throat and maybe TG/TS won't be such a taboo in our culture sometime in the not too distant future.
She's very pretty, I wish I could look like her :3

  Reality shows, one of the reasons I didn't replace the TV that finally went kaput 5 years ago.  Despite her past, I wish her luck anyway.  I see too many 'reality' show subjects go broke over this, despite the money they received.  I hope she manages herself better than she did in the past.
  Joelene

The woman has an oportunity to make some money in an honest fashion. Life has not always given Nikki this privilage.
As a person with an extensive rap sheet I know what it is like once society labels you as a criminal.

She should be given the chance to present herself in a positive fasion before we start riping into her.

Besides her husband dies and her name gets draged through the mud and she just lost her court case. She needs a break.

Beyond that, privilege effectively precludes further comment other than to caution people about casting aspersions based upon the limited amount of information that has been supplied by the mainstream media.   

Ohh, secret knowing.  We should just all believe you, even if you can't prove it?  You know if you're not supposed to comment on it because of your job, then don't comment.  And, lacking 'privileged access to information' I don't think it's our fault for going with (with a pillar of salt and all that) what's been broadcast.  I, for one, haven't heard anything about it other than in here because a) it's Texas and we don't get - or want - all that much Texas news here, and b) I don't listen/read the more sensational news, so it's never been covered on Democracy Now, or any of the Pacifica news shows. Though I'm sure Fox is doing it's 'fair and balanced' (like calling Sugar Smacks healthy) on the story because they live for sensation.

If I had time, and cared, I'd look it up (I might now) because to me, even out here in California six arrests is a lot, if they were for anything important. (Actually I live in the real world, so I don't care how many arrests, I want to know the disposition of the cases).  It is Texas, so for all I know they were busting her for pot, or having too many vibrators, or turning ticks on weekends, or some petty 'revenue enhancement' crap.  In which case it does not matter.  But if it is real stuff: bodies in the trunk, sale weight, assault, fraud - you know, the perpetrator did feloniously act... stuff, then heck, six is a lot.  Really.  Jerry Garcia and Keith Richards were not/haven't been arrested six times in their respected lives.

I see this, as I always have - two women who were legally boned married to same guy, who is now dead, fighting over who gets his money and benefits that neither of them really earned (though lord knows I'm sure they both feel plenty entitled to it.)  Like I said, there are millions of these dreary little cases going on at any given time.

Although it might have been good training for her, because if there is one group of people who make lawyers and career criminals look awesome - it's TV executives.  Show business of all strips is pretty loathsome, full of mental patients, dilettantes (that's her, she's the dilettante here), supreme ego cases, book and record keeping that is pure fiction.  It's funny that cynthialee called it 'honest money' - because honesty is as rare in show biz as it is politics.  Really politics is the entertainment branch of American Industry, so that works out.  But she's going to be yearning for honesty of the courtroom and jail after a few years of it.

Seriously Tekla?
You certainly do have alot of opinions about others while coming off like a tarnished turd.

I would call TV work honest money. Honest in comparison to theft. You would have her diging ditches at minimum wage before you would deign to say she had worked honestly.

What do you have against a woman who you don't even know? Jealousy that you don't have an offer for a reality show, I would wager.
Seriously here, you bag on everything positive anyone gets or does. Never once have I heard a positive word of encouragement or decency from you. You're like a ray or darkness spreading doom and gloom wherever you shine. Granted I am not much better. I have the temerity and gaul to call you out publicly when it would have been much wiser and decent of me to send a private message.

Okay, let's keep it civil here.

Issues between members should be handled privately, not aired in a public forum.

Thank you.